defend it. as governor i saw our state move beyond hate and violence and lift up everybody in peace. .... i .... >> now we have a duty to make it greater still. this is my purpose. this is our mission. let's saveis our country from weakness and wokeness. let's bring back a nation that is strong and proud. if anyone can do it it's the american people. and i have faithth that we will prevail again. thank you, and god bless america. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪

>> coming up more speeches from cpac will hear from former secretary of state mike pompeo and then businessman and gop presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> good afternoon, everyone. good afternoon. great to be back at cpac. it's wonderful, great -- that's a fantastic book you got right there. it is great to be back among friends this weekend, fellowshi fellowship. we talk about the things that

matter to america. we were great friends to get although -- breaking a lot less bread these days. my wife is happy. life is pleasant. i wish to appear, i shall. it always leaving more optimistic more energized. it's welcome side effect to spend all thiss great time with folks like you understand the beauty and the power of america that is a country of the united states of america.th [applause] as i look around some of you are a little young but a lot of us can remember that there were different times so we are now halfway through the four-year contract -- a little over halfway. we've made it this far but it feels way different today. it feels different. we remember president reagan said freedom is never more than a generation away as my son he

was married this past summer, six months married so far so good. we know that there's a second-half of that famous line, because as each of us we don't have the freedom for our children. we have to put in -- [inaudible] i'm confident none of you are ever going to let that happen. thank you. bless you for that. [applause] but we are reminded we have to fight for it. we have to protect it. we can't handd it to them. it will be handed to us. that's why it feels different this year. the future of our american miracle is on the line in a way that i've not seen -- since i was in high school. just a few weeks ago i watched the chinese by this that flies by balloon over are a few pics of him as if it would've happened if i stood there and i said had it i would have been the former secretary of state.

we've watch russia invade ukraine driving up cost of each and everyone of us here at home. i think of my home state of kansas where fertilizer to put drops in the field is more expensive now and they're their threading her friends around the world as well. but, of course, sometimes they seem a little far away. these threats are inside the gates that are here at home. indeed although i i served the secretary of state my first job was as assistant manager at baskin-robbins. so i know things here, to. a some notes flavors, excellent. our greatest threat to hear come from within. the real challenge we face today were losing respect for individual freedom. a unified faith in the american purpose and a shared commitment to pass this miracle on to our children is at risk. but i think last year 2022 the second year of the biden administration was a wake-up call for all of us, for

conservatives, for those of us of these long-held and deep beliefs that are not new to this fight. we should have one big. i'm happy that we won the house but we barely captured it. we see inflation gas prices high border crisis. will notice problems. others have spoken about them but we didn't capture that. we lost three elections in a row and the popular vote in seven of the last eight. there are many reasons for this but one of them is i think they have lost trust in the conservative ideas and this is the path that is in front of us. i am convinced we can do it because we are right. i -- [applause] my mom and dad taught me to hate losing and it is in my bones. the book out those just race never give an inch, losing is bad because losing is bad but the principles that we stand for our what's really at risk.

it's not a political problem. the problem is that the losses are a symptom of something much bigger. i think it's a crisis in conservatism. we have lost confidence that we are right. it's not just a crisis of confidence tickets when a character as well. we need to get everyone who understands america and our judeo-christian founding back and is moving in the same way we know can beti done. a basic return to the central ideas not only in the way we talk about it but the way we act, our deeds, every one of us. what's it look like when we do? i'm convinced we are unstoppable when we are fully committed to freedom, equality, the basic things we all know, and unwavering faith and a founding principles. that belief, that faith in god who gave us all of our rights come come to my time as young cadet at west point, it sustainable as a young soldier

tank platoon leader under freedom frontier in east gery during the cold war fighting alongside my fellow soldiers ready to do america's work in determining the bad guys in that time of conflict -- deterring -- allowed me to have the opportunity is a disability of american greatness to stare down some of our toughest foes the most committed enemies when i was a 70th secretary of state. always makes me laugh, i was the 70th secretary. president trump wases a 45th present so i reminded there is more turnover in my job than his. for years we did well. i've had the chance to learn top lessons on the front line in a fight for freedom that these ideas these principles are not just things we come to cpac and talk about or that we share with our friends. the things we do at the toughest momentse to share our destiny with each other, having faith in omission and the confidence that we can actually execute in a way

that delivers good outcomes for our kids and for our grandchildren. i think these ideas have lessons for the republican party, too. we have and give it awful lot. that means where were reqa whole bunch, too. we've been given this freedom. we been entrusted to protect it. we must live up to expectation both in our character and in the results that we achieved. we need a party, a conservative party having the practicalth hod again at home again led by people with real character, competence and commitment to the mission the project allid here today. restoring an america that is not only great what moral, muscular, decent, ready to sit down forces on freedom not just on twitter or an immediate but in every place that this is under threat. you all see it. i was out last year campaigning hard. every parent knows what's going on in our schools today. they have had about enough of it and they're standing up.

