Trump calls Putin ‘smart’, warns of potential ‘world war’
Orlando: About 20 minutes into his highly anticipated speech at America’s largest annual conservative gathering, Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin while denouncing his attack on Ukraine as a “catastrophic disaster”.
As Ukraine resisted Russia’s military advances for a third day, Trump appeared on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, where he revved up his base ahead of November’s midterm elections, hinted again at another presidential run and blamed Joe Biden for the Ukraine crisis.
The former president praised Putin as “smart” and added that the world would not be on the cusp of another lengthy war if he had not lost the US election in 2020.
“The problem is not that he’s smart – which of course he’s smart – but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. Putin is playing Biden like a drum… It’s not a pretty thing to watch,” Trump said.
“It would have been so easy for me to stop this travesty from happening. He understood me, and he understood that I don’t play games.”
“Russia’s attack on Ukraine is appalling. It’s an outrage, and an atrocity that should never have been allowed to occur. We are praying for the proud people of Ukraine. God bless them all.”
In a press conference with right-wing cable shortly before his address, Trump went even further, saying: “thousand of people, hundreds of thousands of people could die… and this could spread to other countries, and it could spread throughout the world. This could be a world war. Something has to be done.”
More than 12 months after leaving office, Trump is still the most dominant force among the Republican Party’s base.
Billed as “the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world”, the conference has traditionally been a good insight into the state of conservatism within the Republican party.
More than 10 hours before the former president was due on stage, countless fans began lining up at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort to see their favourite president.
Among them was small business owner Michael Manuel, who had travelled from Texas with a group of friends. Collectively, they were hard to miss: dressed in matching yellow t-shirts emblazoned with large red letters spelling out Trump’s name, as well red, white and blue cowboy hats.
Manuel became a Trump fan years ago – a move he said got him “cancelled” by many friends and shunned by the LGBTI community.
Asked about Ukraine, Manuel said: “None of this would have happened if Trump was still in power. They see that the country is weak. Under Donald Trump, we were powerful.”
Stephen Rowe, a digital training director from Virginia, agreed, noting that Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 under Barack Obama, whereas no wars began under the Trump administration.
“I think absent leadership is certainly a good way to define what’s happening right now. Russia is certainly emboldened by America’s lack of presence on the main stage, and lack of strength,” he said.
Diane Lewis had travelled from Long Island to see Trump with her friend Brenda Alvarez. Dressed in a cap that said, “Trump was Right”, she blamed Biden for cancelling the Keystone XL after coming to office, an oil pipeline system running from Canada to the US. Republicans often argue that this contentious decision had made it harder for oil and gas companies to get into America and also advantaged Russian gas and oil producers.
“We’re losing our freedom. The country is not energy independent anymore, so we’re now dependent on foreign oil.” she said. “It’s dangerous.”
Trump’s speech set the scene for a fiery contest ahead of this year’s midterm elections. In an address lasting almost 90 minutes, he once again revived false claims that the election was rigged, declared the COVID emergency was over and told the crowd that losing the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential election was “not an option”.
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Apartment building in Kyiv under attack, thousands flee Ukraine
An apartment building in Kyiv subject to a missile attack on Saturday morning as UNHCR says 150,000 have fled Ukraine.
Other speakers on the list included Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, both of whom are seen as presidential nomination contenders; former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage; and Donald Trump jnr, who will speak tomorrow on the closing day of the conference.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also blamed Biden for the crisis, telling the crowd: “We’ve seen a Russia dictator now terrorise the Ukrainian people because America didn’t demonstrate the resolve that we did for the four years prior.”
And Senator Marco Rubio, who is also vice-chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence said that “no matter where you stand on this Ukraine-Russia situation – what we should have done beforehand, what we should do now – the one thing I think everyone can agree upon, is that the people of Ukraine are inspiring to the world.”
