Trump Delivers Rambling Self-Congratulatory Speech to Half-Empty Room at CPAC (VIDEO)

According to a piece from New York Magazine, empty seats were everywhere in the ballroom where Donald Trump gave his 2013 CPAC speech. Ironically, Trump was invited because he supposedly was going to draw a big crowd.

“Mr. Trump’s previous CPAC appearance was hugely popular among our attendees and we expect it will be even more popular this year,” Al Cardenas, the head of the American Conservative Union, said earlier this month when announcing Trump’s invitiation.

Trump's CPAC 2013 speech was met with mild enthusiasm and a low turnout.
Trump’s CPAC 2013 speech was met with mild enthusiasm and a low turnout.

“The speech itself was mildly received.” Dan Amira of New York Magazine writes. “There were a few moments of scattered clapping, some chuckling. The biggest applause came when Trump suggested, once again, that we ‘take’ Iraq’s oil and use the proceeds to pay a million dollars each to the families of the American soldiers who died in the war.”

Going somewhat against the tide of opinion from the platform at the conference this year, Trump warned the GOP against immigration reform, suggesting that validating the immigration status of “11 million illegals” would just create 11 million Democratic votes, putting the Republican party on a “suicide mission.” Instead, he argued, the US should consider allowing more Europeans to the country.

In what was mostly a rambling speech without any clear direction, Trump managed to keep a unifying theme which was his own sense of self-greatness. “I’ve made over $8 billion,” he said randomly at one point — for no apparent reason. He then bizarrely started talking about a country club he just bought, saying, “I’m going to fix it. I’m going to make it incredible.”

Watch Trump’s CPAC speech in the video below.

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