The most-prized spot for any Republican or conservative in America tonight was located deep in the heart of Texas Sunday evening, where the keynote speech by former President Donald J. Trump capped off a three-day event held in Dallas by grassroots GOP organization, the American Conservative Union (ACU).

In an approximately ninety-minute, keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) – Dallas this weekend, Trump urged a packed room full of conservative, libertarian, and Republican activists and party faithful to work tirelessly to “save [y]our country” by restoring a Republican majority in both houses of Congress in the midterm elections — and of course, a member of the Grand Old Party in the White House in 2024.

The honor of introducing the night’s star attraction — the 45th President of the United States — belonged to ACU chairman Matt Schlapp, who told the crowd they were about to hear from “the biggest impact player in our movement,” adding that Donald Trump will provide “leadership that will once again unite us.” Schlapp also mentioned Trump’s new, “historic, major class action lawsuit against Big Tech,” which the ACU and others have joined.

The ACU presents the CPAC conferences, with this second, Texas-based event following the traditional, wintertime event, which was held in February 2021 (relocated this year to Orlando, Florida, due to the Chinese virus, as well).

To the strains of his regular, rally opening music “God Bless the U.S.A.,” Trump appeared from backstage, looking by all signs his normal, buoyant self, decked out in a suit and his signature red tie. He stood several feet behind the podium for a few minutes, while greeting the crowd and clapping along to the music, before approaching the podium.

At which point, the jubilant crowd began chanting: “U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A!”

Pres. Trump enthused about being “back in heart of Texas,” while quickly taking a jab at one of his favorite punchbags: the legacy media. He called out their insistence during the 2020 election that Texas could become a blue state; it was “in play,” Trump joked, “It was in play for me!”

He made a promise to those listening, the dedicated party activists and his own, loyal supporters, “I’ve always fought for you, and I always will,” then raised his hand, before saying, “I promise.”

Trump pointed out in the room and thanked state Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas, and told Gov. Kristi Noem she was doing a “great job” with her state of South Dakota. He then asked the Texas congressmembers to stand and be recognized, calling them “all warriors.”

Then the gloves came all the way off. Beginning by centering remarks on Texas, Trump insisted that “Bernie Sanders is mild by comparison” to what the Biden administration has wrought in the scant number of months its been in charge. He attacked Biden about the United States-Mexico border policy and with his ruinous, administrative energy edicts aimed dead-center at the Lone Star state’s prominent oil industry. Trump intoned, “I told you!”

He also aimed at congressional Democrat leadership with the Biden border crisis spinning out of control, reminding everyone in the crowd that “Nancy Pelosi has a nice wall around her house.” Trump then railed against “chain migration,” a policy which Trump’s White House rescinded and the Biden administration has restored.

“We provided the safest border,” but under Biden, Trump said, “the entire country has become a border,” referring to Biden’s shipping illegal aliens (especially unaccompanied minors) to locations across the nation while the immigration system is overwhelmed by the swarms of people “trespassing our borders” drawn by promises by Biden and his allies.

He didn’t leave out American’s fundamental liberties in his speech. Trump insisted “the same far-left Democrats who said to defund the police also want to take away your Second Amendment rights.”

“I told you again. I told you,” Trump repeated, much like a refrain, in a sing-song manner, then continued, that the party across the aisle is “hard at work to abolish the First Amendment, too.” This line of rhetoric led in to remarking on his class action lawsuit against Big Tech companies, calling back to Schlapp’s opening words: “A lot of people are joining me.”

In speaking about the mood of the American people regarding how progressives like to portray themselves as the mainstream of the political winds, Trump said, “There’s no way they are 50 percent [of the country,] with “all the crazy things they say [on the Left].”

His statements swung at that point to the 2020 election and voter fraud. Trump especially pointed to “Mark Zuckerbucks,” as he nicknamed the Facebook founder among the rest of the “Silicon Valley tyrants.” Trump said Zuckerberg spent $400 million during the 2020 election in swing states to help out Joe Biden, while signaling that one of the primary ways was through paying for controversial “drop boxes” used by Democrat activists to gather mail-in ballots.

One of Trump’s old chestnuts in rallies leading up to the 2020 election seemingly had a new answer tonight: “Where’s Hunter?”

The former president responded, in a joking way: “He’s in a studio making a painting, a painting that gets $500,000. Hunter Biden is the first person to ever make $500,000 for a painting who’s never painted before.”

Going back to Big Tech interference, he said of the treatment of conservatives on social media platforms, “you say ‘election fraud,’ you get canceled.” Trump also hit the legacy media on its collusion with Democrats on the impression of the election as untainted by fraud.

He added that the way the 2020 election was run has harmed our standing in the world. Trump said, “We always had the reputation for being a wonderful country for fair elections. Not anymore.”

Georgia Republican governor and state secretary of state didn’t elude razing by Trump, whom he sunk his claws into over Georgia’s process of recounting and certifying the results there in 2020.

He went back to talk of America’s world reputation. “We are being scorned and disrespected” around the world for how the elections were done, Trump said.

He also spoke about how “sick and tired” the U.S. military” was before Trump came into office.

Citing a recent poll on Critical Race Theory and Democrat social justice talking points, Trump proclaimed, “The people do not support the woke Left. They are with us.”

