Donald Trump returns to Washington on Tuesday for the first time since leaving office, to deliver a speech on crime to an allied think tank that has drawn up an agenda for the former president’s possible second term.
Trump will address the America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI) America First Agenda summit, as some advisers urge him to spend more time talking about his vision for the future and less time reminiscing the 2020 election, as he is expected to announce a campaign for the 2024 White House race.
“I think it will be a very policy-oriented and forward-looking speech, very much like a State of the Union 5.0,” said AFPI President Brooke Rollins. Comprised of former Trump administration officials and allies, the nonprofit is widely seen as an “administration in waiting” that could quickly move to the West Wing of the White House if Mr. Trump ran again and won.
Mr. Trump’s appearance in Washington — his first trip since Jan. 20, 2021, when President Joe Biden was sworn in — comes as his potential 2024 rivals have taken increasingly overt steps to challenge his party standard bearer status. Among them is former Vice President Mike Pence, who has touted his own “freedom agenda” in speeches that implicitly contrast Mr Trump.
“Some people may choose to focus on the past, but I think the Conservatives need to focus on the future. If we do this, we will not only win the next election, we will change the course of American history for generations,” Mr. Pence had planned to say in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington on the eve of the visit of Mr Trump. Mr Pence’s appearance has been postponed due to inclement weather, but he will deliver his own speech on Tuesday morning to the Young America’s Foundation, not far from the AFPI meeting.
Since leaving office, Donald Trump has spent much of his time focusing on the 2020 election and spreading lies about his defeat to cast doubt on Mr Biden’s victory. Indeed, even as the January 6 committee shed light on his desperate and potentially illegal attempts to stay in power and his refusal to appease a violent mob of his supporters as they tried to halt the peaceful transition of power , Mr. Trump has continued to try to pressure officials to overturn Mr. Biden’s victory, despite there being no legal way to decertify the last election.
On Tuesday, he plans to focus on public safety.
“President Trump sees a nation in decline that is driven, in part, by rising crime and communities becoming less safe under Democratic policies,” his spokesman, Taylor Budowich, said. His remarks will highlight the political failures of the Democrats, while presenting a vision that puts America first for public safety, which will certainly be a defining issue in the midterms and beyond. »
Beyond the summit, staff at America First Policy Institute laid their own foundation for the future, “ensuring that we have the policies, staff and processes set for each key agency when we resume the White House,” Ms. Rollins said.
The nonprofit grew, she noted, out of efforts to avoid the chaotic early days of Mr. Trump’s first term, when he arrived at the White House unprepared. , without clear plans ready to be put in place. When Mr. Trump ran for re-election, Ms. Rollins, then head of Mr. Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, began sketching out a second-term agenda with other administration officials, including the senior adviser in economic policy Larry Kudlow and national security adviser Robert O’Brien.
When it became clear that Mr. Trump would leave the White House, she said, the AFPI was created to continue this work “organized around this second term program that we never published”. .
The organization, once seen as a landing zone for former Trump administration officials deprived of more lucrative jobs, has grown into a behemoth, with an operating budget of around $25 million and 150 employees, including 17 former senior White House officials and nine former cabinet members.
The group also has more than 20 political centers and has attempted to expand its reach beyond Washington by working to influence local legislatures and school boards. An “American leadership initiative,” led by former Office of Personnel Management chief Michael Rigas, was launched weeks ago to identify future employees loyal to Donald Trump and his “America First” approach. who could be hired as part of a broader effort to replace parts of the civil service, as Axios recently reported.
The group is one of many organizations allied with Mr. Trump that have continued to champion his policies in his absence, including America First Legal, dedicated to combating Joe Biden’s agenda through the justice system, the Center for Renewing America and the Conservative Partnership Institute.
The summit aims to highlight AFPI’s “America’s First Agenda”, centered on 10 key policy areas, including the economy, health care and election security. It includes many key issues related to Donald Trump, such as the continued construction of a wall along the southern border and a plan to “dismantle the administrative state”.
In a speech Monday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose “contract with America” has been credited with helping Republicans sweep the 1994 midterm elections, praised the effort that he sees as the key to the Republican Party’s future victory.
“The American people want solutions,” he said.