- Title: Conservatives energized by Trump's first month in office
- Date: 25th February 2017
- Summary: NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ON STAGE WITH PEOPLE IN FOREGROUND PEOPLE TAKING PICTURES ON CELLPHONES (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING: "America is coming about and it's coming back and it's roaring and you can hear it. It's going to be bigger and better...and it is going to be it
- Embargoed: 11th March 2017 01:06
- Keywords: CPAC Republicans meeting conservative politics Donald Trump supporters
- Location: NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
- City: NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00164VSRBB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: After nearly a decade on the political sidelines, conservatives said they're excited by the turn their party has taken in recent months and particularly by President Donald Trump's first few weeks in offices.
Many gathered to hear Trump's remarks at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland on Friday (February 24).
"Overall, the room was electrified. He kind of has one liners like for example fake news and things like that, that electrify the audience. A lot of people were honored to be able to see our president that close," Zachary Burns, 20, a student at St. Joseph's University said.
"Finally, we feel like our voices are being heard because for the last eight years we're very depressed," Mary Agnes Marocchi, 52, from East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania said.
"We feel like issues are being addressed which is like Obamacare. Oh, that was a mess....so just getting that one off of our chest is really good," Marocchi added. Marocchi and her husband run a manufacturing company that makes dye.
Trump used his remarks to CPAC, an organization that gave him one of his first platforms in his improbable journey to the U.S. presidency, to defend his unabashed "America first" policies.
He said he would make a massive budget request for one of the "greatest military buildups in American history" on Friday in a feisty, campaign-style speech extolling robust nationalism to eager conservative activists.
Ahead of a nationally televised speech to Congress on Tuesday (February 28), Trump outlined plans for strengthening the U.S. military, already the world's most powerful fighting force, and other initiatives such as tax reform and regulatory rollback.
While Trump's critics have accused him of not attempting to reach across the aisle to moderates and Democrats during his first month in office, his supporters applaud his follow-through.
"I thought...maybe he's going to like scale back on his promises. But, he's actually been keeping most of his promises," Nikhil Chandravel, 15, from Richmond.
Chandravel did acknowledge some frustration with Trump's handling of the immigration ban.
"I think, it was the right substance but he could have improved how he really put it out because it came without like without some advice from the Congress and from other people that would actually know how to... accurately and efficiently put this out. So, I think he can learn from that," he said.
"I give him a grade of an A-plus, 100 percent. He has accomplished more in the first 36 days than any other president has accomplished in four to eight years," Ariel Kohen, 45, a kosher food services manager from New York City said.
Others at the event said they are happy to see the Republican party more united than in previous years.
"I was at CPAC last year and it was kind of hectic. Obviously with the primaries, people were on different sides and now it's like...Republicans won, so we are all at ease and you can just feel that energy with everybody," Josh Di Natale, 20, said.
Trump is looking to put behind him a rocky first month in office. An executive order he signed aimed at banning U.S. entry by people from seven Muslim-majority countries became embroiled in the courts and his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned due to Russian contacts before Trump took office.
With the federal budget still running a large deficit, Trump will have to fight to get higher military spending through Congress. In his speech, he complained about spending caps put in place on the defense budget dating back to 2011.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump's proposed budget for this year "will be very clear" on how to fund the military spending increase.
Trump also heaped criticism on what he called purveyors of "fake news," seeking to clarify a recent tweet in which he said some in the U.S. news media should be considered an "enemy of the people."
He said his main beef was the media's use of anonymous sources.
His comments came on the same day CNN reported that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asked FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to deny a February 14 report in the New York Times that said Trump's presidential campaign advisers had been in frequent contact with Russian intelligence officers. The request came after McCabe told him privately the report was wrong.
Trump has repeatedly chosen to make news media criticism a focus of his public remarks since taking office on January 20.
The speech allowed Trump to put his stamp firmly on the conservative political movement, even as some activists fretted that his immigration and trade policies go too far.
With Trump in the White House and Republicans holding majorities in both houses of Congress, CPAC and the thousands of conservative activists who flock to the event each year from across the country are seeing their political influence rising. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None