Donald Trump at CPAC 2014. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump has spoken at CPAC before, but his fifth time, on February 24, will be much different. Now, he is the President of the United States. Trump has spoken at CPAC in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and each speech helped solidify his support among mainstream Republicans. Trump is scheduled to speak at CPAC 2017 at 10:20 a.m. For a live stream of Trump’s 2017 speech, click here.
Here are all of Trump’s past CPAC speeches.
CPAC 2011
With The O’Jays’ “For The Love Of Money” blaring over the speakers, Trump made his first appearance at CPAC 2011. The speech came as Trump considered a run for president in 2012, which he ultimately didn’t do. He took jabs at Ron Paul and insisted that he would make the U.S. “respected again” if he won the White House. Trump even previewed a version of “Mae America Great Again.”
“If I decided to run, I will not be raising taxes, we’ll be taking back hundreds of billions of dollars from other countries that are screwing us, we’ll be creating vast numbers of productive jobs, and we’ll rebuild our country so that we can be proud,” Trump told the crowd. “Our country will be great again.”
As The Washington Times reported at the time, the speech didn’t appear on the CPAC schedule. Trump’s people were in talks with CPAC organizers late into the night before the speech.
You can find the full transcript for the 2011 speech right here.
CPAC 2013
Trump’s next appearance at CPAC also opened with the O’Jays’ song, which was used as the title song for The Apprentice. At CPAC 2013, he told the audience that the GOP is in “serious trouble” and that the U.S. has “tremendous untapped potential.”
“The Republican party I could almost say is going to be a little bit tougher, and especially as you get more and more conservative,” Trump said. “They get nasty. They don’t like to hear what we have to say. And it’s not easy. We have to get the momentum back. And, we have to get it back quickly, before it’s too late, before we waste that incredible potential that we still have. We have to get it back.”
Trump also tried out future campaign lines, like taking U.S. jobs back and building things.
“This country has to start building things again,” Trump said. “We have to take back our jobs from China. We have to take back our jobs from other places. When Apple talks about Apple building all of this stuff, and we’re all so proud of Apple, they build virtually 100-percent of their product in China. So China should be more proud of Apple than we are to be totally honest with you. We have to start manufacturing and building again and we have to make America great again. Our problems will be solved.”
The full transcript for the 2013 speech is available here.
CPAC 2014
Trump’s CPAC 2014 speech came at a time when he thought about running for Governor of New York. That ultimately didn’t happen. As USA Today notes, he announced his decision on Twitter. “While I won’t be running for Governor of New York State, a race I would have won, I have much bigger plans in mind – stay tuned, will happen,” he wrote.
In the 2014 speech, Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump suggested that Putin is “like toying with” President Barack Obama. He also recalled the “beautiful present with a beautiful note” he received from Putin when he was in Moscow for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.
You can find the full transcript here.
CPAC 2015
CPAC 2015 was just a few months before Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency and it was a preview of the speeches he gave on the campaign trail. He insisted that he wasn’t speaking to Republicans for fun. The party needs to “take our country back,” he told the audience.
“Washington is totally broken. And it is not gonna get fixed unless we put the right person in that top position. It is just not going to happen,” Trump said. “Now, the problem I have – I am not a politician. Thank goodness. Politicians are all talk, no action. I have dealt with them all my life. The king of zoning, the king of every – I deal with politicians.”
Trump also reminisced about the “old days,” suggesting that we need a general like General Douglas MacArthur and General George S. Patton to lead the fight against ISIS. “Nobody, if I decide to run, and win, nobody would be tougher than Donald Trump. Nobody,” Trump declared.
After the speech, Trump also did a Q&A with Fox News anchor Sean Hannity.
For a full transcript of that speech, click here.
CPAC 2017
Now as President of the United States, Trump gave his fifth speech before the CPAC crowd.
