Trump doubles down on arming teachers at CPAC

President Donald Trump used his speech Friday to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference to re-emphasize his view that specially trained teachers, and other school staff should be armed to protect children from deranged mass-shooters.

‘When we declare our schools to be gun-free zones it just puts our students in far more danger,’ he said. ‘Well-trained gun-adept teachers and coaches and people who work in those buildings’ should be allowed to have ‘concealed carry permits’ for firearms.’

‘They love their students! They don’t want their students to be killed and to be hurt,’ he said of ‘patriots’ who could become schools’ first line of defense against crazed attackers.

Thousands leapt to their feet when Trump outlined a scenario in which an armed teacher might have met last week’s Florida school shooter in the hallway – and ‘would have shot the hell out of him before he knew what happened.’

As he left the White House for the event, the president told reporters that the National Rifle Association also ‘wants to do the right thing.’

Trump also pledged: ‘We’re going to do something about it. We’re going to make changes.’

But the freewheeling commander-in-chief took a casual approach to the podium, announcing at one point that he was going to ‘go off-script a little bit,’ because the alternative was ‘a little boring.’

President Donald Trump wowed thousands of conservatives at their annual convention on Friday, doubling down on his latest gun-control pronouncements and announcing new sanctions against North Korea

Trump used his speech to re-emphasize his view that specially trained teachers, and other school staff should be armed to protect children from deranged mass-

Trump used his speech (shown leaving the White House) to re-emphasize his view that specially trained teachers, and other school staff should be armed to protect children from deranged mass-shooters

Trump's audience launched into a vintage-2016 chant of  'Lock her up!' aimed at Hillary Clinton

Trump’s audience launched into a vintage-2016 chant of  ‘Lock her up!’ aimed at Hillary Clinton

'It's very possible that DACA won't happen, and it's not because of the Republicans. It's because of the Democrats,' Trump said, blaming congressional liberals for the fate of young illegal immigrants who expect to stay in the U.S. legally

‘It’s very possible that DACA won’t happen, and it’s not because of the Republicans. It’s because of the Democrats,’ Trump said, blaming congressional liberals for the fate of young illegal immigrants who expect to stay in the U.S. legally

Friday’s CPAC appearance – all 75 minutes of it – was anything but boring. Trump took shots at Democrats and reporters while praising ‘warriors’ among the GOP delegation in Congress. 

‘We have a very crooked media. We had a crooked candidate too,’ he said, referring to his vanquished election opponent Hillary Clinton.

At the mention of the words ‘crooked,’ a chant of ‘Lock her up’ shook the room – the rallying cry of take-no-prisoners ‘deplorables’ in 2016.

‘It’s amazing that’s come full-circle,’ the president grinned. 

Trump, a happy warrior following a harrowing week of fallout from a deadly school shooting, took the stage to shouts of ‘USA! USA!’ – and quickly shifted into self-deprecating mode.

‘What a nice picture that is!’ he joked, pointing to a giant video screen offstage. ‘I’d love to hear that guy speak.’

Looking at his own image onscreen, Trump tried to smooth his signature hairdo to conceal his comb-over.

‘I try like hell to hide that bald spot, folks. I work hard at it,’ he said to laughs and cheers. ‘It doesn’t look bad. We’re hanging in, right?’

'We have a very crooked media. We had a crooked candidate too,' Trump said Friday, referring to his vanquished election opponent Hillary Clinton

‘We have a very crooked media. We had a crooked candidate too,’ Trump said Friday, referring to his vanquished election opponent Hillary Clinton

Combing over: Trump jokingly groomed his signature coif while he looked at himself on a giant video screen, saying he had 'tried like hell' to hide his bald spot

Combing over: Trump jokingly groomed his signature coif while he looked at himself on a giant video screen, saying he had ‘tried like hell’ to hide his bald spot

Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham preceded Trump on stage, comparing liberals' resistance of the president to their hatred of Ronald Reagan during the 1980s

Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham preceded Trump on stage, comparing liberals’ resistance of the president to their hatred of Ronald Reagan during the 1980s

But Trump’s deadly serious moments included a line urging Americans to back ‘common sense measures that will protect the rights of law-abiding Americans while helping to keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a danger to themselves and to others.’

