Cheers of joy and chants of “four more years” filled the ballroom where former President Donald Trump spoke on Feb. 26 on the state of the United States, the Ukraine and Russia conflict and hinted toward running for reelection in 2024. This happened at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference, held in Orlando, Florida from Feb. 24-27.
The former president addressed what is happening between Russia and Ukraine, as Russia is in the midst of taking back Ukraine to re-form the Soviet Union. Trump voiced his opinion that if the United States had “smarter” leaders, then Russia would not be invading Ukraine.
“The problem is not (that) Putin is smart,” Trump said. “Of course he’s smart. The problem is our leaders are dumb. This is an assault on humanity, and it’s so sad. Putin is playing Biden like a drum. As someone who loves our country, it’s not a pretty thing to watch.”
He believes the United States was a stronger country under the Trump administration and was viewed as more powerful than it is currently.
“Under our (the Trump administration) leadership, the world was a peaceful place because America was strong and the perception of our country was perhaps like it had never been before – powerful, cunning and smart,” Trump said. “We were a smart country, but now we are a stupid country.”
In a time where the legitimacy of vote counting during elections is in question and ballot harvesting is becoming a major issue, Trump believes there is voter fraud and thinks it is one of the worst things to happen in the 21st century.
“I call it the crime of the century — ballot harvesting,” Trump said. “As it gets released, it’s all on tape … everything is on tape. Even the pictures are taken of the people stuffing the ballot boxes because without the pictures they don’t get paid. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of votes in each swing state. (Those who stuffed the boxes) focused in the swing states.”
Trump started off his speech by thanking prominent leaders who spoke at the conference, but he notably left out Gov. Ron DeSantis who has made it known he has interest in running for president in the 2024 election when Trump is weighing his option to run.
In the closing of his speech, Trump pressed the importance of making America great again.
“We will make America powerful again,” Trump said. “We will make America wealthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again and we will make America great again.”
Gora is the news editor. Follow him on Twitter