Americans won’t go to the polls until next year, but these months are important for potential candidates to raise enough campaign funds. Trump, who announced his candidacy in November, set the tone in an hour and 45-minute speech in which he spared no one, including his own camp. He is one of three Republican candidates running for president next year. He hopes to begin his second term in early 2025.

Trump, in his familiar fashion, lashed out at “militant” Democrats and especially the “bigots and idiots” of the Republican Party. “We’ve had a Republican Party led by bigots, neocons, globalists, open-border fanatics and assassins,” he said, naming several party grandees. “We will never go back to the days of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove and Jeb Bush. People are tired of those globalists and they want to see America first.

When Trump took the main stage on Saturday night, he was announced as “the next president of the United States.” Trump knew that the American electorate was fed up with “political dynasties, rotten special interests, China-loving politicians and supporters of endless foreign wars.” After publicly condemning US aid to Ukraine, he warned that “if something doesn’t happen soon, we’re going to have World War III.” Trump drew thunderous applause when he spoke out against woke thinking.

CPAC was until recently the main gathering of all conservative activists and leaders in America, but has been completely swallowed up by Donald Trump’s far-right “Make America Great Again” movement. As a result, the 2023 edition was marked by many speeches from the most staunch Trumpists in the country. Many of the 2024 Republican candidates, led by Trump’s biggest rival Ron DeSantis, wanted to skip the convention this time around. One US news channel dubbed CPAC a “Trump fest” with many outlets for Trump hats or “Make America Great Again” shirts. A poll of Republican participants on Saturday found 62 percent supported Trump for president, compared to just 20 percent for his main rival, Ron DeSantis. In third place is Michigan businessman Perry Johnson. In other polls, the gap between Trump and DeSantis is much narrower, about ten percentage points.

Former South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley and businessman and activist Vivek Ramasamy also ran for president on the party’s behalf, but played minor roles at CPAC. Not everyone in Republican circles is rooting for Trump yet. Fox News, a channel that has been kept at arm’s length by Trump’s persistent and false allegations of election fraud in recent months — Fox News is now facing a multibillion-dollar lawsuit from the creators of the Dominion voting system — is finally on the air. Part of his speech was televised live. That came after complaints from CPAC about Trump’s lack of attention.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the evening, Trump said he would “absolutely” stay in the 2024 race despite being indicted for handling classified documents and in one of the impeachments he faces after the 2020 election.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was defeated in his country’s last presidential election, was the guest of honor and received loud applause from the audience on Saturday. He addressed the conference with a message of a Trump-like political comeback. “I am grateful to God for my work as president of Brazil, but I feel that the work is not finished yet.” Bolsonaro fled to Florida after losing last year’s election.

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