‘It’s not, “Do you love guns?” “Do you hate guns?”‘ he said. ‘It’s common sense.’

Trump needs to thread this needle if he hopes to drag Republicans a few inches toward a new gun control regime while also persuading Democrats to cede the credit for accomplishing it.

That, the White House has signaled, will be accomplished through a series of emotionally charged events like the one on Wednesday that saw grieving students and bereaved parents sit down with the president for a listening session.

‘On Wednesday, I had the honor of meeting with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, with families who have lost their children in prior shootings – great families, great people – and with members of the local community right here in Washington, D.C.,’ Trump said.

‘Our whole nation was moved by their strength and courage.’  

‘We listened to their heart-wrenching stories, asked them for ideas and pledged to them … that we will act. We will do something,’ he vowed, saying ‘there are not enough tears in the world’ for suffering families.

At the White House, however, he used the word ‘coward’ to describe an armed deputy at the school who stayed out of harm’s way instead of confronting the shooter who ultimately claimed 17 lives.  

‘He was not a credit to law enforcement. That I can tell you,’ trump said, adding: ‘He was tested under fire, and that wasn’t a good result.’

Trump emphasized the need for tighter mental-health screening of prospective gun buyers, while also arguing for giving schools the same level of firepower as other ‘soft’ targets.  

Trump read 'The Snake,' lyrics from an Al Wilson song that warns about a woman who knowingly revived a dying poisonous snake, only to have it kill her; he has used the story as a parable about the dangers of lowering barriers to illegal immigration

Trump read ‘The Snake,’ lyrics from an Al Wilson song that warns about a woman who knowingly revived a dying poisonous snake, only to have it kill her; he has used the story as a parable about the dangers of lowering barriers to illegal immigration

Millie March, 12, of Fairfax, Virginia, wears socks featuring President Donald Trump while awaiting his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference

Millie March, 12, of Fairfax, Virginia, wears socks featuring President Donald Trump while awaiting his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference

‘This was a sick person, very sick,’ he said of murderer Nikolas Cruz, ‘and we had a lot of warning about him being sick. This wasn’t a surprise.’

‘What are we doing?’ Trump asked. 

‘We want to ensure that when there are warning signs we can act, and act very quickly. Why do we protect our airports, our banks, our government buildings, but not our schools? It’s time to make our schools a much harder target for attackers.’ 

At CPAC, the president also urged activists to stay politically engaged even as they exult in his tax-cut victory in December.

‘Don’t be complacent,’ he said, warning of a blue-wave Democratic takeover that could wash over Congress in November. 

‘If they get in, they will repeal your tax cuts, they’ll put in judges that you wouldn’t believe, they will take away your Second Amendment – which we will never allow to happen,’ he said, stepping back to survey loud applause. 

Trump, who excited rally crowds for two years of campaigning by interacting with them in call-and-response routines, asked Friday’s audience to show by applause whether they thought tax cuts or gun rights were more important.

The Second Amendment, which protects ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms,’ won in a landslide. 

Trump also renewed his demand for Congress to ‘build a border wall to stop dangerous drugs and criminals’ from entering the U.S. from the south.

‘Don’t worry – you’re getting the wall!’ he said, as chants of ‘Build that wall!’ broke out. 

‘We’re going to get the wall, or they’re not going to have what they want,’ he vowed, talking about congressional Democrats who hope to establish a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who arrived to the U.S. as children.