they are taking it to every corner of america protecting our youth from the teachers unions, people like randi weingarten who were indeed dangerous to our country. we have to also, let's also show why. to show why and how we're different from the left, bracing conservatives of the sets us apart in substance and style. in our commitment to value. liberals look for solutions in the government. we'vee seen that that is dangerous. don't hand that government more power under the guise of conservatism. we shouldn't look for larger-than-life personalities but rather we should find power in the rooms like this one, people all across the country. and i'm confident we're going to get there. a renewed dedication to accountability, personal responsibility and results. this is the thing that made the conservative movement in our party successful for decades. we can't become the left, following the liberal leaders withe our own brand of identity politics. those with fragile egos who

refused to acknowledge reality. this is a tough world both abroad and here and we can't shift blame to others but must accept the responsibility that comes to those of us who step forward and lead. [applause] over the last few years i've heard some acclaim to be conservative. excuse hypocrisy by saying something like well, we are electing a president not a sunday school. that's true but having taught sunday school maybe we could get both. [laughing] it's time, it's time for us to make sure we're living out these very things are asking others to do. these external threats, these enteral threats that we face today, their challenge to american sovereignty, our traditions. i think back to my days as cia director and my very first meeting with him jump on in pyongyang to president trump asked me to go there to try to right the ship of our relationship and try to get the

nuclear weapons out of chairman kim sanskrit i prepared for the moment for months. read lots of things without we talked about but his first words were to me, mr. director, i didn't think you would show up since you been trying to kill me. that was not on my bingo card. where things he might say. so when the moment i said mr. chairman, maybe iki still am. thankfully -- yes, thankfully he laughed like you did after it was translated. but while at touch schumer's i think it was important, he knew i was serious and that we are going to protect america in e matter the cost to anyone american. the threats, the threats we face today are no less demanding than those that faced our parents and our grandparents who fought in world war ii and vietnam and korea, and the young people

today who fought our wars ie middle east. this challenge that we all hear so much about from the chinese communist party, this challenge threatens every aspect of our lives sometimes a thing but china we think about taiwan come right? that seems a long waysbo away. the real challenge from china is that there inside the gates. they are gathering intelligence through technology that are on our cell phones. they are here propagandizing. i directed the closure of the largest spy operation ever conducted inside the united states of america. the chinese government was doing this from our diplomatic facility in houston, texas, of all places. we shut it down. no other administration would have ever done that. [applause] i'm not one for vindication but this week it was good to see the department of energy finally conclude that the damn virus came from the lab in wuhan.

[applause] i frankly i nearly lost my job. i nearly lost my job as secretary of state for publicly ripping into china over what happened this covid virus that they hoisted on the entire world killing millions and affecting every life in this room for years and years. you know, i contradicted the official american life that it been in place for 40 years. people who said what, xi jinping is doing a good job. frankly i was told to shut the heck up. but we should never shut the heck up where defending the united states of america and its people. [applause] it was wrong to praise the chinese communist party when i went on tv in march 2020, seems a long time ago, three years, and and said i think this virus came from the laboratory. was called racist and worse but the date he was as clear then as it is today. it's not that particular instance but the idea of

protecting america by speaking the truth thatst matters most. because these challenges, they're great, they are real. i make no, no bones about it but we of all face similar challenges before. we are not paint is here in america. we are pretty tough people. and h i'm convinced you are evey bit as tough as those folks who came before us the pot for a war for independence, the fought in world war ii, the cold war. we took down the evil empire. we took down the radical left in the '60s when they're trying to begin the change that we see now back to being hoisted het home. t and it's these internal threats that are the most dangerous by four. free people can't survive an unrelenting growth of government. we should be candid here, too. pervasive regulation, taxes, government controls are the things that are driving inflation and make your eggs so expensive today. but just asar importantly they erode the american commitment to the dignity of hard work.

those of us who get up every day get after it. the fairness of playing by the rules is aggregated when government steps in and awards bonuses to people based on something other than the fact that they worked hard and were decent and good. and more importantly it erodes the fundamental decency, the goodness of doing what is right every day. i mention midterms in 2022. i am still am still not quite over it. not because of me but because it is still impacting things in america. while the house can stop the craziest of stuff, we can't begin to right the ship in the way that is necessary. we lost race after winnable race because voters didn't trust us to do any better than the tax and spend liberal spirit we knew the story but we hadn't demonstrated through deeds that we were actually prepared to do the things we were saying we coulde do.

i stare today at $31 trillion of debt. thomas junta worker because social security may just not be there for you. onevery recent administration, republican and democrat alike, had a choice of dollars toward that cricket is deep and conservative. , the administration i served added $8 trillion into debt. this is this is indecent and can't continue. earningg back that trust will be hard work. it won't just be a campaign speech. it won't juste be talking about it. we did demonstrate series does, people who will explain to the american people to the kids and grandkids why this matters. thisl will require tough choices difficult choices but the risks required are worthy. we can never give an inch of american sovereignty at home or abroad because a free and sovereign nation requires each of us to be free, and big government destroys that. [applause] we need to reconceptualize this.

