The (non)conquering hero returns
He鈥檇 disappeared from public view, hours before Joe Biden officially replaced him as president.
He鈥檚 back.
Donald Trump resurfaced over the weekend.
He did it with a vengeance.
Who could be surprised by that?
He conniption-fitted his way across that oh, so, garish stage at the recent CPAC enclave for 90-plus, grievance-filled minutes.
You couldn鈥檛 tell if it was a campaign speech that was five months late or, perhaps, four years early.
Of course, once again, he denied losing the election that he really lost.
That鈥檒l always get him a round of applause.
He launched verbal sucker punches in all of the old familiar directions. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the media, the elites, the cancel culturalists, Democrats in general, and every Republican who鈥檚 ever said a thing about him that didn鈥檛 amount to a compliment were in his crosshairs.
Most notable, though, was his particular verbal assault on the man who wiped the floor with him last November 鈥� President Joe Biden.
He attacked Biden by name 36 times.
He claimed that Biden鈥檚 first month in office had been 鈥渄isastrous.鈥�
鈥淚n just one short month, we have gone from America first to America last,鈥� he claimed.
Curiously, though, Citizen Trump never referred to Mr. Biden as 鈥淪leepy Joe鈥� once during those 36 mentions of him.
That鈥檚 probably 鈥檆ause the president, formerly known as 鈥淪leepy,鈥� appears to be wide awake in the eyes of the public in ways that he never had.
Biden鈥檚 job approval numbers are holding firm, and even increasing among some pollsters.
The FiveThirtyEight poll tracker started by giving a 53% job approval in January. It鈥檚 now up to 54.4%; Ipsos/Reuters has him at 57% approval, and Real Clear Politics has him at 54%.
By contrast, during Trump鈥檚 entire presidency, he never had job approval numbers that exceeded 50%.
That enraptured crowd of Trump-o-philes at CPAC wasn鈥檛 concerned about his job approval numbers. They鈥檇 come to pay tribute to a man who helped them escape their lives of quiet desperation 鈥� by lying so convincingly they鈥檇 be willing to run out and start mini-revolutions.
That man simply can tell some whoppers about how he won the election despite the evidence of simple math. And that Biden鈥檚 heavy hands are a menace to the well-being of every single earthling.
Once he came to the end of his hour-and-a-half-long tirade, he headed for the nugget 鈥� that moment everybody in the hall was waiting for.
鈥淲e will make a triumphant return to the White House. And I wonder who that will be,鈥� he asked as if not a single person in the place didn鈥檛 know who he was talking about.
At that point, he took a couple of steps backward, so that he could feel the delirious adulation wash over him, as the opening strains of the Village People鈥檚 鈥淵MCA鈥� blared through the hall.
(Note: I have no idea why this song is played at Trump rallies. In fact, I have no idea why it鈥檚 EVER played. But that鈥檚 just me.)
This is the stuff that energizes Republicans these days.
A (non)conquering hero returns to a stage to tell the same stale lies about winning an election that he鈥檇 lost badly.
They had spent their week listening to the gripes of their assembled political pyromaniacs, as they groused about the unfairness of those Dems who had found white supremacists within the rank and file of the Republicans.
How dare they openly point out our racists, they implied.
Mr. Trump鈥檚 鈥減erformance鈥� was one of many that took place during the week.
It had been a four-day spectacle of tough talk.
It ended with their whining former president, who still isn鈥檛 tough enough to admit that he was on the short end of an election against a guy that he never fully respected.
There will be more CPACs.
But you鈥檇 have to wonder if there鈥檒l be more of them with Mr. Trump having as much impact on the proceedings as he did recently.
Probably not.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV-news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.