CPAC news – live: GOP faces up to party’s Putin problem ahead of major Trump speech

High-profile Republicans are converging in Orlando, Florida for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference this week, with former President Donald Trump headlining the event.

The conservative confab attracts a who’s who of GOP luminaries. Typically held just outside of Washington DC, this year’s conference is being held in Orlando, Florida, likely due to its proximity to the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach in the “free state”.

High-profile speakers this year include Donald Trump Jr, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen Ted Cruz, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, Nigel Farage, and Rep Jim Jordan.

During his remarks on Thursday evening, Mr Cruz railed against Big Tech and praised crypto.

“Big is bad,” the Texas senator told the crowd. “Across the board. Big government sucks. Big business sucks. Big tech, big Hollywood, big university. Any accumulation of power that is centralised is fundamentally dangerous for individual liberty.”

Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, gave a barnstorming speech to a standing ovation in a clear pitch to be the GOP candidate in 2024 to take on the “Brandon administration”, citing his record with Covid-19 preventing his state becoming a “Faucian dystopia”.

Missouri’s GOP Senator Josh Hawley also slammed the Biden administration, claiming it “emboldened” Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine by holding off on sanctioning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline until this week.

Mike Pompeo spoke in the style of a stump speech giving a preview of his own likely 2024 campaign, warning of the enemy within as well as China.

Key Points

• Ted Cruz calls for Americans to be ‘unruly’ and ‘uncontrollable’ in meandering CPAC rant

• CPAC vice chair slams Cheney and Kinzinger

• Speaker list includes leaders, rising stars and far-right agitators

• Ron DeSantis just turned into Trump’s worst nightmare

• Republicans at CPAC cast blame for Russia’s Ukraine invasion – but not on Vladimir Putin

Biden responds to erratic Trump statements praising Putin

14:56 , John Bowden

Joe Biden finally responded in an interview on Saturday after his predecessor made a handful of remarks praising Russia’s Vladimir Putin for his strategy regarding the invasion of Ukraine.

In the interview, which looked to have been recorded some time during the week following Russia’s invasion late Wednesday night, the US president was asked to respond to Donald Trump’s statement referring to Mr Putin’s plan to send so-called “peacekeeping” forces into the Donbas a “genius” move. The troop deployment immediately preceded the full-scale invasion of the rest of Ukraine’s territory.

Biden laughs off Trump praise of Putin and mocks his own ‘stable genius’ claims

What time is Donald Trump’s CPAC speech today?

14:36 , Bevan Hurley

Donald Trump is due to deliver the keynote speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at 7pm EST on Saturday.

The former president is seeking to re-establish his grasp over the Republican Party ahead of a long-rumoured presidential run in 2024.

His audience can expect plenty of plugs for the former president’s new Truth Social app, gripes about his ongoing legal troubles and more conspiracy theorising about his defeat at the ballot box in 2020 – and he may even hug the flag again.

The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad has more details.

When is Trump speaking at CPAC today? Full 2022 schedule

Why Republicans and Trump suddenly have an unexpected Putin problem

13:41 , Bevan Hurley

In the five years since Vladimir Putin ordered Russian hackers to break into Democratic National Committee email systems and conduct a widespread social media campaign to boost Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, the idea that the Russian dictator was an ally of the Republican Party gained widespread traction among Democrats.

It was that partisan sentiment – and Mr Trump’s recent decision to call Vladimir Putin a “genius” recognising two break-away regions of eastern Ukraine ahead of his all-out assault – that led a Democratic political action committee to hire an airplane to tow a banner reading “Putin Welcomes CPAC to Orlando” above the Florida site of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, where Mr Trump is set to speak on Saturday.

But Mr Putin’s order to invade Ukraine and shatter the peace Europe has enjoyed since 1945 may have cost him what little support he has had among the Republican grassroots.

The Independent’s Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg report.

Rank-and-file Republicans at CPAC are turning on Vladimir Putin

Voices: Nigel Farage made the most awkward speech of his career

07:01 , Oliver O'Connell

As Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Nigel Farage made the most awkward speech of his career, writes Holly Baxter.

Farage made his most awkward speech ever as tanks rolled into Ukraine

Why wait until Saturday to talk election fraud when Josh Mandell is on hand

06:01 , Oliver O'Connell

Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel was on the case with election fraud, so we don’t have to wait for Donald Trump’s speech on Saturday. He is big on the Big Lie.

“One of the problems we have in America is that we have democrats and leftists who think it’s ok to cheat in elections.”

The loudest applause of the day came when he said: “I believe this election was stolen from Donald J Trump!”

“We should abolish the January 6 commission, and replace it with the November 3 commission.”

Mr Mandel also calls Reps Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger “traitors”.

He wants photo ID for voting, the elimination of all electronic voting machines and of mail-in voting, and for voting to be restricted to just one day.

Mr Mandel declares he is “Pro-God, Pro-Gun, Pro-Trump”, and will “make decisions with the Bible in one hand and the Constitution in the other”.

Presumably with either Siri or a stenographer nearby to take notes or write legislation.

Kristi Noem hits out at Biden, reiterates call to resign

05:01 , Oliver O'Connell

Governor Kristi Noem opens with a joke about temperatures in her home state of South Dakota being as low as Joe Biden’s approval ratings.

She pivots to Ukraine: “Our hearts and our prayers are with the people of Ukraine... The hell of war has come to their country... The last 48 hours have shown us what happens when America projects weakness. That is exactly what President Biden has done.”

Like many speakers before her, she says that elections have consequences and if President Biden cannot act toughly on Ukraine by leading Nato to cut Russia off financially and replace Europe’s Russian energy supply.

“If Joe Biden can’t or won’t do these things, he should resign,” she says, echoing tweets from yesterday.

Governor Noem says that if you think cancel culture is bad now, wait until they force financial institutions to freeze your accounts because of something you said — she goes on to say it’s already happening now, not in China, but in Canada. Justin Trudeau gets a big boo from the audience.

Moving on to the pandemic, she brags about South Dakota’s lack of Covid-19 policies: “We never issued mask mandates... We never stopped anyone going to church and we kept kids in the classroom.”

Ms Noem rails against “experts” saying that conservatives know that “everyone can contribute”.

