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Former President Donald Trump returned to Washington, DC for the first time since leaving office on Tuesday, and the business mogul did not like what he saw. During his keynote address at the America First Agenda Summit held at the Marriott Marquis, Trump derided the filthy homeless encampments that have popped up throughout the city and called for a return to “law and order.”
These tent cities, Trump said, are “all over some of, I think, the most beautiful public spaces in the world.” Indeed, if you drive through downtown DC or catch a train out of Union Station, you will encounter the haphazard tents and the mostly drug-addicted and mentally unwell who roam within. Trump’s solution? Set up a nicer, federally run tent city on the outskirts of town where the homeless can get access to health professionals and prepare themselves to return to normal society.
The former president revealed that much of his speech would focus on rising crime in America’s cities, including calling out the “defund the police” movement and the left’s desire to “reimagine public safety” — particularly the refusal to prosecute criminals and instead punish victims.
“Their vision is sick,” Trump said bluntly.
He cited the uptick in the aforementioned tent cities, rampant drug abuse, smash and grabs, and random acts of violence as evidence that the country has gotten too soft on crime. His focus, though, was somewhat ironic given that he was introduced by Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute and the former White House staffer who pushed for the First Step Act amid the 2020 riots. The First Step Act was arguably Trump’s biggest miss — it let hundreds of dangerous criminals out of prison in the name of criminal justice reform. Trump didn’t mention it during his speech on Tuesday; does he regret allowing his staff to talk him into championing that piece of legislation?
“I don’t see any bills being passed that want to give the police strength,” he said in reference to the current Democrat-led Congress, but it could have just as easily applied to his final year in office. In 2016, Trump’s winning issue was immigration. Perhaps if he returns to the campaign trail, crime and public safety will be his golden ticket to the White House in 2024.
There are plenty of differences between Trump and Biden, but none seems more obvious than each man’s respective vigor. That is, Trump has plenty, and Biden has none. Biden’s public speeches often deteriorate into nonsense, while Trump seemed to gather energy from the crowd at the Marriott Marquis, ramping up his energy throughout the hour and a half speech.
In fact, the first 20 minutes of Tuesday’s keynote felt sleepy, mostly thanks to Trump’s over-reliance on the teleprompter and a boring speechwriter. It wasn’t until he went off script that the former president began to shine. Trump got some of his biggest applause when he declared that men shouldn’t be allowed to compete in women’s sports, a line he claimed he was advised not to say by his consultants, who warned him that the issue is “controversial.” Still, Trump went on to tell the story of a female weightlifter whose world record was shattered by a biological man. His re-telling of events included a hilarious pantomiming of the female struggling to lift a barbell, and then the man easily pumping out reps.
“It’s so disrespectful to women,” he said to cheers.
Naturally, the former president flexed his reality TV muscles and tossed out plenty of bait for those who want to know whether or not he will run for a second term.
“We had made America great again…but now our country has been brought to its knees,” Trump said of the Biden administration, before teasing, “We may just have to do it again.”
His biggest wink to the crowd, though, was the song he chose to conclude his speech: “Hold On, I’m Coming.” Is that a promise to the many Americans struggling with inflation, high gas prices, crime, a porous southern border, and a looming recession? Stay tuned, as Trump likes to say.
