Donald Trump’s keynote speech before a smaller-than-usual crowd at the 2023 CPAC get-together on Saturday night was panned on MSNBC on Sunday morning, with one analyst saying his dark portrayal of America could have come out of a comic book movie.
Appearing on “The Katie Phang Show,” Hunter College’s Basil Smikle Jr. agreed with the MSNBC host that the latest CPAC gathering was “lackluster” at best, but did show that the former president is likely still the leading contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Getting right to the point, Smikle stated, “Well, I tell you, it was a rambling speech, as you said. It was a tease. He talked about the fact he would be this warrior for justice, this soldier in this final battle, a soldier for retribution. It sounded like a bad Batman script.”
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“It didn’t really sound like a presidential candidate who, you know, is trying to win back a good chunk of the Republican party who have since left him,” he continued. “But the reality is, the supporters that were there, and there were not that many compared to other years, the supporters who were there were the most fervent,” he added.
“You have to imagine that Republicans are looking at Trump and these other candidates and saying, as long as there are multiple candidates against Donald Trump, he is more likely to win,” he elaborated. “And that has to scare a lot of folks. So it was a lackluster event, but for Trump, it may have accomplished what he wants it to accomplish.”
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