“Experts are often the last group who should be put in charge,” she says.

“The left lives on lies,” says the governor. “It’s part of their power to frighten people into falling into line.”

Candace Owens leads ‘mama bear’ panel

04:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Candace Owens is currently hosting a panel encouraging more mothers to act like mama bears to defend their young from predators such as school boards. It began with a long story about bears and infanticide.

Ms Owens says that schools are “violating” children with masks, vaccines, and Critical Race Theory.

“When did we agree to allow the government to co-parent with us?” she asks, before blaming the perceived problem on “radical feminism” from the 1970s.

She wonders why police aren’t involved when schools teach children about issues such as sex and gender.

One panelist is pushing for a rating system for books to save children from “radical librarians”.

State Department left speechless over Trump and Pompeo praise of Putin

03:00 , Oliver O'Connell

State Department spokesman Ned Price was left speechless by Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo’s praise of “genius” Vladimir Putin.

Asked for his reaction to the accolades for Mr Putin’s cleverness, strength and smartness, Mr Price said he had “no response”.

“In fact, I have no words,” Mr Price said.

State Department has ‘no words’ in reaction to Trump’s praise of Putin

Pompeo: ‘No threat greater’ to US than that ‘which emanates inside our republic'

02:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo takes to the stage and immediately joke about his impressive weight loss.

He says he misses being in office and wishes he was still at the helm instead of the Biden administration.

“I miss every single minute of it. I wish we were back there leading America.”

Immediately touching on CPAC’s talking points, he mentions masks, trans athletes, Russia, civil disorder, the border, and the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

Responding to Biden’s rhetorical question: What are Republicans for?, Mr Pompeo starts by saying the list begins with getting Democrats out of office in every branch of government.

Of his time in office, he says: “We were disrupters. We were prepared to break glass when the way the establishment did it made no sense.”

On foreign policy “America demands good leadership and the world is depending upon it.”

He adds: “We put America first and we told people around the world: you cannot tread on us.”

In a portion focussed on China, he says: “I could see that the greatest threat from abroad was the Chinese Communist Party,” and talks about closing the Chinese consulate in Houston to the dismay of the State Department.

After saying that conservatives must protect the country’s Judeo-Christian footing he moves onto schools, anti-CRT, and anti-wokeness, saying: “There is no threat greater to the United States than that which emanates inside our republic.”

“If we don’t teach them [children] that we are not a racist nation, then surely the bad guys will tell them they’re right about America in decline.”

Concluding his remarks, he says: “Let’s be in the fight. Let’s never give an inch... This is the greatest nation in civilisation.”

Cawthorn: ‘What I want in a president is for the rest of world to be terrified of him'

01:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Rep Madison Cawthorn attacked Mark Elias and “lawfare” for a coordinated effort to knock him off the ballot in the coming election.

He framed it as a spiritual battle and asked the crowd to “pray for the judges involved, the lawyers involved” in the lawsuit trying to disqualify him as a candidate for supporting the January 6 insurrection.

If the effort succeeds, he says, they will come for anyone who questioned 2020.

Mr Cawthorn was joined on stage by former Governor Scott Walker who is now running the Young America Foundation.

The pair were asked about Ukraine.

Mr Walker said: “Woke weakness leads to what we’re seeing... this president seems to be more like Neville Chamberlain than Jimmy Carter.”

To which Rep Cawthorn added that he wanted the American people to love the president, but: “What I want in a president is for the rest of the world to be terrified of them.”

He then added: “This president has been corrupted by the radicals across this country, by Putin, by Xi Jinping.”

It’s unclear what he meant by that.

Rep Jim Banks says historic moment for America to lead but Biden is no leader

00:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Indiana congressman Jim Banks in conversation with Mercedes Chlapp says he won’t stop apologising for objecting to what he calls “an unconstitutional election” and calls President Joe Biden the “worst president we’ve ever had”.

Using a familiar Trump line, he also blames Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the January 6 security lapse and praises “hero” Ohio congressman Jim Jordan.

On Ukraine, Mr Banks says Vladimir Putin seized upon President Biden’s handling of Afghanistan to attack.

“He knew he could get away with it because he had Joe Biden figured out when he came into office.”

Asked what his message to US troops stationed in Poland is, he replies: “This is a historic moment for America to lead. And right now we have a while we have a president a commander in chief who is not a leader.”

Marco Rubio commends ‘inspiring’ Ukrainian people

00:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Senator Marco Rubio took a moment in his speech to praise the people of Ukraine.

No matter where you stand on the Ukraine-Russia situation, the one thing I think everyone can agree on is that the people of Ukraine are inspiring to the world.

You have 70 year-old men, elderly women taking up arms. I don’t know if you heard the audio of those 13 defenders of Snake Island.

It reminds us how precious freedom and liberty is, how quickly it can be lost. The second thing is that the reason we’ve had freedom and liberty is that people at one point were willing to do that for our country here.

If you haven’t heard the audio from Snake Island you can find it here.

Marco Rubio - CPAC 2022

This probably didn’t come across on the live stream...

00:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The Lincoln Project video wins unexpected praise

Friday 25 February 2022 23:45 , Oliver O'Connell

In case you missed the first day of CPAC, anti-Trump Republican group The Lincoln Project has put together a compilation video of Thursday’s action.

And surprisingly, Ted Cruz found it funny.

“Even a stopped clock is right twice a day,” he tweeted. “This is pretty damn funny!”

Farage calls on US to strengthen Nato to counter ‘dangerous’ Putin

Friday 25 February 2022 23:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Nigel Farage has called on the US to strengthen Nato in order to stop Vladimir Putin following his invasion of Ukraine.

The GB News presenter, known in the US primarily for his role in Britain’s exit from the European Union and his friendship with Donald Trump, told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference that US commitment to the military alliance was vital to stop Russia from threatening other countries.

Richard Hall reports from Orlando.

Nigel Farage calls on US to strengthen Nato to send a message to ‘dangerous’ Putin

Widespread condemnation of Russia at CPAC

Friday 25 February 2022 23:15 , Oliver O'Connell

But the finger of blame is being pointed at Joe Biden.

