Speeches at CPAC (2020s): on Health Care
Donald Trump:
I aced a cognitive test; doctor never saw anybody ace it
The great Doc Ronny, my doctor, became a Congressman {U.S. Rep. Ron Jackson, TX-13]. He only beat 22 people. 22 people, he was great. I said, "Doc, how about if I take a cognitive test?" He said, "Well, you can do it, sir. But if you do, it'll be
public." Well, I said, "What's wrong with that?" He said, "Well, if you don't do well, sir, it's not going to be pretty." I said, "Is it hard?" He said, "After the first five questions, it gets very hard." I said, "Let's take a shot at it," and we did
it and we aced it, right? I aced it. And one of the doctors said he's never seen anybody that aced it. And some of those questions are not easy. I will tell you that." How do you think Joe would do on a cognitive test? You never know. Maybe underneath
there, there's somebody that's very unusual. Unfortunately, this was an election where the person that counts the votes was far more important than the candidate, no matter how many votes that candidate got, and we got record numbers of votes.
Source: Speech transcript from 2021 CPAC Conference
Jul 11, 2021
Kristi Noem:
COVID didn't crash the economy; government crushed it
Lots of governors shut down their states. What followed was record unemployment, business is closed, most schools were shuttered and committees suffered. The U.S. economy came to an immediate halt. Let me be clear -- COVID did not crash the economy.
Government crushed the economy. South Dakota is the only state in America that never ordered a single business or church to close. We never instituted a shelter-in-place order. We never mandated people wear masks.
Source: Remarks by Gov. Noem at the 2021 CPAC Conference
Feb 27, 2021
Kristi Noem:
COVID: We didn't mandate; we trusted our people
We've got Republican governors across this country pretending they didn't shut down their states, that they didn't close their beaches, that they didn't mandate masks, that they didn't get issue shelter-in-places. Now, I'm not picking fights with
Republican governors. All I'm saying is that we need leaders with grit, that their first instinct is to make the right decision. South Dakota did not do any of those. We didn't mandate. We trusted our people. Personal responsibility was the best answer.
Source: Speech transcript from 2021 CPAC Conference
Jul 11, 2021
Kristi Noem:
No unconstitutional COVID lockdowns; no mask mandates
In 2020, when most states were shutting down their economies and enforcing unconstitutional lockdowns, we did something different in South Dakota. Our state motto is "Under God, the People Rule." I followed it.As Governor, I believed the best way to
fight a danger to our country was through an informed and free American people who made decisions for themselves. I refused to use unconstitutional powers. We never issued mask mandates. We didn't mandate vaccines.
We never kept anybody from going to church. We kept kids in the classroom. I did not arrest, ticket, or fine a single individual for exercising their basic rights. South Dakota was the ONLY state that never even defined what an "essential business" was.
Looking around at the world today, we see fundamental freedoms evaporating because of the COVID lockdowns, but not in South Dakota. We drew a clear line. And the line between tyranny and freedom is getting more clear every day across our country.
Source: Speech at the 2022 CPAC Conference in Orlando FL
Feb 25, 2022
Louie Gohmert:
Florida is oasis of freedom in nation of oppressive lockdown
The country's largest annual gathering of conservatives began in Orlando, and Florida was front and center. Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off the event and touted his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and Florida's relatively lax social-distancing protocols
that enabled this year's Conservative Political Action Conference to be held indoors and in-person in former President Donald Trump's home state."We are in an oasis of freedom in a nation that's suffering from the yoke of oppressive lockdowns,''
DeSantis said during a speech that mostly mirrored a stump-style campaign address. "Florida got it right, and the lockdown states got it wrong."
The former president turned Florida resident maintains his grip on the
Republican Party and successfully morphed the Conservative Political Action Conference, traditionally a place for Republicans with different ideologies, into a Trump-only affair.
