If there was any doubt about former president Donald Trump’s intentions of remaining politically active in the coming years, they can be erased once and for all now.
Trump’s rip-roaring CPAC keynote speech was precisely what many believed it would be: A call to arms, (figuratively), for the MAGA Movement, and a reaffirming of Trump’s influence over the party.
And, as many had predicted, Trump made a pretty clear reference to running again in 2024.
Perhaps the most notable moment of the blistering speech came when Trump named a number of so-called “RINO” Republicans by name, calling for the party’s base to vote them out.
Former President Donald Trump on Sunday listed a handful of Congressional Republicans who opposed him after the 2020 election, urging his supporters to vote them out of office.
Trump spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), shaming the Republicans who continued to publicly oppose him and those who voted with Democrats to impeach him after he left office.
The list included 17 Republicans:
Sen. Richard M. Burr of North Carolina
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Sen. Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania
Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina
Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio
Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan
Rep. John Katko of New York
Rep. David Valadao of California
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming
Trump saved Cheney for last, decrying her as a “warmonger” and noted that the Wyoming GOP censured her over voting to impeach him.
Trump’s followers are still very much his and his alone, and the GOP will need to navigate that reality with care if they wish to nominate someone else in 2024.
