After missing last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, Donald Trump found new confidence on stage as he addressed the event for the first time as president. He promised to make it a habit.
“I wouldn’t miss a chance to talk to my friends,” he said. “I’ll be doing this with CPAC as often as I can.”
He thanked the "patriots" in the room for wanting to "Make America Great Again" with him.
Without beating around the bush, Trump got to the theme of his speech: the dishonest media.
The press, he said, will say he didn’t get a standing ovation, “because everybody stood and nobody sat.”
The crowd ate it up and awarded him another standing O, while shouting out “fake news!”
“The media didn’t think we would win,” Trump continued. “They all underestimated the power of the people. I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news.”
He expounded on that point, correcting the media’s claim that he called them all the enemy of the people. He said they left out a key word.
“A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people,” he said. “Because they have no sources. They’re very dishonest people. The fake news is the enemy of the people. They dropped off the word ‘fake.’ I’m not against the media. I don’t mind bad stories if I deserve them. I am only against the fake news and press.
The president then fumed over journalists who cite unnamed sources to try and impugn him.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name,” he said. “Let their name be put out there. Let them say it to my face.”
Trump couldn’t help referring to his favorite target, CNN, as the "Clinton News Network."
Then he got to his policy agenda.
“We’re getting bad people out of this country,” Trump said in regards to his immigration policy. “Those are the ones that go first. Basically all I’ve done is keep my promise.”
In addition to deporting criminal illegal immigrants, he promised the construction of a border wall, which will keep both illegals and drugs out of our country.
In terms of health care, Trump said the best thing his administration could was let Obamacare implode because the Democrats will "come to us and beg." But, “it’s not the right thing to do,” he noted. “We’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare.”
With pipelines now scheduled to be built, Trump said they will be constructed with American steel or “we’re not building it.”
The president pledged to upgrade our military to the point where "nobody will mess with us."
"It will be one of the greatest build ups in American history," he said, adding that Islamic terrorism will be kept out of the country.
Trump did not forgot to mention that the White House will protect our veterans and our Second Amendment.
“It took you a long time,” Trump told the conservative audience, but “you finally have a president.”
Watch the president's full speech below.