Sao Paulo
Donald Trump said this Saturday (24) that if he were still President of the United States there would be no wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. In his opinion, if Joe Biden is reelected in the November election and remains in the White House, there would be a third world war in which Washington would be defeated.
“There were no wars in my government for four years. “I was able to prevent wars from breaking out and brought soldiers home,” Trump said during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an event that brings together the largest rightwing leaders in the world, held in National Harbor, Maryland.
This year, CPAC, a kind of mecca for the right, also featured speeches from representatives of Latin America, such as Argentine President Javier Milei and federal MP Eduardo Bolsonaro (PLSP).
The antiwar tone dominated Trump's speech. He said he believed that if he had still been in power, he would have been able to prevent the invasion of Ukraine, which lasted two years this Saturday, and Israel's terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 would not have suffered because Iran, the group's main financier, would be “broken” due to the economic sanctions it imposed.
In addition, the businessman stated that he opposed the US decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and bragged about his role in the campaign against the Islamic State, which was defeated in Syria and Iraq in 2017. The Republican also described the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in 2021, already under Biden, as the “most shameful moment of our lives” and said that China ultimately took the US's place in the region.
“If Biden has four more years, we will lose World War III,” said the Republican, Biden’s virtual rival in November’s presidential election.
He also again used strong language against immigrants, comparing them to the cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter, a character from the book and film of the same name “The Silence of the Lambs,” and creating an almost apocalyptic scenario by saying that “gangs.” Hamas and Antifa will dominate the streets with their brutal ideology.”
As usual, Trump criticized the lawsuits he is facing in court and accused the Biden administration of using the Justice Department and the FBI, the American federal police, to persecute his opponents. He said again that the 2020 election was stolen even though he was officially accused of distorting the poll results and said that Biden was “a threat to democracy,” changing the tone of the main warning against him.
Trump also made fun of the Democrat's performance in speeches and press conferences. “Joe is not fit. They say it’s the one who runs the country.” [o expresidente] “Barack Hussein Obama,” he said. “As I said [o primeiroministro Viktor] Orbán from Hungary: “Put Trump back in power and he will fix the whole world,” he said.
EDUARDO BOLSONARO AND JAVIER MILEI
After Trump's speech, it was Eduardo Bolsonaro's turn to take the stage. He read a brief statement in English criticizing the arrests of allies such as Filipe Martins, former international adviser to the presidency, and Silvinei Vasques, former director of the Federal Highway Police, who were each accused of organizing a coup to achieve this to prevent the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and attempted to interfere in the results of the Brazilian elections. According to him, these people were arrested “for a coup that was never attempted.”
He explained that his father, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), was being persecuted by a “totalitarian justice system” and said that the demonstration called by the former president for this Sunday (23) in São Paulo was intended to bring together a million people.
Bolsonaro even spoke at CPAC last year. It is not known whether he was invited to this year's edition, but he was unable to travel abroad because his passport was confiscated by federal police in an operation launched on February 8.
Then it was Milei's turn to speak out against socialism, statism and Keynesianism, echoing the tone of his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January.
In a professorial tone, the Argentine president spoke in Spanish about economic theory, criticized proposals to regulate the economy and defended that “monopolies create wealth, higher wages and lower prices.”
Milei also preached against the “political caste,” against the “corrupt media,” and against the “murderous abortion agenda.” He also explained that the idea of social justice and income redistribution policies in practice lead to loss of income and increased poverty.
Milei imitated Trump and said he would “make Argentina great again,” and to applause from the audience, he ended his speech by repeating the slogan “Viva la libertad, carajo!”
Other CPAC attendees include El Salvador's recently reelected President Nayib Bukele, leader of Spain's ultraright Vox party Santiago Abáscal and former conservative British Prime Minister Liz Truss.