Pointing out the absurdity of anyone choosing to vote for progressive agenda, knowing that it will surely mean higher taxes (which Democrats aren’t shy about saying), he said, “They’re raising your taxes so you can play for the Green New Deal.”

There were more Republicans in Trump’s crosshairs in his speech. He derided GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy for, as he said, campaigning in his home state as “Trump’s friend” then “he voted to impeach me.” In contrast, Trump had praise for Cassidy’s fellow Louisiana senator, a former Democrat and staunch Trump ally, John Kennedy.

Trump had a stern warning for any Republican who crosses over to compromise with a Democrat Party that will do anything to win. “Democrats are ruthless, but they’re united. They don’t have these Romney types,” he said, in a part of the speech in which he also cited Liz Cheney, Ben Sasse, and others as similar impediments to the conservative movement’s agenda.

Then he turned to the topic of his close confidante and personal attorney, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani. Trump called out the irony of “one of the great crime-fighters of his generation” losing his law license in the state of New York. “Rudy fought because he saw the election was rigged. And because he fought, he lost his license in New York and Washington, D.C.” Recalling his time while living in NYC, with Rudy as mayor. “you could walk down the street” safely.

Trump talked about “Shifty Schiff,” calling his assertions during the impeachment trials b***s**t,” which got a roar from the room. He continued:

“[Rep.] Adam Schiff is a very dishonest man. He would stand up in front of a microphone and say, ‘It’s a sad day that Donald Trump works for Russia.'”

He said it was essentially a farce, when Trump was the one whose administration “shut down” the Nord Stream pipeline on Russia. This led into him saying that, while he “likes” former Trump attorney general Bill Barr, calling him a “good man,” he slammed Barr for not holding anyone accountable for the “phony dossier,” and not going after the women who made false accusations against now-Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Trump had some advice for the Republican Party on dealing with the kind of hardball the progressive left plays. “Republicans play a nice game, but maybe….they might start rethinking the game plan.”

Returning to old foes, Trump called Hillary Clinton “the most angry person in the United States. He explained by pretending to be Hillary: “Why didn’t you do that [spying on the Trump campaign] for me?” (meaning, in 2016). “Why didn’t you cheat for me, dammit? I coulda been somebody,” referencing either actor DeNiro’s or Brando’s famous line from luckless loser movie characters.

Trump described the “long march” of the Left through the nation’s institutions, among them our education system, Hollywood, “even the Supreme Court.”

He repeated his criticism of Barr as being “too nice,” looping in “the Republicans” as having the same defect, when it comes to Democrat dirty tricks.

Trump spoke sparingly of 2020 election competitor Joe Biden in the address; though, he had a little fun with one reference, in which he pointed out that Biden had always been either a congressman or senator, yet owned many houses. “I didn’t know you made that kind of money,” Trump inquired of the gathered, Texas congressmembers in the crowd. He jokingly asked them, “Does [Rep.] Louie Gohmert have mansions all over Texas?

In an intriguing 2024 mention, Trump claimed he is “leading in the polls against [Kamala] Harris,” adding that he’s hearing “not a lot of people think Joe’s going to run” for reelection.

The speech turned to the ACU event itself, as Trump told the audience he had said to the organizers of CPAC “give me ‘Death Valley.’….’give me any time on Sunday. And look at this crowd!” He continued, “I said, ‘give me the worst time. I don’t care.'”

Donald Trump rebuked what he called “RINOs” over potential tax increases by the Biden administration and Democrat leaders.

“I’m telling the Republican senators right now, we’re not going to stand” for a tax increase, with Republican “RINOS walking over to the White House,” only to get “fleeced,” he said, by agreeing to Biden and Dems’ bloated and unnecessary infrastructure package.

Trump talked about the energy independence the country enjoyed under his administration. “We don’t need windmills in Texas and lots of other places.”

He boasted about playing kingmaker for candidates who gained victories in the primaries, and that the movement he helped start is growing stronger. “Our endorsement — it’s really your endorsement — has become the most powerful weapon in politics.” About 2022, he vowed, “When we regain control of the Congress, we will regain control of our border.” Then added it would also mean the momentum and majority would “make them [China] pay reparations” for the Wuhan coronavirus, Big Tech would be put to heel, and it would make sure “voter ID is implemented.”

He touched on new Democrat claims about voter ID, that they say they are for it, now that polls show that most Americans do. Trump said of the Democrats, “These people are sick.”

But, Trump wasn’t done taking aim at the Democrat-Media complex. “The Democrat-controlled media talks “race, race, race,” for political reasons…and they are doing it in a very humiliating fashion,” which most terrible of all, Trump explained, hurts the very minority communities the left claims to speak for.

Trump chided the GOP: “You were in big trouble 5 years ago….” taking credit for bringing back “working men and working women” into the Republican Party’s big tent.

In his closing argument, the former president rallied the assembled grassroots army, urging them not to weary or stop fighting for the cause, when much has been sacrificed by patriots who sacrificed so much for us. “We owe our country no less than that,” he said, adding: “Our movement is the greatest in American history — and it has just begun.”

The speech ended with the Trump 2020, late-campaign closing song, “YMCA” filling the air, as Trump danced and stayed on stage to gaze out at the capacity crowd until the moment the dance hit’s chorus began.

UPDATE [07/12/21]: You can watch Trump’s full speech at CPAC Dallas 2021 below, via Rumble: