Trump at CPAC: Its time for the Donald to call it a day | Mulshine – NJ.com

Our Australian friends have a saying about people whose ambitions exceed their abilities. They call such people tall poppies and warn that the tallest are the first to be cut.

That saying came to mind when I looked back at Donald Trumps appearance 10 years ago at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. (See video below.)

I was in the press gallery for that occasion just as I will be in the press gallery for Trumps address to CPAC this afternoon.

In that 2011 appearance, Trump told the audience that he would decide by June whether to enter the race for the 2012 Republican nomination.

I doubt if anyone took the prospect of a Trump candidacy seriously. But the audience certainly seemed to be enjoying his speech, which was the usual mix of humor and bombast.

In the midst of it all, he said one thing that brought to mind that piece of wisdom from the land Down Under.

That came after, in typical Trump fashion, he boasted that he had won many wars and earned billions of dollars.

Those accomplishments actually made him less likely to enter politics, Trump said.

Most successful people dont want to be scrutinized or abused, and thats what happens, Trump said.

It is indeed what happened. Once Trump became president his life was subjected to intense scrutiny. Events that might not have otherwise surfaced such as that Access Hollywood appearance that sparked a million-woman march - now made national headlines.

When allegations of payoffs to former mistresses surfaced, the Manhattan District Attorneys Office used that as entre to investigate Trumps business dealings.

Last week, eight years worth of his financial records were handed over to the aggressive Democratic prosecutor Cyrus Vance for his perusal.

That investigation could dog the Donald for years, accompanied perhaps by probes into what role, if any, he played in the sorry events of Jan. 6.

The big question at CPAC is whether Trump will declare hes going to make another run in 2024. I for one would prefer to see him enjoy his well-earned return to private life.

In 2016 he had astonishing success when he came out of nowhere to beat first the Republican and then the Democratic establishments. But in 2024 his candidacy would face similar prospects as those he assigned to Ron Paul in that 2011 speech.

After supporters of the Texas congressman and two-time contender for the GOP presidential nomination shouted out his name several times, Trump took up the topic of another Ron Paul candidacy.

Trump said he admired Pauls policies, but Ron Paul cant get elected president.

Well, neither can Donald Trump. He cant seem to get over that 47 percent barrier in popularity.

His excuse is that the 2020 election was stolen from him. But several of my fellow conservatives say he would be wise to drop that pitch.

Is he gonna whine about the past election or have a vision for the future? asks Rick Shaftan, a conservative political consultant formerly of Sussex County and now of North Carolina.

I expect a lot of whining. That may not be good for the GOP, but it could be good for the Donald.

If Trump says hes in the race for the 2024 nomination, or even hints at it, a cynic would have to ask whether hes just trying to get enough contributions to cover his legal bills.

Trump has threatened to create an organization to run primaries against members of Congress who resisted his unconstitutional attempt to change the results of the recent election. But that would require him to spend time and money on people other than his favorite person: himself.

If Trump cared about the Republican Party, he would announce that hes not running again. That would clear the field for a primary contest among a lot of other promising Republicans.

Then he could go back to being the Donald Trump we used to see at CPAC in the good old days, a smart-talking New Yorker who could dismantle a Democrat with just one wisecrack.

That guy was a winner, such a winner that he promised that once he was elected wed all get tired of winning.

But his ambition exceeded his abilities.

For this tall poppy its time to duck out.

BELOW - THE DONALDS COMING-OUT PARTY AT CPAC IN 2011:

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Trump at CPAC: Its time for the Donald to call it a day | Mulshine - NJ.com