US president Donald Trump accused Democrats of planning a “socialist nightmare” with their extreme agenda, reeling out an attack line for the 2020 election, and disparaged the Russia meddling probe and former officials in a speech to supporters at an annual convention of a leading conservative body.
“We believe in the American dream, not in the socialist nightmare,” the president said at the convention of the Conservative Political Action Committee Saturday, taking aim at specifically at the “Green New Deal” climate strategy. “America will never be a socialist country.”
“Socialism is not about the environment, it’s not about justice, it’s not about virtue.” He said it’s about “power for the ruling class.”
The attack-line that’s been taking shape in recent weeks was reprised by other speakers at the conventions as well, chiefly, Vice-president Mike Pence, as a new rallying point for their supporters. And it is gaining traction, evident from the thunderous applause Trump got for it.
The “Green New Deal”, which is a set of ideas more than a plan, takes a comprehensive, all-in approach to climate change, education, healthcare, job creation and labour laws. It has been endorsed by most Democrats who have either announced they are running for president or plan to.
Trump and Republicans have sought to the deal as socialism to keep their flock together and bring back moderate conservatives who seemed to have been driven away by the president’s divisive politics, as was seen in the November mid-term when Democrats won control of the House of Representatives.
{{/usCountry}}Trump and Republicans have sought to the deal as socialism to keep their flock together and bring back moderate conservatives who seemed to have been driven away by the president’s divisive politics, as was seen in the November mid-term when Democrats won control of the House of Representatives.
{{/usCountry}}President Trump has enjoyed speaking at the CPAC convention, and his well-received 2011 address there is widely understood to have kickstarted his foray into politics. On Saturday, he was back, and in his elements. He spoke off-script, and for more than two hours, the lengthiest of his presidency.
Trump attacked the ongoing Russia probe for finding nothin, and disparaged Special Counsel Robert Mueller for leading a motivated investigation, mocked his former attorney general Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the investigations and attacked Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general for starting the probe.
“This phony thing,” Trump railed about the Russia probe. “looks like it’s dying so they don’t have anything with Russia there, no collusion. So now they go in and morph into ‘Let’s inspect every deal he’s ever done. We’re going to go into his finances. We’re going to check his deals. We’re going to check’ — these people are sick.”