The White House has signaled that change will be accomplished through a series of emotionally charged events like the one on Wednesday (pictured) that saw grieving students and bereaved parents sit down with Trump for a listening session

The White House has signaled that change will be accomplished through a series of emotionally charged events like the one on Wednesday (pictured) that saw grieving students and bereaved parents sit down with Trump for a listening session

Trump was spotted with a cue-card at his listening session on Wednesday, with a reminder to tell survivors and shooting victims' families that 'I hear you'

Trump was spotted with a cue-card at his listening session on Wednesday, with a reminder to tell survivors and shooting victims’ families that ‘I hear you’

‘They have totally abandoned DACA,’ Trump said of the Democrats, referring to the Obama-era Deferred action for Childhood Arrivals program.

‘It’s very possible that DACA won’t happen, and it’s not because of the Republicans. It’s because of the Democrats.’  

‘They’re willing to give us the wall, but they don’t want to give us any of the laws to keep these [illegal immigrants] out,’ he charged, arguing that he wants a new immigration policy ‘based on merit’ instead of familial connections.

In an elbow jab at Democrats, he mocked Nancy Pelosi for recently suggesting an emphasis on ‘mowing the grass so people can’t be smuggled through the grass.’

Trump’s immigration-issue coup de grace came near the end of his speech, when he read aloud the lyrics from a 1968 American soul song by Al Wilson.

‘The Snake’ was a staple of Trump campaign rallies, brought out whenever the Republican wanted to draw attention to the crime waves that he said came to America on the heels of permissive attitudes about illegal immigration.   

The song tells a fable about a young woman who saves a half-frozen serpent – only to be bitten and killed by it as the animal stays true to its nature.

‘You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in!’ Trump boomed Friday, ending the poem on its familiar crescendo.

He also unveiled a broad new set of sanctions against North Korea, calling them the ‘largest ever’ – in what seemed to be an afterthought.

A lone protester tried to steal the president’s focus during his first minutes onstage, and Trump, the showman, turned it into a slap at the assembled reporters.

‘How did he get in here?’ he chuckled. 

‘Just for the media, the fake news back there, they took very good care of him, they were very gentle.’ 

Conservative Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham preceded Trump on stage, comparing him to her first boss in Washington, President Ronald Reagan.

Vice President Mike Pence delivered his own speech on Thursday, defending his boss's priorities while simultaneously drumming up support for GOP congressional candidates in the fall 

Vice President Mike Pence delivered his own speech on Thursday, defending his boss’s priorities while simultaneously drumming up support for GOP congressional candidates in the fall 

A woman holds a sign at the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida, on Wednesday, claiming politicians should stop defending the NRA

A woman holds a sign at the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida, on Wednesday, claiming politicians should stop defending the NRA

‘This is the way it was in the ’80s’ she said, recalling the Gipper’s struggles with hostile media and a shell-shocked popular culture.

‘They resisted him every step of the way,’ she told young activists – many of whom were born in the Bill Clinton years.

Trump’s outsider candidacy rattled the conservative movement in 2015 and 2016, but his now-annual visit to CPAC is a sign of the grip he holds on the faithful

Prominent ‘never-Trump’ ideologues were absent on Thursday and Friday, leaving the interior of a suburban Maryland hotel looking like a cross between a Trump rally and a red-hat factory.

Vice President Mike Pence delivered his own speech a day before Trump, defending his boss’s priorities while simultaneously drumming up support for GOP congressional candidates in the fall.

‘Your president and I need you to show up,’ Pence told activists as he urged them to ‘defend all that we’ve accomplished.’

‘It’s been a year of promises made and promises kept,’ he claimed, while declaring 2017 the most significant year in the history of American conservatism. 

CPAC is typically a less boisterous affair in years when presidential elections aren’t on tap.

But Trump drew a capacity crowd, forcing organizers to pack the rear of the hotel’s largest ballroom with standing-room crowds and filling an overflow hall to its seams one floor below.

Notably absent were top Capitol Hill luminaries like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose moderate styles tend to leave Trump-lovers wanting.

Cabinet secretaries and major White House lieutenants were on hand, however, even if they didn’t face tough questions.

White House Counsel Don McGahn, for instance, sat for a 20-minute onstage interview-format appearance on Thursday, but was never asked about the security-clearance scandal roiling the West Wing.  



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