Former president Donald Trump mused Saturday to the GOP’s top donors that the United States should label its F-22 planes with the Chinese flag and “bomb the s — t out of Russia.”
“And then we say, China did it, we didn’t do it, China did it, and then they start fighting with each other and we sit back and watch,” he said of labeling U.S. military planes with Chinese flags and bombing Russia, which was met with laughter from the crowd of donors, according to a recording of the speech obtained by The Washington Post.
He espoused praise for North Korea’s brutal leader, marveling at how Kim’s generals and aides “cowered” when the dictator spoke to them. “Total control,” Trump said of how Kim ran the country, describing generals snapping to attention and standing up on command.“I looked at my people and said I want my people to act like that,” he said to laughter.
Trump all but said he planned to run for the presidency again — and that he was going nowhere. “I wonder who that might be,” he jokingly said of the 2024 nominee, as the crowd broke out in “Trump!” chants. Donors have also heard from Pence, senators and congressmen, pollster Kellyanne Conway and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, according to people familiar with the events. Pence and Haley, both potential 2024 candidates, touched on some of the same themes as Trump — Ukraine and Russia, chiefly — but offered vastly shorter and different speeches.
. Trump cited the comments Saturday night: “Nobody has ever been tougher on Russia than me,” he retorted, adding that those who have accused him of being a “Putin apologist” disqualify themselves from being “serious leaders of our country.”Haley did not mention Trump once in her speech, according to audio reviewed by The Post.
pandemic and, in contrast with Trump’s comments in recent weeks, criticized Russia for its moves in Ukraine.“When China gave covid to the world and millions of people died, what did we do? We didn’t even call one pitiful meeting at the United Nations,” she said. “We didn’t ask China to step up. … We’ve done nothing about it.”Several people in the room said that Trump’s speech stretched far too long and that he sounded like he was rambling more in the last 30 minutes.
He bragged about pushing NATO — which he called a “paper tiger” — to force its countries to pay more for joint defense, but did not mention that he threatened to pull out altogether. He attacked Biden for rising inflation and gas prices, using exaggerated numbers in some cases, and said countries were “emptying their prisons” in the United States until he came along.
And he ominously spoke of Putin being more willing to engage in nuclear war — even referencing World War III — because Biden is president. He said that around the world, others would become more aggressive, too, without him.
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