At CPAC, GOP casts blame for Russia’s Ukraine invasion — but not on Putin

Voices: Nigel Farage made the most awkward speech of his career

Friday 25 February 2022 23:00 , Oliver O'Connell

As Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Nigel Farage made the most awkward speech of his career, writes Holly Baxter.

Farage made his most awkward speech ever as tanks rolled into Ukraine

CPAC has its own AOC dress cutout

Friday 25 February 2022 22:40 , Oliver O'Connell

CPAC has its own AOC Met Gala dress as a cutout, and with a slight edit...

January 6 Committee meeting with Kimberly Guilfoyle

Friday 25 February 2022 22:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Fresh from an exuberant appearance at CPAC 2022, Kimberly Guilfoyle today met with the House Committee investigating the events of the Capitol riot.

Ms Guilfoyle is currently engaged to former president Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr and was involved in raising money for the “Stop the Steal” rally on 6 January 2021. While the committee had subpoenaed and obtained Ms Guilfoyle’s phone records, it had not subpoenaed her.

January 6 Committee meeting with Kimberly Guilfoyle

Mike Pompeo dodges questions on his praise for Putin as ‘talented’ and ‘savvy’

Friday 25 February 2022 22:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday exhibited no desire to revisit the glowing opinion of Russian president Vladimir Putin he’d shared across multiple news appearances this year after Mr Putin ordered an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday.

Mr Pompeo scooted away on an orthopedic scooter rather than answer questions from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg.

Mike Pompeo dodges questions on his praise for Putin as ‘talented’ and ‘savvy’

Friday 25 February 2022 21:44 , Oliver O'Connell

After labelling universities as “madrasas of Marxism” and getting a boo from the crowd for a mention of Black Lives Matter, Mr Farage said that to save western civilization, America must first be saved — “Because if America falls, the free world falls.”

He lectures the crowd on referencing the 2020 election being stolen as the general public has got on with their lives and it comes across poorly.

“This message of a stolen election is actually a negative, backward-looking message. There is a more positive message the Republican party needs to embrace.”

‘Mr Brexit’ takes the stage

Friday 25 February 2022 21:32 , Oliver O'Connell

Nigel Farage, introduced as “Mr Brexit” is the final speaker of the day.

After some compliments to Florida, he begins with a focus on Russia.

“Vladimir Putin is a nationalist Russian... I’d always thought we were dealing with somebody who was actually very logical. But I now begin to wonder whether he is.”

He calls Joe Biden: “the worst American president in the history of this nation”. Mr Farage then slipped in a “Let’s go Brandon!”

“If Donald Trump had still been the president, that invasion of Ukraine would not have happened,” Mr Farage says. “I have no doubt.”

“Do Americans still want to be leaders of the western world?” asks Mr Farage. “Because if they’re not, we have a problem... Without America, Putin can do what he wants.”

He continues: “What Putin has done is truly dreadful. It is dangerous, it is frightening... America, and Britain by your side, have to send that message: no further can you go.”

Ric Grenell: Biden 'radiated provocative weakness’

Friday 25 February 2022 21:26 , Oliver O'Connell

Former Trump ambassador to Germany and briefly acting director of national intelligence Ric Grenell says “Joe Biden radiated provocative weakness”.

He echoes other speakers by suggesting the solution to the Ukraine crisis is all down to energy policy.

Mr Grenell calls for a weaponising of US energy policy.

Why wait until tomorrow to talk election fraud when Josh Mandell is on hand

Friday 25 February 2022 21:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel was on the case with election fraud, so we don’t have to wait for Donald Trump’s speech tomorrow. He is big on the Big Lie.

“One of the problems we have in America is that we have democrats and leftists who think it’s ok to cheat in elections.”

The loudest applause of the day came when he said: “I believe this election was stolen from Donald J Trump!”

“We should abolish the January 6 commission, and replace it with the November 3 commission.”

Mr Mandel also calls Reps Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger “traitors”.

He wants photo ID for voting, the elimination of all electronic voting machines and of mail-in voting, and for voting to be restricted to just one day.

Mr Mandel declares he is “Pro-God, Pro-Gun, Pro-Trump”, and will “make decisions with the Bible in one hand and the Constitution in the other”.

Presumably with either Siri or a stenographer nearby to take notes or write legislation.

CPAC trolled with billboards by anti-Trump Republican group

Friday 25 February 2022 21:00 , Oliver O'Connell

As the Republican Party and right-wing figures gather for this year’s CPAC conference in Orlando, Florida, a campaign group of anti-Trump Republicans has mounted a billboard campaign around the city calling attention to the state of the party.

The Republican Accountability Project, which was started during the Trump presidency and ran pro-Biden ads during the 2020 election, has erected ads featuring everyday “former Republicans” expressing their displeasure with the former president and the party he still all but dominates.

Andrew Naughtie reports.

‘I’m disgusted’: CPAC trolled with billboards by anti-Trump Republican group

Noem: ‘The last 48 hours has shown us what happens when America projects weakness’

Friday 25 February 2022 20:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Ben Carson claims country has lost confidence in medical establishment

Friday 25 February 2022 20:32 , Oliver O'Connell

There was a wide ranging discussion of health issues in “A Conversation with Dr Ben Carson and Ben Ferguson”.

Mr Ferguson says he wishes Dr Carson had Dr Fauci’s job and says doctors careers are being ruined for not going along with the nation’s leading expert on infectious disease.

Dr Carson then claims: “Even though they don’t want to let it go, Covid is going away.”

He then implies it will be gone by November — before the mid-term elections.

Both Bens agree that Dr Fauci, the CDC and the National Institutes of Health have lost the confidence of the country with Mr Ferguson worrying that no one will listen next time.

Dr Carson goes on to promote the study of hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved.

He also voices his opposition to masks, mandates, and praises parents who don’t vaccinate their children.

Ben Carson once ran for president.

GOP/MAGA ‘luminaries’ make the rounds at CPAC

Friday 25 February 2022 20:25 , Oliver O'Connell

Surprisingly little mention of election fraud

Friday 25 February 2022 20:08 , Oliver O'Connell

While the 2020 election has come up in speeches with reference to elections having consequences and the state now of whatever subject matter the speaker is focussing on (mostly American weakness and China/Russia by my count), there has been little to no mention of election fraud or the election being stolen. If there has been it has been fairly oblique.

