Donald Trump emerged from political exile Saturday to blast President Joe Biden and NATO over the Ukraine crisis and reprise his false claims of a stolen 2020 election in a speech to grassroots Republicans.
Speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, the former president spent 86 minutes reprising many of his favorite applause lines, assailing the "radical left" and its "witch hunt" against him.
As massive explosions lit up the sky over Ukraine's capital Kyiv, Trump blamed Russia's invasion of its neighbor on Biden's "weakness" and lavished praise on President Vladimir Putin's intellect.
"As everyone understands, this horrific disaster would never have happened if our election was not rigged," he said, to rapt applause.
NATO, he said, was "looking the opposite of smart" for hitting Russia with sanctions rather than resolving to "blow (Russia) to pieces -- at least psychologically."
"The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he's smart," he went on. "But the real problem is that our leaders are so dumb."
After a year largely out of the public eye, Trump's ecstatic reception left little doubt that the Republican Party remains in thrall to the twice-impeached, single-term president.
There were chants of "four more years" from the sea of supporters in red "Make America Great Again" hats, who clapped on cue as Trump railed against "woke tyranny" and "cancel culture."
The crowd reserved their largest cheers for the...
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