Donald Trump boasts his health is good for White House run

Donald Trump has cemented his position as the overwhelming favourite to be the Republicans’ next presidential nominee.

Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC in Dallas, Texas. Picture: AFP.

Donald Trump hailed himself as the “healthiest president ever” in contrast to President Biden as he cemented his position as the overwhelming favourite to be the Republicans’ next presidential nominee at a conference for the party faithful in Texas.

Trump, 76, was the star speaker at the influential Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a gathering of movers and shakers, which ended yesterday.

An anonymous straw poll of delegates on their preferred candidate for 2024 gave the former president 69 per cent support, leaving him way out in front of his nearest rival. Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, trailed in second place on 24 per cent of the vote.

Trump spoke for almost two hours in the prime time slot on Saturday, returning to familiar themes such as the unfounded claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

In a thinly veiled attack on Biden, who has been isolating for much of the past fortnight after testing positive for the coronavirus, Trump lauded his own fortitude, boasting that his former White House doctor Ronny Jackson “loved” looking at his body. “He was a great doctor,” Trump said. “He was an admiral, a doctor and now he’s a congressman.

“He loved looking at my body. It was so strong, powerful. But he said I’m the healthiest president that’s ever lived … I said, ‘I like this guy’.”

He also continued a theme of his most recent speeches with an authoritarian tone on law and order issues, and continued his attacks on “wokeness”, promising that transgender athletes would not be able to compete in women’s sports if he returned to power.

Trump also reiterated his call for homeless people to be moved to “tent cities” on the outskirts of large US cities. “It’s also time to take back our streets and public spaces from the homeless and the drug addicted and the dangerously deranged,” he said.

“If you look at countries throughout the world, the only ones that don’t have a drug problem are those that institute the death penalty for drug dealers,” he announced, adding that a similar stance in the US would reduce drug trafficking.

Trump’s popularity with Cpac attenders appears to be growing. At a similar event in Florida in February, the former president won 59 per cent, with DeSantis on 28 per cent.

Trump invited Riley Gaines, a University of Kentucky swimmer who has been critical of transgender rivals, on to the stage

“We will keep men out of women’s sports,” Trump promised. “Just to show you how ridiculous it is, look at me. I’m much bigger and much stronger than her,” he said. “There’s no way she could beat me in swimming. Do we all agree?” At one point Gaines appeared to recoil at Trump’s attempt to kiss her on the cheek.

Cpac, which also included speeches by Viktor Orban, Hungary’s populist prime minister, and Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK’s Brexit Party, ended a mixed week for Trump.

He has basked in being a Republican kingmaker before November’s midterm elections. Candidates have sought his backing, and on Tuesday Trump’s slate of nominees swept the board in Arizona, a key swing state that Biden won in 2020 by a few thousand votes.

At the same time a federal grand jury that is investigating efforts by Trump’s team to reverse the 2020 election subpoenaed Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel under Trump, andPatrick Philbin, his deputy. It indicates an intensification of the US justice department’s investigation into the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters ransacked the building in the hope of halting the confirmation of Biden as president.

The congressional committee investigating the insurrection, which resulted in the deaths of five people, has lambasted Trump, especially over his inaction when it became evident that the rioters had turned violent.

Yesterday Biden was cleared by doctors at the White House to travel after testing negative for coronavirus. He first tested positive on July 21.

Despite a lack of direct contact with officials, Biden’s administration has enjoyed one of its most fruitful fortnights. Yesterday Democrats in the senate were poised to pass Biden’s benchmark spending bill that will raise more than dollars 700 billion over the next decade.

The legislation will impose a 15 per cent minimum tax on large, profitable companies, has climate provisions and will allow Medicare, the government’s health insurance program, to negotiate lower drug costs.

The killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qa’ida’s leader, in a drone attack on July 31 has given the White House a much-needed foreign policy boost.

The Times