However, as the BBC’s Anthony Zurcher notes, that will probably change tomorrow evening when Donald Trump makes his much anticipated appearance.

Friday 25 February 2022 19:42 , Oliver O'Connell

You could read this quote as: ‘Yes, Trump’s great, but there are other people who could be president — like me!’

Governor Kristi Noem

Also worth noting that in various straw polls at CPAC, Ms Noem is reportedly doing well in the potential Veepstakes for a second Trump term. As are Tim Scott and Candace Owens.

Friday 25 February 2022 19:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Governor Noem says that if you think cancel culture is bad now, wait until they force financial institutions to freeze your accounts because of something you said — she goes on to say it’s already happening now, not in China, but in Canada. Justin Trudeau gets a big boo from the audience.

Moving on to the pandemic, she brags about South Dakota’s lack of Covid-19 policies: “We never issued mask mandates... We never stopped anyone going to church and we kept kids in the classroom.”

Ms Noem rails against “experts” saying that conservatives know that “everyone can contribute”.

“Experts are often the last group who should be put in charge,” she says.

“The left lives on lies,” says the governor. “It’s part of their power to frighten people into falling into line.”

Kristi Noem hits out at Biden, reiterates call to resign

Friday 25 February 2022 19:26 , Oliver O'Connell

Governor Kristi Noem opens with a joke about temperatures in her home state of South Dakota being as low as Joe Biden’s approval ratings.

She pivots to Ukraine: “Our hearts and our prayers are with the people of Ukraine... The hell of war has come to their country... The last 48 hours have shown us what happens when America projects weakness. That is exactly what President Biden has done.”

Like many speakers before her, she says that elections have consequences and if President Biden cannot act toughly on Ukraine by leading Nato to cut Russia off financially and replace Europe’s Russian energy supply.

“If Joe Biden can’t or won’t do these things, he should resign,” she says, echoing tweets from yesterday.

Mike Flynn has arrived at CPAC

Friday 25 February 2022 19:12 , Oliver O'Connell

Owens call for abolition of Department of Education

Friday 25 February 2022 19:07 , Oliver O'Connell

Candace Owens leads ‘mama bear’ panel

Friday 25 February 2022 19:05 , Oliver O'Connell

Candace Owens is currently hosting a panel encouraging more mothers to act like mama bears to defend their young from predators such as school boards. It began with a long story about bears and infanticide.

Ms Owens says that schools are “violating” children with masks, vaccines, and Critical Race Theory.

“When did we agree to allow the government to co-parent with us?” she asks, before blaming the perceived problem on “radical feminism” from the 1970s.

She wonders why police aren’t involved when schools teach children about issues such as sex and gender.

One panelist is pushing for a rating system for books to save children from “radical librarians”.

Merch time! What’s on offer at the various stalls at CPAC

Friday 25 February 2022 18:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Jan 6 conspiracy theorist compares Biden and Putin

Friday 25 February 2022 18:14 , Oliver O'Connell

This was something...

State Department left speechless over Trump and Pompeo praise of Putin

Friday 25 February 2022 17:39 , Oliver O'Connell

State Department spokesman Ned Price was left speechless by Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo’s praise of “genius” Vladimir Putin.

Asked for his reaction to the accolades for Mr Putin’s cleverness, strength and smartness, Mr Price said he had “no response”.

“In fact, I have no words,” Mr Price said.

State Department has ‘no words’ in reaction to Trump’s praise of Putin

Drill Dummy Drill?

Friday 25 February 2022 16:57 , Oliver O'Connell

How else to follow Mike Pompeo than with an energy panel hosted by Sean Spicer and featuring Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy and Harriet Hageman who is running against Liz Cheney in Wyoming.

Mr Dunleavy calls for more energy exploration by pointing out that Russia drills in the Arctic: “They don’t have the environmental regulations that the United States does. They don’t have the environmental regulations that Alaska has. They’re unencumbered.”

Ms Hageman agrees saying other countries are “not willing to harm their countries and their economies to pursue this radical green agenda.”

The governor adds that he wants an “energy emergency” declared to do away with regulation and “get drilling right now”.

Pompeo asked about previous Putin comments

Friday 25 February 2022 16:30 , Oliver O'Connell

NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard managed to ask Mike Pompeo about his previous comments regarding Putin when he called the Russian leader “shrewd” and “capable” and said he had “enormous respect” for him.

Pompeo: I’ve been fighting communism since I was a teenager. I’m going to keep fighting communism.

Pompeo: ‘No threat greater’ to US than that ‘which emanates inside our republic'

Friday 25 February 2022 16:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo takes to the stage and immediately joke about his impressive weight loss.

He says he misses being in office and wishes he was still at the helm instead of the Biden administration.

“I miss every single minute of it. I wish we were back there leading America.”

Immediately touching on CPAC’s talking points, he mentions masks, trans athletes, Russia, civil disorder, the border, and the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

Responding to Biden’s rhetorical question: What are Republicans for?, Mr Pompeo starts by saying the list begins with getting Democrats out of office in every branch of government.

Of his time in office, he says: “We were disrupters. We were prepared to break glass when the way the establishment did it made no sense.”

On foreign policy “America demands good leadership and the world is depending upon it.”

He adds: “We put America first and we told people around the world: you cannot tread on us.”

In a portion focussed on China, he says: “I could see that the greatest threat from abroad was the Chinese Communist Party,” and talks about closing the Chinese consulate in Houston to the dismay of the State Department.

After saying that conservatives must protect the country’s Judeo-Christian footing he moves onto schools, anti-CRT, and anti-wokeness, saying: “There is no threat greater to the United States than that which emanates inside our republic.”

“If we don’t teach them [children] that we are not a racist nation, then surely the bad guys will tell them they’re right about America in decline.”

Concluding his remarks, he says: “Let’s be in the fight. Let’s never give an inch... This is the greatest nation in civilisation.”

Cheering and booing Democrats

Friday 25 February 2022 15:53 , Oliver O'Connell

Florida Rep Byron Donalds is speaking now and got a big cheer from the crowd when he mentioned obstructionist Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

This was paired with a loud boo from the audience when he mentioned Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“Oh, so you’re heard of her?”

