Doland Trump to address top Republicans, first speech since announcing 2024 race plan

Vegas:

Donald Trump will address a gathering of top Republican Party officials this weekend, including potential rivals for the White House, in his first speech since announcing a 2024 race plan.

The former US president was a late addition to the guest list for the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas, which began on Friday.

Trump, logging in via video on Saturday, will join a list of top GOP speakers, some of whom are expected to ponder a bid for the party’s presidential nomination, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and the ex-secretary says Mike Pompeo.

It will be his first public address since the hour-long announcement at his Mar-a-Lago home that he wanted his old job back.

The speech came a week after the Republican Party’s disappointing performance in the midterm elections, which senior party officials blamed on the property mogul and his grievance-laden denials of his own electoral defeat.

High-profile candidates he backed fared worse than mainstream Republicans in the poll, including his pick for senator from Pennsylvania, leaving the upper house in the hands of the Democratic Party.

As the poll nears, pundits and party leaders have predicted a “red wave” that will sweep President Joe Biden’s party from the leadership of both chambers.

Instead, the Republican Party only managed to secure a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

After a celebratory dinner Friday, Pompeo took the mic to urge Republicans forward.

Although he didn’t mention his former boss by name, he did some not-too-subtle research into the need to be doers rather than complainers.

“As we present the conservative case, as we make the case…we do so with joy and with a smile,” he said.

“We don’t just blow the whistle on the machine…we don’t just go on Fox News or send out tweets, we actually do the hard work.”

Trump, who has denied responsibility for the Republican’s poor campaign performance, has already begun his usual bombardment of potential presidential rivals, nicknaming DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious” and saying Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s name “sounds Chinese.”

Saturday’s appearance will also come after the US Justice Department appointed an independent prosecutor to oversee criminal investigations into Trump, including his concealment of top-secret documents and his involvement in the mob attack on the US Capitol. in January 2021.

The rally, which also includes Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, will continue until Sunday.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)