Written by Juliana Simone

National Harbor, MD – The man known for more than a decade to native New Yorkers as “The Donald” took the stage this afternoon to address an enthusiastic crowd convened for the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference celebrating its 40^th anniversary on the shores of the Potomac River in Maryland. Self-made billionaire Donald Trump opened his monologue by telling the audience our country is in terrible trouble.

He cited we owed seventeen trillion dollars and have more than a trillion dollar deficit a year. “No country’s ever heard of numbers like this!” he observed. “Likewise, the Republican Party is in terrible trouble,” he continued. “As you get more and more conservative – they get nasty. They don’t like what we say.” Trump segued into the mainstream media and how the President is given unprecedented media protection.

To offer solutions on how we solve our country’s problems, Mr. Trump first pointed out how even the Tea Party, who he loves dearly, says to leave their Medicare and Social Security alone. “To keep these things affordable then the solution is to build a great economy.” “We don’t have one,” he noted. “China does.” “We have to make America great again,” he said in appeal to the room.

On the issue of immigration, Trump stated that when it comes to immigration, eleven million people will be voting Democrat. He believed a candidate can be out in front but (when it comes to Election Day) those eleven million will be voting Democrat. “Republicans are on a suicide mission,” he said. “You’re just not going to get those votes.” Donald Trump inquired further, “Why aren’t we letting Europeans in?” and told the attendees how he had many friends who want to move here and work here – that have been educated here – but we throw them out of the country after earning a degree at Harvard or Wharton and say you can’t move here – so they work somewhere else and work against us. “How stupid is that?” he asked.

The realtor and casino owner gave a nod to fellow Republican Newt Gingrich next saying he loved Newt because he was a member of his club down the road. Trump said he loved anyone who was a member of his club and jested maybe Obama should become a member. He talked about offering to build things at his own expense for Washington but never heard back from anyone.

“Conservative Republicans have to win elections,” he proclaimed. In his observations on the Republican Party, Trump said “Governors are saying it’s the stupid party.” He thought this was a horrible statement for a Governor to make because it was something that could come back to haunt you when the Democrat’s now will turn around and use it against you. Trump told fellow conservatives he believed a Party that spent four hundred million dollars on ads that made Obama look like a super hero was a failure, and that spending money like this with not one victory showed something was seriously wrong.

About himself, he revealed he’d made over eight billion dollars in his life and employed tens of thousands of people. When he filled out his financial forms (when considering running for President in 2012) people were surprised. He said he was continually criticized by “total light weights” – guys in dirty shirts who would say about him, “Donald Trump? He’s nothing.”

Donald went on to explain people liked success and though he liked Mitt Romney, he felt the one mistake he made was that he didn’t talk enough about his success and the great things he did. He reflected they were on the defensive instead of being on the offensive where they should have been.

In regards to Iraq, Trump said we spend 1.5 trillion dollars there and we lose great great young people – for what? He said at first he was told it was for the oil, so he thought, okay, I get that – but we didn’t take the oil. He reminded viewers we’re the second largest oil reserve after Saudi Arabia. He believes for soldiers that are killed we should give those parents a million dollars for the son they lost because a million dollars is nothing compared to the money over there.

He described how he just had to place a huge order for televisions from South Korea. Why? People asked him why he didn’t buy the televisions here. “We don’t make televisions here anymore,” he explained.

“We’re run by either very foolish or very stupid people. Our country is a total mess. What we need is leadership,” he opined. He projected if we build and grow our economy, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security all can be affordable again when we have a strong economy. North Dakota has a great supply of energy, but we can’t go get it, he mused, so we go to Saudi Arabia to get it! They can’t believe what they’re getting away with. “The Republicans, and the Democrats, say we gotta cut, we gotta cut, we gotta cut…it’s because we’re not cutting the mustard!”

In closing, Trump said, “We have to bring money in and take back our jobs from China. We have to start building again, manufacturing again and our problems will be solved. Let’s make this country strong again!” The Donald left the stage to strong applause.

Ed.: This article written and reported by Juliana Simone, also appeared on  a CT internet news site.