CPAC 2016-2019: on Homeland Security


Donald Trump: Strong military is essential for national security

We have kept our promises to rebuild our military. Eliminating the defense sequester, which is a disaster. And I don't know if you saw the number--$700 billion--you know ultimately that comes before everything else. We can talk about lots of things. If we don't have a strong military, you may not have your houses, your homes, your beautiful communities. We better take care of our military--these are the greatest people and we're going to take care of our veterans, we're going to take care of the vets.
Source: Speech at the 2018 CPAC Convention Feb 23, 2018

Rand Paul: NSA monitoring is an affront to 1776 sons of liberty

The sons of liberty who fought against British soldiers writing their own warrants, would today, make a bonfire of secret orders issued by federal police. The sons of liberty risked everything to guarantee your right to a trial by jury. They would today, call out to the president, they would say, 'we will not be detained, spied upon nor have our rights abridged. We will not submit and we will not trade our liberty for security, not now, not ever.'

Yet, as our voices rise in protest, the NSA monitors your every phone call. If you have a cell phone, you are under surveillance. I believe what you do on your cell phone is none of their damn business.

I believe this is a profound constitutional question: can a single warrant be applied to millions of American's credit cards? Your government says you don't own your records, that your Visa statement does not belong to you. I disagree, the 4th Amendment is very clear, warrants should be issued by a judge, warrants must be specific to the individual.

Source: Speech at 2014 CPAC convention Mar 8, 2014

John Bolton: We don't get peace via weakness; we get Putin invading

We meet at a time of true national security crisis, indeed, many crises, but our biggest national security crisis is Barack Obama. This is a president who considers our strength part of our problem, that we are the cause of international tension.

Ignoring threats to our national security is the Obama doctrine, and the contrast with Ronald Reagan could not be clearer. Reagan believed in peace through strength, not isolationism, not multilateralism. Today, can you just imagine Ronald Reagan dealing with Vladimir Putin? Reagan understood that the principle task of the government is the protection of the United States.

We are not going to get peace through strength because we are not devoting the budget to it, but we're not going to get peace through weakness either. We're going to get what we see today in the Ukraine where Vladimir Putin has a strategy and Obama has nothing, where Putin has a growing defense budget and ours is shrinking.

Source: Speech at 2014 CPAC convention Mar 7, 2014

  • The above quotations are from Speeches at Conservative Political Action Conferences (2016-2019).
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2020 Presidential contenders on Homeland Security:
  Republicans:
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Bill Weld(MA) 		Democrats:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Larry Hogan (D-MD)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
V.P.Mike Pence (R-IN)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
V.C.Arvin Vohra (L-MD)
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Page last updated: Jul 26, 2019