OXON HILL, MD.—When Ronald Reagan spoke to the Conservative Political Action Conference two months into his presidency, he invoked conservative philosophers of yore, hailed Barry Goldwater, and spoke in lofty tones of American idealism and “goodness.”President Donald Trump, appearing at CPAC a month into his presidency, did — not that, at all. The crowd loved it.Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald TrumpTrump, continuing to be Trump, gave a Friday speech almost indistinguishable from one of his campaign rally addresses — jabs at Hillary Clinton and all. Alternating between scripted nationalism and improvised monologuing about himself, the Republican president bashed the news media, insulted U.S. allies, mocked pollsters and pundits, complained that America never wins at anything, disavowed responsibility for solving global problems, and vowed to stand up for workers, gun owners and people he said have been harmed by Obamacare.The crowd — young-leaning, mostly in suits, in a ballroom in the Washington suburbs — ate it all up, as per usual. When Trump scoffed at Clinton’s suggestion that some of his supporters were “deplorables,” the room erupted in a chant of “lock her up.” Trump, who promised during the campaign to prosecute Clinton, did not respond.Trump made his usual promises, all of which are popular with Republicans: a border wall, a hard line on illegal immigration, a military buildup, a massive tax cut. In perhaps his most startling remark, he described the “fake” media as “the enemy of the people,” as he did on Twitter a week prior — a remark described by retired Navy Admiral William McRaven, who led the raid against Osama bin Laden, as perhaps “the greatest threat to democracy” in his lifetime.In his speech, Trump wrongly accused the media even of inaccurately covering his “enemy of the people” tweet ...
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