as a former soldier we need a renewed commitment to true equality. i talked about its a bit. equality is a promise that makes being an american something exceptional, something unique, different. than any place else in the world. an american it's not an identity. it's not about wealth or status. this idea of success an opportunity close to each of us by birthright and by the nature of god writes that he bestowed, the rights right the godn us. that promise that made us a city on him but made us great, too, from the days of our declaration of independence to abraham lincoln into dr. king. this commitment to equality some time something goes those who say their conservative want to walk away from. they justt want to hand out the been effectively. we kept let that happen. may feel good. we may give your money taxpayer make major conservative cause but in the end the liberals would get

that power and they will make life difficult for all of us. it was, goodness, almost 30 years ago i was in that army take. i can almost fit back in it. i was starting across the german boarder at the east chairman's, the frontline of the soviets. outnumbered us about nine to one. the men under my command didn't see themselves as victims. they didn't see themselves as woke. they didn't see themselves as needing a safe space. they wanted no advantage because they were italian or black or an immigrant. they wanted to work. he wanted to learn to assemble and disassemble their m-16 and fired their him one main battle tank going 20 miles an hour down the road firing in a moving vehicle. they wanted to be good. they're what are to be excellent. excellent. they wanted to protect our way of life. [applause] they were man of deep character.

they didn't talk about what they did. they had a a shared commitmend they had a conference in america that we can never lose and this is how we get back to trust of the american people. i've seen this up close. seen america's most senior leadership leaders obsessed with pronouns.s. and last obsessed with only now that matters to a soldier, victory. some would have us -- [applause] some would have us up in this commitment in the name of equity. that's craziness. they would exchange the n bravey of the civil rights movement for the cowardice and victimhood of grievance politics and here's the good news that i believe you with today. there are signs that are not succeeding. gives me enormous help. equality, this basic idea that each of us is endowed by a grey with these unalienable rights and were equal in the eyes of the lord is the antidote to the

poisonous lie of equity will test an identity politics. we can, we're going to do better. and on this, on this there's no room to give an inch, no room to lawful, the roofer weakness. we should not be ashamed, embarrassed, trouble. we should be proud of the fact we stand for the central idea. and when we do that we will renew the bonds that we those of us together that tie us together as americans in way that no other nation has, i saw this, i travel to 100 some countries as secretary of state. we can sustain this american miracle. our families, our places of worship will be at the center of that. these places, our schools and our places of worship are the cradle of the american miracle. not washington, d.c. we arere here today. we stated today in the swap. this place where your money goes to be fluttered away for purposes that are inconsistent with the very values that you know and you cherish and you

love. it's. not about the state of the bureaucracy. it'sr about being a a natione again bound by a common set of ideas that hadmo animated as sie the very founding. let's get back there. conservatives will leader. let's fight to preserve not the deep state, i work with it for four years, but a nation that is deeply grounded in the values that make us exceptional. with family at its bedrock of american freedom and colleagues are the things that will bring us back together and the thing that will convince the next generation that our conservative ideas are places that made america so great. when our schools teach kids to be ashamed of america, when the teach the 1619 project instead of our founding, we are at risk. xi jinping isre counting on us teaching our kids this crap. you're not going to let it happen. a politicized history of america fronted by the teachers unions

law compared out of our schools and they will keep so-called gender transitions hidden from parents. this is a moral. this is evil and it is dangerous. families may not pass freedom on in the blood but as president reagan said that there assures the most effective place to raise a generation that is proud to call america home. for me most crucially and i think for a villain this room today freedom is the story of the capacity of us to practice our faith, our religion. we were founded by religious people thinking that -- seeking that freedom. when a bar to open and the churches are closed this is not an american in the of us know or love. [applause] christians, jews, muslims, have been pressured to abandon their beliefs that event central to the faith for millennia. small business owners being forced to do things that are

inconsistent with the faith to choose between the faith and our livelihood. we can't let this happen. i worked terribly hard as secretary of state and we did good work of religious freedom around the world and here at home. it's a shame that that freedom here at home is under assault in ways thatho it is in other parts of the world as well. what we know this. they can cancel some things. you're not going to cancel god. not happening. [applause] we can never, we can never and i know none of you will ever give an inch. in making sure that this american miracle, this faith, this capacity to worship in the way we chooseth is that the bedrock of who we are. we have made a clue the american people and made it clear it's not enough to say we are different from liberals. we need to be different. we need to actively. when i b walked the halls todayi got a chance to meet you, we are different. we're defining our commitments and our words and our deeds. we needd to believers who understand the stakes of our fight and you are unafraid to

act on it. of course there are many women who are fierce like everyone in this room today. i know you wouldn't be here if you didn't believe these things. i'm entrusting you, and power and you go do it every place you go in your workplace, after schools, pta meeting, at the park. talk about the very things you talked about when you're in the halls of this place today. believe a conservative return to what matters will get us back to the right places. i'm convinced that we can do it. we sometimes hear each of the talking, we get pretty dead. we watched the things going on and we become more timid. we must do just the opposite. the american miracle is powerful. you are part of it. you will lead us back to the right place. we are going to restore a conservative america that has at its core our founding ideas of our judeo-christian tradition. the fight has started. we are in it. there's no turning back.