Politics

‘The Snake’ — Trump Doubles Down On Immigration Promises During CPAC 2018 Speech

Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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President Donald Trump delivered a triumphant speech highlighting his administration’s first year in office at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, where he promised an exhilarated audience further action on his immigration priorities.

Before the president began touching on his goals for the upcoming year, a protester interrupted his speech. The young man allegedly yelled things about Russia and threw Russian flags in the air as he was escorted from the room.

WATCH — Highlights From Trump’s 2018 CPAC Speech:

“A strong nation has strong borders,” Trump declared after the outburst. “Don’t worry, you’re getting the wall, OK,” to loud chants of “build the wall.”

Trump also riffed about the diversity visa lottery system, which he is trying to end, quipping that “they’re not sending their best people.” He continued, “I want people based on merit.”

The president joked that pundits — who doubted he would actually build a wall and only used it as a rhetorical campaign device — were delusional. “Every time they say that the wall gets 10 feet higher.”

“I have a couple of these characters in the back say, ‘oh, he really doesn’t want the wall, he used that for campaigning,'” POTUS declared before the crowd of supporters. “Can you believe it? I say every time I hear that, the wall gets 10 feet higher. You know that, right? Every time. Every single time.”

The president also dug back into his bag of greatest hits from the campaign trail and read, “The Snake,” a song he has previously used to describe U.S. immigration policy.

“On her way to work one morning
Down the path along side the lake
A tender hearted woman saw a poor half frozen snake
His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew
“Poor thing,” she cried, “I’ll take you in and I’ll take care of you”
“Take me in tender woman
Take me in, for heaven’s sake
Take me in, tender woman,” sighed the snake

She wrapped him all cozy in a comforter of silk
And laid him by her fireside with some honey and some milk
She hurried home from work that night and soon as she arrived
She found that pretty snake she’d taken to had bee revived
“Take me in, tender woman
Take me in, for heaven’s sake
Take me in, tender woman,” sighed the snake

She clutched him to her bosom, “You’re so beautiful,” she cried
“But if I hadn’t brought you in by now you might have died”
She stroked his pretty skin again and kissed and held him tight
Instead of saying thanks, the snake gave her a vicious bite
“Take me in, tender woman
Take me in, for heaven’s sake
Take me in, tender woman,” sighed the snake
“I saved you,” cried the woman
“And you’ve bitten me, but why?
You know your bite is poisonous and now I’m going to die”
“Oh shut up, silly woman,” said the reptile with a grin
“You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in
“Take me in, tender woman
Take me in, for heaven’s sake
Take me in, tender woman,” sighed the snake”

Trump also took aim at Democratic lawmakers for blocking immigration legislation in recent weeks and not engaging in negotiations over the future of the DACA program.

He echoed the frustrations expressed in tweets he wrote earlier Friday morning.

Trump’s comments come as the March 5 expiration deadline for DACA approaches after the president ended it in September, citing its likely unconstitutionality. The Obama-era protections for illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children allowed them to live and work in the U.S. without the fear of deportation.

POTUS has indicated he would support any bill codifying DACA into law in exchange for funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and an end to both chain migration and the diversity visa lottery program. The White House later released a legislative framework to Congress with these pillars which was defeated in the Senate by a large margin.

Vice President Mike Pence made a similar declaration before the same audience Thursday, saying “President Trump promised to enforce our laws, secure our borders, and today illegal crossings at our southern border have been cut nearly in half and make no mistake about it, we’re going to build that wall.”

The speech was a highlight reel of Trump’s first year in office and a remembrance of his first ever political speech at CPAC in 2011, which he called “a love fest.”