Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to address the crowd on Sunday (February 28) at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida. According to a report by Axios, Trump is expected to use his speech to reaffirm his control over the Republican Party.
An unnamed advisor told the news outlet that Trump will declare himself the "presumptive 2024 nominee" for president. Trump is meeting a team of advisors at his Mar-a-Lago resort to finalize his speech, which will be a "show of force" as he makes his plans for the 2022 midterm elections and beyond.
Trump is expected to go on the offensive against Republicans who have turned against him by supporting primary challengers and candidates who are loyal to him.
"Trump effectively is the Republican Party," Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told Axios reporter Mike Allen. "The only chasm is between Beltway insiders and grassroots Republicans around the country. When you attack President Trump, you're attacking the Republican grassroots."
While Trump has been relatively silent since leaving office, he still has support from a large number of Republican voters. According to USA Today, 46% of Republicans said they would leave the party if Trump formed his own political party. Roughly half of the respondents said that the Republican Party should become "more loyal to Trump."
"We feel like Republicans don't fight enough for us, and we all see Donald Trump fighting for us as hard as he can, every single day," Brandon Keidl, 27, a Republican and small-business owner from Milwaukee, says in an interview after being polled. "But then you have establishment Republicans who just agree with establishment Democrats and everything, and they don't ever push back."
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