A triumphant Trump asks for NRA convention’s help in returning to White House
Mabinty Quarshie
Video Embed
Former President Donald Trump had a hero’s return to the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis as he hit the stage to chants of “USA! USA!”
“I was proud to be the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president you’ve ever had in the White House,” Trump said. “I think that’s been acknowledged, and with your support, in 2024, I will be your loyal friend and fearless champion once again as the 47th president of the United States.”
PENCE BARELY MENTIONS TRUMP WHILE VOWING TO PROTECT GUN RIGHTS IN NRA SPEECH
Trump bragged about his poll numbers and briefly referenced several 2024 presidential rivals, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, as he spoke before gun rights activists at the event.
Pence and Trump have been at odds since the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The NRA convention is the first time the two men are speaking at the same place. Yet Pence has not announced whether he will run.
Nevertheless, Trump had a few positive words for his former running mate. “I hope you gave Pence a good warm approval,” Trump said as some of the NRA crowd booed Pence. “Because he is a nice man if you want to really know the truth. … He’s a good man.”
Trump’s main rival in the 2024 race is DeSantis, who has also not yet declared he is running for office. DeSantis sent a video message to NRA attendees but did not appear in person for the convention. In a sign of the Trumpworld’s unease with DeSantis, MAGA Inc., a super PAC affiliated with Trump, released a new television ad mocking DeSantis for reportedly eating chocolate pudding with his fingers.
Meanwhile, Trump called Haley “a beauty” and speculated that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) would not run for president in 2024.
Nevertheless, Trump confidently declared he would win in 2024. “We have things to do and we have things to finish, and we’re gonna get that done and we’re gonna have a big, big, successful election coming up,” said Trump. “We’re going to take back that beautiful, gorgeous White House.”
Trump is, however, dealing with the fallout of a grand jury indictment against him for a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump was arraigned in a Manhattan courthouse last week.
The former president reiterated that he will not drop out of the 2024 presidential race during his speech.
Despite the confident tone, Trump had a specific request for the NRA. Trump referenced the NRA’s Trump endorsement in 2016 during his first presidential race. He implored the group to follow up with another endorsement. “They better endorse me again, or they’re gonna have some explaining to do,” Trump joked.
The NRA convention comes in the wake of two recent mass shootings in the United States. A mass shooting left five people dead and eight injured in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier this month, and another mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, at Covenant School, a private Christian institution, left six people dead.
“It’s a scandal and a tragedy that year after year, Democrats in Washington continue to hold commonsense school safety measures hostage to their radical gun control agenda, which in virtually all cases would do nothing to prevent attacks by demented and disturbed individuals, of which we have many,” Trump said.
Among the other issues Trump touched on during his NRA speech were nuclear war, the U.S.-Mexico border, reversing President Joe Biden’s gun control proposals, violent crime, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the weaponization of the FBI and Justice Department.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
As Trump began to wrap up his speech, he offered these dark words: “We are a failing nation. We are a nation in decline.”
But he did offer this sliver of hope: “With a very dark cloud hanging over our country, I have no doubt that we will together as a group make America great again.”