Cawthorn: ‘What I want in a president is for the rest of world to be terrified of him'

Friday 25 February 2022 15:33 , Oliver O'Connell

Rep Madison Cawthorn attacked Mark Elias and “lawfare” for a coordinated effort to knock him off the ballot in the coming election.

He framed it as a spiritual battle and asked the crowd to “pray for the judges involved, the lawyers involved” in the lawsuit trying to disqualify him as a candidate for supporting the January 6 insurrection.

If the effort succeeds, he says, they will come for anyone who questioned 2020.

Mr Cawthorn was joined on stage by former Governor Scott Walker who is now running the Young America Foundation.

The pair were asked about Ukraine.

Mr Walker said: “Woke weakness leads to what we’re seeing... this president seems to be more like Neville Chamberlain than Jimmy Carter.”

To which Rep Cawthorn added that he wanted the American people to love the president, but: “What I want in a president is for the rest of the world to be terrified of them.”

He then added: “This president has been corrupted by the radicals across this country, by Putin, by Xi Jinping.”

It’s unclear what he meant by that.

Rep Jim Banks says historic moment for America to lead but Biden is no leader

Friday 25 February 2022 15:05 , Oliver O'Connell

Indiana congressman Jim Banks in conversation with Mercedes Chlapp says he won’t stop apologising for objecting to what he calls “an unconstitutional election” and calls President Joe Biden the “worst president we’ve ever had”.

Using a familiar Trump line, he also blames Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the January 6 security lapse and praises “hero” Ohio congressman Jim Jordan.

On Ukraine, Mr Banks says Vladimir Putin seized upon President Biden’s handling of Afghanistan to attack.

“He knew he could get away with it because he had Joe Biden figured out when he came into office.”

Asked what his message to US troops stationed in Poland is, he replies: “This is a historic moment for America to lead. And right now we have a while we have a president a commander in chief who is not a leader.”

Marco Rubio commends ‘inspiring’ Ukrainian people

Friday 25 February 2022 15:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Senator Marco Rubio took a moment in his speech to praise the people of Ukraine.

Marco Rubio - CPAC 2022

If you haven’t heard the audio from Snake Island you can find it here.

Speaking today: Kristi Noem

Friday 25 February 2022 14:34 , Andrew Naughtie

Taking the stage at 14:10 ET is South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, one of various state leaders working hard to raise her profile ahead of the 2024 election.

Ms Noem’s broadly anti-restrictions approach to the Covid-19 pandemic is a highly politically polarizing matter, but has shored up her among some conservatives. She has lately pushed hard on conservative red-meat issues like abortion – and in a telltale sign of high ambition, she recently announced she would be publishing a book about herself, a memoir titled “Not My First Time At The Rodeo”.

Speaking today: Marco Rubio

Friday 25 February 2022 13:43 , Andrew Naughtie

Day two of CPAC sees a particularly intriguing moment: the appearance of Marco Rubio, a Florida Senator and Russia hawk who has taken quite a different line on the unfolding Ukraine invasion than many in his party.

Where others have questioned why the US should care or sought to blame Joe Biden solely for what’s happening, Mr Rubio has focused on raising the alarm about the seriousness of Russia’s attack and the urgency of countering it. How (and whether) he conveys that message from the stage this morning remains to be seen.

ICYMI: Jen Psaki shrugs off Ted Cruz's insult

Friday 25 February 2022 13:00 , Andrew Naughtie

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked at her briefing yesterday for a response to Ted Cruz after he called her “Peppermint Patty” during his CPAC speech. She was clearly untroubled by the Senator’s words.

Speaking today: Mike Pompeo

Friday 25 February 2022 12:09 , Andrew Naughtie

One of today’s highest-profile CPAC speakers is Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, who has lately taken his former boss’s line when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, as it became increasingly clear that Mr Putin was prepared to make a full-on military assault on his neighbouring country, Mr Pompeo told an interviewer the Russian autocrat was “savvy” and “shrewd”.

“I consider him an elegantly sophisticated counterpart,” he said, “and one who is not reckless but has always done the math. And we might disagree with his priorities, we may disagree with his math, we certainly disagree that the interests that he seeks are reasonable for his country, in many cases, but we should never underestimate that he is doing this in a way where he is exhibiting his capacity to control.”

Asked for comment at a press conference, a State Department spokesman said he had “no words”.

State Department has ‘no words’ in reaction to Trump’s praise of Putin

Voices: CPAC has already disgraced itself

Friday 25 February 2022 11:20 , Andrew Naughtie

As he reports from Orlando, The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg has this piece on how CPAC has gone off the rails this year.

Read the full piece below.

CPAC has only just begun and it’s already disgraced itself | Andrew Feinberg

Anti-Trump Republican reflects on CPAC spectacle

Friday 25 February 2022 10:29 , Andrew Naughtie

Joe Walsh, the onetime Tea Party congressman who turned into a caustic Trump critic, has been tweeting his reaction to the scenes unfolding at CPAC in Orlando...

Charlie Kirk: Ukraine not worth bothering with because Americans don’t know where it is

Friday 25 February 2022 09:26 , Andrew Naughtie

Charlie Kirk, founder and leader of far-right campaign group Turning Point USA, gave a bizarre speech yesterday where he celebrated Americans who are “rising up against authoritarianism” at home, called for an “extinction level event” for the “woke” left, and complained about the US government worrying about Ukraine when there is an “invasion” happening at the US-Mexico border.

Ron DeSantis fuels presidential run speculation after CPAC speech

Friday 25 February 2022 07:50 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Ron DeSantis has fueled speculation about his presidential run after his speech at CPAC. He said: “I can tell you there’s one fellow that just hates Florida: his name is Joe Biden.”

He added: “Always trying to take potshots at Florida and he does things like take our medication. He stiffs storm victims of relief just because he doesn’t like the governor. He doesn’t like Florida. He doesn’t like me because we stand up to him.”

During his speech, he said: “They want us to be powerless, they want us to be voiceless, they want us to be second-class citizens.”

