A reporting class assignment
President Donald Trump delivered a speech tonight for the Conservative Political Action Conference where he delighted his supporters and simultaneously upset his opponents with a recap of his term.
“We ended the war on beautiful, clean, coal,” Trump said. “One of our great natural resources!”
Also in this recap were future promises for the future of his four years in office, including the reminder that his team had “fulfilled more promises than we made.”
Hundreds of supporters in the audience cheering loudly overshadowed the President, often forcing him to pause as rallying cries of “USA” and “build the wall” filled the conference room. Among the flood of supporters were also the occasional protester, and Trump even paused to recognize a few in the audience, commenting how few there were.
While his comments about his success delighted most of the attendees, there were sections of his speech that invoked backlash with his dissenters.
“We had a crooked media,” Trump said. “We had a crooked candidate too.”
His callouts of certain organizations that he felt had wronged him soon escalated into complaining about other politicians and legislature.
“They’ll take away your second amendment, which we will never allow to happen,” Trump said.
In remembrance of the Parkland Shooting, Trump spoke solemnly of the tragedy that occurred and began explaining his plans to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.
“When we declare our schools to be gun-free zones,” Trump said. “It just puts our students in far more danger.”
The speech then took a strange turn by ignoring the First Amendment when Trump declared that God came before government.
“In America we don’t worship government, we worship God,” Trump said. “Our Nation’s motto is ‘In God We Trust.’”
Cheering from the crowd only encouraged more pointed comments, and immigration was brought up multiple times.
“Do you think they’re giving us their good people? Not too many of you people are gonna be in the lottery,” Trump said, pointing around to the faces in front of him.
While wrapping up his hour-long speech, Trump unfolded a piece of paper and read aloud a monologue version of the song “The Snake” to the crowd, telling them to think of it in the context of immigration. In the song lyrics, a woman finds a snake dying alone in the cold and takes him into her home. Later, once revived, the snake turns on the woman who saved him.
“Oh, shut up, silly woman, said the reptile with a grin,” Trump recited. “You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.”