Trump Gets Standing Ovation At Conservative Youth Summit In Tampa

TAMPA, FL — Following a star-spangled kick-off Friday night complete with pyrotechnics, Turning Point USA's 2022 Student Action Summit opened with a whirlwind parade of well-known conservative politicians and activists at the Tampa Convention Center.

Thousands of student activists ages 15 to 26 turned out for opening day of the invitation-only summit to hear conservative radio talk show host Charlie Kirk, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson, Missouri U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, Utah U.S. Sen. Mike Lee and Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finishing off the evening.

On Saturday night, a day of speakers was highlighted by the appearance of former President Donald Trump who spoke for more than an hour discussing everything from military officials advising him to stop waiting for the militant ISIS leaders to surrender and just drop bombs and wipe out all the ISIS camps in the Middle East at one time to how the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from him, evincing widespread laughter and applause from the full house at the convention center as he described a woman whose mother was in a Michigan nursing home insist that her mother couldn't have voted for Biden because she was comatose.

Trump also discussed the special investigation that "led to nowhere" into his "unfounded" ties with Russia" and what he called "one of the saddest days in American history," Biden's decision to pull troops out of Afghanistan.

Trump also talked at length about when he first learned as president that the United States was paying for the bulk of the NATO actions in the war in the Middle East and how he insisted that the rest of the NATO allies pay their fair share. He said the U.S. European allies came up with the funds after he told them the United States would not come to their defense if Russia attacked.

He bemoaned the current state of a country that would allow transgender swimmer Lia Tomas to win a gold medal, taking the victory away from the predicted front runner, Sarasota native Emma Weyant, who trained for that moment her entire life. Weyant came in second.

"Maybe it's not politically correct. I don't care," Trump said. "I think it's so disrespectful that they should ever let this happen. You talk about women's rights. This is the opposite of women's rights. And they're not allowed to even talk about it, but I'll talk about it."

Trump also insisted that Russia would have never dared to attack Ukraine if he were still president.

However, he never mentioned taking another run for the office, although he insisted that "we are going to take back our country" and hinted at a run for the presidency in a film shown before he took the stage in which he said, "We're going to win, win, win."

Taking the podium earlier on Saturday were former Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, controversial politician and son of the Brazilian president, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The young adults also heard from Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe, TV hosts Judge Jeanine Pirro and Laura Ingraham, former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, Libertarian columnist Kat Timpf, political columnist Benny Johnson, Colorado U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, former Trump adviser and television news personality Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr.

Additionally, attendees listened to a panel discussion on "Tales from Liberal Occupied Cities: Hong Kong, Seattle, Phoenix" and another with Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini, former Assistant White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Florida congressional candidate Anna Paulina Luna.

On the agenda Sunday morning were panel discussions on "The Rise of the New Media Class" and "Queer Theory and the Post Truth Progressives."

Speakers included political TV commentators Dave Rubin, Pete Hegseth, Greg Gutfield, Charlie Kirk and Jack Posobiec, Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Florida Congresswoman Kat Cammack with Tampa native, former White House Press Secretary and Fox television commentator Kayleigh McEnany wrapping up the three-day event.

The summit also offered students the chance to receive training in leadership and activism, and participate in a series of networking events with political leaders and activist organizations.