Mr DeSantis is running for reelection as governor of Florida this year. “And what are these ideological aims? The woke is the new religion of the left, and this is what they have in mind.”

Kimberly Guilfoyle lauds her ex-boss at CPAC

Friday 25 February 2022 07:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Kimberly Guilfoyle spoke at CPAC in Orlando and said that what is happening in Ukraine is because of the weakness of the Biden administration.

Ms Guilfoyle, who dates Mr Trump’s oldest son Don Jr, says [the invasion] would not have happened under Trump’s leadership.

“We are at the risk of losing freedom and respect... and fear that people had from other countries about this country being strong,” Ms Guilfoyle said.

She added: “Forget Miley Cyrus, the real wrecking ball is Joe Biden.

“Woke leftists are working overtime to strip us of our freedoms... Every major social media platform banned President Trump last year... No one is safe.”

Ted Cruz at CPAC blames Joe Biden for Russia invasion

Friday 25 February 2022 07:15 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Republicans at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando made it clear that the Russian president didn’t invade any countries while former Donald Trump was in office.

Ted Cruz said that Joe Biden “immediately projected weakness” once he took office and that prompted Mr Putin to pursue ambitions that Mr Trump would have never allowed.

He said: “Unfortunately, the Biden White House made a political decision to surrender to Russia and to surrender to Putin,” the Texas Republican said.

We’re all podcasters now, apparently

Friday 25 February 2022 04:30 , Josh Marcus

One of the stranger moments of Thursday’s CPAC proceedings was when Ted Cruz spent a notable amount of time talking about his podcast.

How he started it a few years ago. How it was once a top show in the podcast rankings. How young people should subscribe to it, and how old people should call those young people and learn how to subscribe as well.

Here’s a still from Mr Cruz’s remarks that captures the very 2022 moment of a major politician acting like a garden variety content creator.

Voices: CPAC has only just begun and it’s already disgraced itself

Friday 25 February 2022 04:00 , Josh Marcus

For the second year in a row, the most prominent speaker at the conference isn’t a senator, a governor, or even a reality TV star hoping to jump into presidential politics on the Republican ballot line. Instead, the “keynote” speakers — the last to take the stage on Saturday and Sunday — are two men with the same name: Donald John Trump. The former president will speak on Saturday to close out the day’s program, while his son Donald Jr will close out the conference the next day.

The man who many consider to be waiting in the wings if Trump doesn’t run — Florida governor Ron DeSantis — has been relegated to a relatively sleepy Thursday afternoon speaking slot. And Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, is persona non grata after declining to hijack the certification of electoral college votes to install himself and the former president in the White House for a second term.Read more of Andrew Feinberg’s column from CPAC.

CPAC has only just begun and it’s already disgraced itself | Andrew Feinberg

WATCH: Josh Hawley defends decision to try and halt 2020 election certification

Friday 25 February 2022 03:35 , Josh Marcus

Two years later, and Josh Hawley says he still doesn’t regret his decision to try and halt the certification of the 2020 election results.

The Missouri senator told the CPAC crowd on Thursday, “I wasn’t backing down then, and I haven’t changed my mind now.”

Watch an excerpt of the speech below.

Is Ron DeSantis using CPAC to run for president?

Friday 25 February 2022 02:40 , Josh Marcus

According to the latest Voices column from Holly Baxter, Florida governor Ron DeSantis used the CPAC stage to make a not-so-subtle pitch for himself as a national conservative leader, maybe even a presidential candidate in 2024.

She writes:

What DeSantis offers is a more cerebral-sounding Trumpism. He’s energetic but calm onstage, talking about how “we reject the biomedical security state” rather than ranting on about how UV light can probably cure Covid. He rejected science as much as any other far-right Republican, but he did it by invoking Eisenhower’s farewell speech as president and claiming that what Eisenhower was really doing was warning us all about a future “scientific elite” and “health bureaucrats” who would take away people’s freedoms with their data and their medicine and their objective numbers.

Read more here.

Ron DeSantis just turned into Trump’s worst nightmare while onstage at CPAC

Josh Hawley says he has no plans to run for president in 2024 after CPAC speech

Friday 25 February 2022 02:10 , Josh Marcus

Despite getting top billing at CPAC, a traditional stepping stone for GOP candidates for the White House, Senator Josh Hawley says he has no presidential plans for 2024.

Speaking with NBC News after his CPAC address, Mr Hawley said, “There is no potential candidacy. I’ve said I’m not planning to run for president.”

Instead, he said he wants to run for Senate again, clearing the field of a potential competitor to Donald Trump’s long-rumoured comeback bid for the White House.

Republicans at CPAC cast blame for Russia’s Ukraine invasion – but not on Vladimir Putin

Friday 25 February 2022 01:55 , Josh Marcus

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine could ignite the bloodiest conflict on European soil since the Second World War ended in 1945. But to hear top Republicans at the American Conservative Union’s annual confab tell the story of the last 24 hours, the order to invade was given by the president of the United States.

One by one, in remarks from the Conservative Political Action Conference stage and in comments to The Independent, current and former GOP officeholders credited the assault on Ukraine not to Mr Putin – who announced the invasion in a televised speech around 6am on Thursday in Moscow – but to Mr Biden, despite the American president’s lack of any authority or mechanism to pass orders to Russia’s armed forces.

According to a GOP source who spoke to The Independent on condition of anonymity, model talking points instructing Republican officeholders to blame Mr Biden for the invasion have been distributed though official GOP channels in recent days.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg has the scoop.

At CPAC, GOP casts blame for Russia’s Ukraine invasion — but not on Putin

A very non-CPAC view of Trump: White House spokesperson compares Trump and Putin to pigs

Friday 25 February 2022 01:30 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump may still be a superhero for the CPAC crowd, but not so for those in the White House.Deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates called former president Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin “nauseating, fearful pigs what America stands for”.

Mr Bates’ broadside in a tweet posted on Thursday, came as he shared a HuffPost article that featured quotes from a speech Mr Trump gave on Tuesday night, at Mar-a-Lago praising the Russian leader as “pretty smart” for “taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions.”

“He’s taking over a country, really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, just walking right in,” Mr Trump said.Abe Asher has the story for The Independent.

