(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump is anticipated to have harsh words at CPAC for “Bush-era” Republicans as he urges voters to back him in the 2024 election, according to a new report.
According to Axios, the previous commander-in-chief plans “to draw a sharp ideological contrast” between his “Make America Great movement” and Bush Republicans. He is set to give the keynote speech to a largely pro-Trump crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday evening in National Harbor, Maryland.
“We’re going to be talking about very serious subjects, but we’ll have some fun doing it,” Trump said in a CPAC-sponsored video promoting the conference, USA Today wrote.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who joined the 2024 race after Trump, also spoke at CPAC, though she did not receive a warm reception. NBC News reports that as her speech ended, some audience members chanted Trump’s name.
In his own remarks, which are expected to be about 90 minutes long, Trump will remind people of the “bigger picture,” a Trump aide told Axios.
“The issues that brought Trump to the fore in 2016 are still with us,” the aide said. “These issues have never left.”
Those at CPAC have noticed that the convention has become largely Trump’s, NewsNation partner The Hill pointed out.
“I’m not at CPAC. I’m at TPAC,” the news outlet quoted John Fredericks, a conservative radio show host who served as the chairman in Virginia for Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, as saying. “The Trump forces, the America First movement and the populist movement, of which I’m a key member of and a protectionist, has hijacked CPAC.”
Speakers who have attended the whole conference so far include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
However, there has been a lot of talk about who hasn’t been there. Among the missing is Trump’s biggest challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Although DeSantis hasn’t officially announced his run for president, he is seen as a frontrunner in the race regardless. Instead of going to CPAC, however, he’s going on a book tour.
Media outlets such as the Washington Post have noted that the crowd this year is smaller than in years past. “Only half the seats” of CPAC were filled when Haley was on stage, the newspaper reported.
Something political analysts will have their eye on during Trump’s speech is whether he will call out rivals such as DeSantis. Axios reported that Trump is planning in the coming weeks to amp up his attacks on the governor, whom he has called a “RINO” and “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
To watch the keynote, you can go to CPAC’s website.