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Former President Donald Trump will return to Washington on Tuesday, for the first time since leaving office, to deliver a policy speech before an allied think tank that has drawn up an agenda for a possible second term.
Former President Trump will address the two-day meeting of the America First Institute for Politics (AFIP), as some advisers are urging him to spend more time talking about his views on the future and less time networking with 2020 election as he prepares to announce an expected campaign for the White House in 2024.
“I believe it will be a very policy-focused, forward-looking speech, more like a State of the Nation 5.0 speech,” said AFPI President Brooke Rollins. Made up of former Trump administration officials and allies, the nonprofit is widely seen as an “administration in waiting” that could quickly move to the West Wing if Mr. Trump were to run again and win. .
Mr Trump’s appearance in Washington, his first trip since President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021, comes as his potential rivals in the 2024 election have taken increasingly open steps to challenge his status as the standard-bearer of the party. Among them is former Vice President Mike Pence, who has promoted his “Freedom Agenda” in speeches that serve as an implicit contrast to Mr. Trump.
“Some people may choose to focus on the past, but I believe conservatives should focus on the future. If we do that, we won’t just win the next election, we will change the course of American history for generations,” Mr. Pence had planned to say in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington ahead of Mr. Trump’s visit. Mr Pence’s appearance was postponed due to inclement weather, but he will deliver his speech on Tuesday morning in front of the New America Foundation, not far from the AFPI meeting.
Former President Trump has spent much of his time since leaving office focused on the 2020 election and spreading lies about his loss to cast doubt on President Biden’s victory. Indeed, even as the January 6 commission was highlighting his desperate and potentially illegal efforts to stay in power and his refusal to turn away a violent mob of his supporters as they tried to stop the peaceful transition of power, Mr. Trump continued to try to pressure officials to overturn Mr. Biden’s victory, despite having no legal means to overturn past elections.
“President Trump sees a nation in decline, in part because of rising crime and communities that have become more unsafe because of Democratic policies,” said his spokesman, Taylor Budowich. “His speech will highlight the policy failures of Democrats while presenting an ‘America First’ view of public safety that is sure to be a defining issue in congressional elections and beyond.”
Beyond the summit, AFPI staff laid the groundwork for the future, “making sure we have the policies, staffing and process in place for every core agency when we take back the White House,” Ms. Rollins said.
The nonprofit was developed, she said, out of efforts to avoid the chaotic early days of Mr. Trump’s first term, when he arrived at the White House unprepared, with no clear, ready-to-implement plans. While Mr. Trump was running for re-election, Ms. Rollins, then head of Mr. Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, began crafting a second-term agenda with other administration officials, including senior economic policy adviser Larry Kudlow and national security adviser Robert O’Brien.
When it became clear that Mr. Trump was leaving the White House, she said, AFPI was created to continue the work “organized around that second-term agenda that we never released.”
The organization has grown into a behemoth, with an operating budget of about $25 million and 150 staff members, including 17 former senior White House officials and nine former cabinet members.
The group also has more than 20 policy centers and has tried to expand its reach beyond Washington with efforts to influence local legislatures and school boards. An “American leadership initiative,” led by former Office of Personnel Management chief Michael Rigas, began several weeks ago to identify future personnel loyal to Mr. Trump and his “America First” approach who could to be hired as part of a larger effort to replace large parts of the civil service, online newspaper Axios recently reported.
The group is one of several organizations allied to Mr. Trump that have continued to advance his policies in his absence, including America First Legal, dedicated to fighting President Biden’s agenda through the court system, the Center for American Renewal and the Conservative Partnership Institute.
The meeting aims to highlight AFPI’s “America First Agenda,” focused on about 10 key policy areas, including the economy, health care and election security. It includes many of Mr. Trump’s signature issues, such as continuing to build a wall along the southern border and a plan to “dismantle the administrative state.”
In a speech Monday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose “Contract with America” has been credited with helping Republicans win the 1994 midterm elections, hailed the effort as key to the Republican Party’s future victory. .
“The American people are looking for a solution,” he said./VOA
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