Trump Previews Second Term in Sprawling Speech to Conservative Conference

 

Trump Previews Second Term in Sprawling Speech to Conservative Conference

 

President-elect Donald J. Trump repeated false claims about immigration and the border, slammed diversity initiatives and discussed the Panama Canal in the 90-minute address.

 

Michael D. Shear

By Michael D. Shear

Reporting from Phoenix

Dec. 22, 2024

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/22/us/politics/trump-speech-turning-point-arizona.html

 

President-elect Donald J. Trump delivered a sprawling address on Sunday that he called a “small preview of the common-sense revolution” his administration will bring, pledging to slam shut the nation’s borders, end federal regulations, lower taxes, prosecute his rivals, “stop woke” and “end the transgender lunacy.”

 

In a 90-minute speech at a conservative conference in Phoenix, Mr. Trump offered a triumphant view of his election victory in which he described his liberal adversaries as “befuddled” and promised that a new “golden age in America” had begun.

 

“We will end the occupation, and Jan. 20 will truly be liberation day in America,” Mr. Trump told thousands of people at AmericaFest, a four-day conference run by the conservative group Turning Point USA.

 

The president-elect’s speech was a familiar mash-up of false assertions, self-praise, fierce attacks on his adversaries and promises about how his return to power would change the country for the better.

 

As he often does, Mr. Trump spent the most time on immigration and the border. He repeated his claim, without evidence, that other countries were emptying their “insane asylums” and prisons into the United States. And he vowed to purge the country of people who have entered illegally.

 

“On my first day, I will sign a historic slate of executive orders to close our border,” he said to huge applause from the audience. “On that same day, we will begin the largest deportation operation in American history.”

 

As with many of Mr. Trump’s speeches, it was light on details. He did not say who would be deported or when. But he promised to designate Mexican drug cartels as terror organizations and said that every cartel “operating on American soil will be dismantled, deported and destroyed.”

 

The address was something of a return to the past for Mr. Trump, who delivered a similar speech in Phoenix in July 2015 at the beginning of his quest for the White House. He returned to the same location the next year for a major immigration speech after making a surprise visit to Mexico as the Republican nominee for the presidency.

 

Now, however, some of his topics have changed.

 

The president-elect lashed out repeatedly at transgender people to the delight of the audience, which roared with approval.

 

Mr. Trump said that with a stroke of his pen, “we are going to end the transgender lunacy” and the mutilation of children, an apparent reference to gender-affirming surgery.

 

“We will keep men out of women’s sports,” he said. He added that “it will be the policy of the United States that there are only two genders: men and women.”

 

He also targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public institutions and private companies. He promised to ban such programs because “we believe in the merit system” in the United States.

 

“We’re going to stop woke,” he vowed, referring to such initiatives with a profanity.

 

That line received the biggest applause of the morning from the conservative audience, most of whom were wearing Make America Great Again hats and other Trump-branded gear.

 

The president-elect also promised not to allow the military to change the names of bases or ships that are named after Confederate leaders, as it has done in recent years.

 

“It’s not happening with me,” Mr. Trump said.

 

He also expressed concern about the Panama Canal, calling it “stupid” that the United States agreed in the 1970s to return the canal to Panamanian control after a period of joint control. He accused Panama of charging fees to United States shippers that were “ridiculous” and “highly unfair” and vowed that they would end under his administration.

 

“This complete rip-off of our country will immediately stop,” he said. “It’s going to stop.” And he threatened that if it did not, “we will demand that the Panama Canal will be returned to the United States”

 

He did not say how that would happen, given that the canal was returned to Panamanian control through a treaty signed by both countries. But his comments came just hours after he posted a similar complaint on social media late Saturday night.

 

Mr. Trump also sang the praises of Elon Musk, the billionaire whom he has picked to run a new Department of Government Efficiency.

 

Mr. Musk flexed his political strength last week to tank a bipartisan spending agreement, posting more than 150 times to criticize the deal on X, his social media network.

 

That prompted some people, including at least one member of Congress, to refer to Mr. Musk as “President Musk,” but on Sunday, Mr. Trump chuckled about the title.

 

“No, that’s not happening,” he said, adding that it was nice to have smart people around him. “But no, he’s not going to be president; that I can tell you. I’m safe. You know why? He can’t be. He wasn’t born in this country.”

 

The president-elect’s speech was not his first to Turning Point, which is run by Charlie Kirk, a longtime activist and supporter of Mr. Trump’s. In 2019, he gave a lengthy speech to the group in West Palm Beach, Fla., just days after he was impeached by Congress the first time.

 

Michael D. Shear is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Biden and his administration. He has reported on politics for more than 30 years. More about Michael D. Shear