Key Moments From Donald Trump's CPAC Speech

Former President Donald Trump gave a speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday afternoon just outside of Washington D.C., in National Harbor, Maryland.

Trump is the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election and has been able to maintain a loyal base of followers known as MAGA from his campaign slogan "Make America Great Again." However, the former president and the GOP have been criticized by Democrats and Republicans for Trump exerting too much power over the party and it being afraid to veer away from Trumpian politics.

Here are some of the key moments from Trump's CPAC speech, part of which he spent warning Americans that he must win the 2024 election.

'Judgment Day'

One key moment from Trump's speech on Saturday was when he called Election Day "judgment day" for the "liars and cheaters" who took over the U.S. government.

"November 5th will be our new liberation day, but for the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and imposters who have commandeered our government, it will be their judgment day," the former president said as the crowd cheered him on.

The Country Is 'Breaking Up'

Trump also warned during his speech that the country is "breaking up."

"This is it. 2024. If we don't stop it—this is our last strain—if we don't stop it, we're gonna have a country—it won't even be a country, you wanna to know the truth. It won't even be a country. It's breaking up."

There have been talks of a national divorce in America which would split the country up into Republican and Democrat states. This concept has been strongly promoted by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and staunch Trump ally.

The congresswoman called to "separate by red states and blue states" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in February 2023. At the time, she also went on Fox News to suggest that a national divorce is needed to avoid a civil war.

Trump Calls Himself a 'Political Dissident'

The former president called himself a "proud political dissident" during his CPAC speech.

"I stand before you today not only as your past and hopefully future president. But as a proud political dissident, I am a dissident," he said.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present and MSNBC columnist, replied to a clip of Trump calling himself a dissident on X, formerly Twitter: "Going strong since [Benito] Mussolini: the tyrant as victim. Now Trump is a dissident persecuted by the 'Biden regime.'"

Trump has been criminally indicted four times, including in two cases in which he was accused of attempting to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election win. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and claimed that the cases are politically motivated against him.

Turning California Red

The former president also said that he could turn the blue state of California red if God was the "vote-checker."

"I always hear Republicans can't win California. You can't win. I will tell you, if God came down and God was the vote-checker, I believe we would win California," Trump said.

Putin Wants Biden as President

Another key moment in Trump's speech was when he seemingly agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Biden should be president again in 2024.

"I talked to Putin a lot. I got along with him well. Although he did announce the other day that he much rather see Biden as president. And I agree with him. I agree because I ended Nord Stream," Trump said.

Trump was referring to natural gas pipelines between Europe and Russia. During his presidency, Trump put sanctions on any company that assisted Russia to complete the construction of Nord Stream 2, but Biden later lifted the sanctions.

It is unclear what Trump actually meant by this statement.

In an interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin released earlier this month, Putin said another Biden presidency would be better for Russia than another Trump presidency.

"He is a more experienced, predictable person, an old-school politician," Putin said of Biden. "But we will work with any U.S. leader whom the American people trust."

During a rally in South Carolina last week, Trump said it was a "great compliment" that Putin would want Biden instead of him to run the country.

When reached for comment by Newsweek, a spokesperson for Trump's campaign reaffirmed that it is Trump who should be reelected.

"President Trump is dominating Crooked Joe Biden in national polls and in battleground state polls across the country. Americans know that they were better off with President Trump," the spokesperson said in an email. "After almost four years of Crooked Joe's disastrous presidency, we need a return to America First policies that successfully kept our country safe and supercharged the economy for all Americans."

Newsweek reached out to Biden's campaign via email for comment.

Winning Over Suburban Women

Trump warned that if Biden gets reelected this year, "ruthless gangs will explode even more into the suburbs and when they talk about suburban women, they're gonna love me so much."

He added: "They're gonna say, 'Oh I wish we had that guy back.' The gangs will be invading your territory, I can tell you that."

MeidasTouch, a liberal news site, mocked Trump for saying that he will garner the support of suburban women, writing in an X post: "Because of the rape? His defamation and name calling? The abortion bans? The IVF [in vitro fertilization] bans? The embrace of QAnon? His attacks on democracy? What exactly are they going to love?"

Trump recently was ordered to pay former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million after a judge found him liable for defaming Carroll by claiming she was lying when she came out with allegations that she was sexually assaulted by Trump in the 1990s. A separate jury last year awarded Carroll $5 million from Trump for sexual abuse and defamation. Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing and his lawyer said they will appeal the case.