White House spokesperson compares Trump and Putin to pigs

What are the drinking at CPAC? “We The People” wine

Friday 25 February 2022 01:15 , Josh Marcus

We The People, an “American brand dedicated to Conservative values,” is being served at CPAC.

The brand says it stands for “exceptionalism, free markets, free people, free speech and limited government.”

So if you want a cabernet sauvignon that tastes like Milton Friedman, head on over to CPAC.

Ted Cruz calls for Americans to be ‘unruly’ and ‘uncontrollable’ in meandering CPAC rant

Friday 25 February 2022 00:59 , Josh Marcus

US Senator Ted Cruz called for Americans to be “unruly” and “uncontrollable” in a speech to conservative activists in Florida.

In an address Thursday to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual gathering of right-wing activists from across the country, the senator from Texas railed against big tech and big government – and, perhaps surprisingly, big business.

“The Chinese communists and Elizabeth Warren both want to control you. Your assets, your savings, your speech, your life, your children, every decision they want to control, and so we need to break up the means of controlling the citizenry,” he said.The Independent’s Richard Hall was there in Orlando to see it live.

Ted Cruz calls for Americans to be ‘unruly’ and ‘uncontrollable’ in CPAC rant

Naturally, Ted Cruz had people chanting, ‘Let’s go Brandon'

Friday 25 February 2022 00:35 , Josh Marcus

It was only a matter of time before the CPAC crowd started chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon,” a meme-ified Republican chant meant to signify “F*** Joe Biden” for reasons explained below.

During his remarks, Senator Ted Cruz even took the prevalence of the chant as a sign that “change is coming.”“Change is coming. It is powerful,” he said. “You wanna know how powerful? Find me one person on planet Earth who doesn’t know what ‘Let’s go, Brandon’ means.”As he left the CPAC stage, the crowd began chanting the slogan.

If you are among those people on planet Earth who are not familiar with the snarky slogan, here’s more info.

Why are MAGA supporters chanting ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ to mock Democrats?

ICYMI: No changes to agenda of GOP conference in light of Russia invading Ukraine, chairman says

Friday 25 February 2022 00:16 , Josh Marcus

American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp has said there will not be any changes to the programme at the group’s annual conference as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In an interview just before the start of the ACU’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, Mr Schlapp told The Independent the conference would go on as planned.

He said the programming for the group’s yearly confab, which is organised around the theme “Awake not Woke”, already has a strong foreign policy focus, with a number of “very prominent” speakers such as former Director of National Intelligence Richard Grinnell, ex-Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other former Trump administration officials.The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg had the story.

CPAC agenda not changing despite Russia invading Ukraine

Meanwhile in MAGAland: Steve Bannon and Erik Prince celebrate Russia for being anti-LGBT

Friday 25 February 2022 00:10 , Josh Marcus

As many on the American right defend Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine or seek to blame his invasion on Joe Biden, two figures in the right-wing firmament have celebrated Mr Putin’s government for its homophobia and transphobia.

On his War Room podcast, former Trump aide Steve Bannon hosted private security maven Erik Prince, the Blackwater founder who has previously been accused of dubious contacts with Russian entities including private mercenary firms. The two of them were discussing the Russian government’s behaviour when their conversation strayed into the subject of “wokeness”.

“Putin ain’t woke,” Mr Bannon declared. “He’s anti-woke.”

“The Russian people still know which bathroom to use,” Mr Prince said.

Mr Bannon riffed on the theme: “How many genders are there in Russia?”

The Independent’s Andrew Naughtie has more.

Steve Bannon and Erik Prince celebrate Russia for being anti-LGBT

‘We’re proud of our heritage’: Josh Hawley says US isn’t racist during CPAC remarks

Thursday 24 February 2022 23:51 , Josh Marcus

Critical race theory has reigned over the GOP for the last year as its leading bogeyman, and that trend continued at CPAC.

US Senator Josh Hawley argued that proponents of critical race theory want people to hate America.

“They believe that America is systemically racist, systematically broken,” he said. “They believe that we’re a nation of oppression.”

(CRT, in fact, is a relatively straightforward academic concept that explores the influence of racism beyond the explicit, de jure racial segregation and enslavement of old, but its meaning has been vastly distorted by the American right.)

“I’ve got news for you and for them,” Mr Hawley continued. “We’re a nation of liberators. We’re proud of our history. We’re proud of our heritage, and we’re going to stand up for it.”

Republican caller tells C-Span that GOP let American people down over Putin and Trump

Thursday 24 February 2022 23:30 , Oliver O'Connell

A Republican caller to a phone-in show on C-Span said the Republican Party had let the American people down over Vladimir Putin.

GOP and Trump let American people down over Putin says Republican caller to C-Span

Missouri senator rips Joe Biden’s foreign policy

Thursday 24 February 2022 23:17 , Josh Marcus

Josh Hawley is tearing into Joe Biden’s foreign policy.

He called the Afghanistan withdrawal, “The worst foreign policy disaster since the Vietnam War.”He also held the president responsible for Russian aggression in Ukraine.

“He comes to office and what does he do?” Mr Hawley said. “He shut down American energy production. He green lights Putin’s pipeline and he shuts down American pipelines. Is it any wonder that Vladimir Putin feels emboldened to do whatever the heck he wants to do?”

Indeed, Mr Biden did waive sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 energy pipeline to Germany for a time out of diplomatic considerations, though the White House recently changed course as Vladimir Putin escalated aggression in Ukraine and hit the company with major penalties.

Biden sanctioning company behind Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Russia

Josh Hawley takes the stage

Thursday 24 February 2022 23:07 , Josh Marcus

Missouri’s Republican US Senator Josh Hawley is next up at CPAC.

Hawley was one of the senators who led the effort to challenge the certification of the 2020 election results.

Podcast ads and calls for righty revolution?: Ted Cruz’s CPAC speech gets whacky

Thursday 24 February 2022 23:06 , Josh Marcus

Sounding like something between a pitch man and a right-wing revolutionary, Ted Cruz’s CPAC speech is getting a bit strange.

The Texas senator said he wants to “break up the means of controlling the citizen”—social media companies, the justice system, and the “woke” media, according to Cruz—in order to create an “unruly, uncontrollable American.”