Source: Tampa Bay Times on 2021 CPAC Conference
Jul 11, 2021
Madison Cawthorn:
They'll use door-to-door vaccine visits against Bible & guns
Cawthorn said: "Now, they're starting to talk about going door to door to be able to take vaccines to the people," referring to President Joe Biden's comments earlier this week. Cawthorn said at CPAC: "Think about the mechanisms they would
have to build to be able to actually execute that massive of a thing. And then think about what those mechanisms could be used for. They could then go door to door and take your guns. They could go door to door and take your Bibles."
Source: Yahoo.com News on 2021 CPAC Conference
Jul 10, 2021
Mike Pence:
COVID: February 2020--We're ready for anything
Allow me to address an issue that I know is on the hearts and minds of people all across this country: the potential impact of the coronavirus here in America. President Donald Trump has no higher priority than the health, safety, and wellbeing of the
American people. While the risk to the American public remains low, as the president said yesterday, we're ready. We're ready for anything.
Source: Remarks by V.P. Pence at the 2020 CPAC Conference
Feb 27, 2020
Ron DeSantis:
COVID: We got it right and the lock down states got it wrong
In Florida the schools are open. Every Floridian has a right to earn a living and all businesses have the right to operate. Florida has lower per-capita COVID mortality than a national average and lower than 27 other states. Our unemployment
rate is lower than the national average. Tourism is fully back. Our budget is in great shape. We have not touched one red cent from our rainy day fund throughout this whole time. Florida got it right and the lock down states got it wrong.
Source: Remarks by Senator DeSantis at the 2021 CPAC Conference
Feb 26, 2021
Ron DeSantis:
We reject the biomedical security state, defeated Fauci-ism
In Florida, we reject the biomedical security state which erodes liberty, harms livelihoods and divides our society. We have done things like ban vaccine passports and mandates because it is unacceptable to simply subcontract out
Fauciism to big companies. Florida has defeated Fauciism. Freedom has prevailed in the sunshine state.
Source: Speech at the 2022 CPAC Conference in Orlando FL
Feb 24, 2022
Ronny Jackson:
Administered "cognitive test" to Trump; Biden should too
For conservative activists gathered in Dallas, the belief that President Joe Biden has slid into dementia is an article of faith. "He's confused, he's lost, he's disoriented, he stares off into space, he shuffles when he walks, he doesn't know where
he's at or what he's doing," said Rep. Ronny Jackson. "The White House used to be a symbol of power and influence. And now, literally every day it's more and more looking like an assisted living facility. It's true."On Jan. 16, 2018, Jackson, then
White House physician, announced that Trump had requested and aced a Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a common screening test for dementia, scoring 30 out of 30. Jackson wrote to the 78-year-old Biden demanding he submit to the same test Trump took. The
White House has not responded.
"I think that he's got some cognitive issues that are age-related," Jackson said. But, he added, "You don't have to be a physician like I am that served three presidents--to look at him and think something's going on."
Source: Dallas Morning News on 2021 CPAC Conference
Jul 10, 2021
JD Vance:
COVID: Clearly Tony Fauci lied to the American people
Clearly Tony Fauci lied under oath, lied to the American people. Not just that, he compelled and persuaded the FBI to censor information about the pandemic as it was unfolding, tried to shut down the functioning First Amendment so
that we could not have an open debate about where it came from and what to do about it. It's disgraceful what he did it the question is if we want to say he committed perjury, I'm not optimistic Merrick Garland is going to do the right thing here.
Source: Speech at the 2023 CPAC Conference in Maryland
Mar 2, 2023
Ted Cruz:
COVID: Fauci elevated politics over science and medicine
Dr. Fauci has done more damage than any bureaucrat in the history of our nation. He led policies that destroyed peoples' lives, hurt tens of millions of kids across the country, destroying businesses. One of the consequences is he elevated politics over
science and medicine. There is no one person who has done more to destroy trust in the scientific and medical community that Dr. Anthony Fauci. was told that millions of americans lied willingly, knowingly, glibly, supremely arrogantly.
Source: Speech at the 2023 CPAC Conference in Maryland
Mar 2, 2023
Page last updated: Jul 15, 2024