Former President Donald Trump blew away the competition in Sunday’s Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll, winning with 70 percent of the vote. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in second place at 21 percent.
The rest of the contenders only got one percent or less of the votes each. The ones that got one percent include Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. Former Vice President Mike Pence got zero percent of the votes.
Trump spoke at the CPAC convention in Dallas, where he discussed the lawsuits he filed against Facebook, Twitter and Google. He also expressed disappointment with his former Attorney General William Barr and his Supreme Court pick Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Former President Trump accused the social media companies of interfering in the 2020 election, suppressing negative news coverage of President Joe Biden, and censoring discussions on his unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
“And then Trump, the President of the United States, was banned from the social media, as we call it, by sleazebags. I was banned by sleazebags. I was banned by bad people,” former President Trump said. “They’re far worse. I don’t say I’m perfect, but they’re far worse than I am, I will. They are far worse. In other words, the entire system was rigged against the American people and rigged against a fair, decent and honest election.”
Trump’s callout of former Attorney General Barr is related to Barr’s stepping down after his Justice Department found no sign of major fraud in the election. The callout of Justice Kavanaugh is related to the Supreme declining to hear a lawsuit contesting the results in four states.
Trump also made headlines Sunday when he praised the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters. “These were peaceful people, these were great people,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. He went onto say his speech before the attack was full of “love in the air”. According to the Justice Department, 140 police officers were assaulted in the ensuing riot.
Hundreds of Trump supporters have been charged with various crimes. More than 50 have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.