“We the people!” he added.

Moments latter, Mr Cruz was shilling for his podcast, telling audience members it was the top show in the world two years ago, and asking them to subscribe.

So anyway, the future of conservatism is looking...eclectic.

Ted Cruz says ‘big is bad’ in calls for anti-monopoly regulations and more crypto

Thursday 24 February 2022 22:59 , Josh Marcus

Ted Cruz, an Ivy League educated lawyer, who serves in the US Senate, and is married to a Wall Street executive, had a message for CPAC: “Big is bad.”

“Big is bad,” the Texas senator told the crowd. “Across the board. Big government sucks. Big business sucks. Big tech, big Hollywood, big university. Any accumulation of power that is centralised is fundamentally dangerous for individual liberty.”

During his remarks, Mr Cruz called for more regulation of big companies, and said he was “bullish” on decentralised financial products like cryptocurrency.

For what it’s worth, Mr Cruz doesn’t have a problem with all big business, it seems.

Ted Cruz received more money from oil and gas companies in 2018 than any other senator

Ted Cruz celebrates CPAC for not seeing a ‘damn mask in sight'

Thursday 24 February 2022 22:48 , Josh Marcus

After running a bit behind schedule, US Senator Ted Cruz is now up at CPAC.

He said he loves the event because it features “thousands of patriots and not a damn mask in sight.”

NRA CEO says even ‘Hollywood hypocrites' part of record gun sales

Thursday 24 February 2022 22:46 , Josh Marcus

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre says fears over Joe Biden’s criminal justice reform proposals have driven a record 5.4 million gun sales over the last year, even among “Hollywood hypocrites.”

“All of them can see what’s happening all round them in their country,” he said. “They want to be able to protect themselves, and they want to be able to protect their families.”

He also accused Joe Biden, through supporting measures like reducing the availability of military style assault-weapons and magazines, as well speaking out against cash bail, which disproportionately impacts low-income people of colour, of caring “more about protecting criminals than protecting law-abiding Americans.”

‘I Heart Jesus’ and ‘Let’s Go Brandon’: Photos of CPAC merch

Thursday 24 February 2022 22:40 , Josh Marcus

No CPAC would be complete with a merch section, and this year’s convention was no disappointment.

There were hats with phrases like “Let’s go Brandon” and “I Love Jesus,” as well as rhinestone-plated guns and as always, copious amounts of Donald Trump swag.

Journalist Steven Monacelli has photos.

Former Missouri governor compares left to Pol Pot and Lenin

Thursday 24 February 2022 22:37 , Josh Marcus

Former Missouri governor Eric Greitens just finished speaking, and he’s comparing “the left” to a score of historical dictators, citing examples like school closures, Joe Biden’s border policies, and intelligence services’ probing of Donald Trump’s ties to Russian meddling as “tyranny.”

“The nature of leftism is that it never stops. They always progress to more and more tyranny,” he said, name-dropping dictators and leaders like Pol Pot, Mao, and Lenin.

“Those who ride the tiger of tyranny, they keep progressing to more and more oppression,” he added.

Donald Trump is ‘true elected’ president, CPAC speaker says

Thursday 24 February 2022 22:26 , Josh Marcus

Speaking now is US combat veteran and Florida congressional candidate Cory Mills, who has repeated the Big Lie once again, stating that Donald Trump is the “true elected, not selected, president of the United States.”

Mr Mills also praised Florida’s GOP Ron DeSantis for defeating “Fauci-ism” and choosing “America First” when it comes to pandemic policy, and blamed critical race theory for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Trump-DeSantis rivalry hits CPAC

Thursday 24 February 2022 22:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Ron DeSantis has been closing on Trump in the polls, but can he really challenge his Florida neighbours grip on the Republican Party? Richard Hall reports from CPAC.

Don’t mention the Donald: The Trump-DeSantis rivalry hits CPAC

Former North Carolina congressman Mark Walker speaking now

Thursday 24 February 2022 22:17 , Josh Marcus

Former North Carolina congressman Mark Walker is the next up on the CPAC stage.

Alex Berenson: 'Stop trying to ban books’

Thursday 24 February 2022 22:07 , Oliver O'Connell

Flagging it as something the CPAC crowd may not want to hear, Alex Berenson says: “Stop trying to ban books.”

War through Weakness, Elections matter

Thursday 24 February 2022 21:42 , Oliver O'Connell

Further to Ted Cruz’s comments, former Trump national security adviser KT McFarland is now on stage wearing yellow in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

She is discussing the Trump administration foreign and energy policies which she says kept Russian cash liquidity low by keeping the price of oil low and therefore avoid war.

Ted Cruz: No invasion of Ukraine if Trump president

Thursday 24 February 2022 21:35 , Oliver O'Connell

“I think the chances that Putin would be invading Ukraine today if Trump were still president are essentially zero,” Senator Ted Cruz told Nigel Farage today.

Thursday 24 February 2022 21:25 , Oliver O'Connell

Thursday 24 February 2022 21:12 , Oliver O'Connell

“In 2022 the American people will retake Congress and will retire Nancy Pelosi,” says Ms Guilfoyle, saying they will send Speaker Pelosi back to San Francisco so she can “ruin” it some more.

Step two she says is reclaiming the White House and returning President Trump to the Oval Office.

“I am confident that if we are lucky enough to have President Trump make that sacrifice, he will defeat Joe Biden for the second time!”

Ms Guilfoyle ends call with a call to “Fight! Fight!” and “The Silent Majority is silent no more!...”

She finishes with a resounding: “Make America Great Again!”

Thursday 24 February 2022 21:03 , Oliver O'Connell

“Woke leftists are working overtime to strip us of our freedoms... Every major social media platform banned President Trump last year... No one is safe.”

“Twitter and Facebook are not the be all and end all. We have other platforms now...”

Ms Guilfoyle then plugs former President Trump’s Truth Social platform.

Thursday 24 February 2022 21:02 , Oliver O'Connell

“We do not apologise for putting America first,” she says.

“Someone needs to tell him, you’re wearing the ‘America first’ jersey, not the ‘Russia first’ jersey, not the ‘China first’ jersey.”