July 12, 2021
By Gary Bauer
More than 1,500 conservative activists gathered in Dallas, Texas, for a CPAC event this weekend. Former President Donald Trump addressed the crowd, as he has done for many years now. He fired up the boisterous audience for 90 minutes, and made the case of the conservative agenda like few can.
Not surprisingly, Trump dominated CPAC's poll, taking 70% of the vote in a hypothetical 2024 primary. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished second with 21%. No other candidate got more than 1%. If Trump doesn't run in 2024, 68% of CPAC attendees chose DeSantis as their candidate.
Trump is clearly in a category all by himself in his ability to energize the conservative base.
In much the same way that the Reagan agenda essentially redefined the mainstream of the Republican Party, Trump's "America First" agenda represents the new Republican Party. For example, Trump criticized how ineptly Joe Biden has handled the withdrawal from Afghanistan. But he did not question the need to get out after 20 years.
Trump talks naturally about middle America, just as Reagan did. Reagan was a movie star, and Trump has been called a "blue-collar billionaire." Both understood the values that animate Middle America, and why so Americans feel betrayed by our corporate, cultural and political elites.
Here's some advice for the other potential 2024 contenders stuck in the single digits: If you want to be in the top tier, you must embrace the Reagan/Trump working-class vision for America. By the way, working-class people come in all colors.
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