At CPAC 2024, Trump takes center stage in front of still-loyal base of Republican voters

President Donald Trump will take the stage at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference as a Republican poised to maintain his hold on the GOP and potentially parlay that popularity into another run for the White House in two years. 

Trump electrified the Republican party and the country in the 2016 elections with his unorthodox brand of conservative politics, one that emphasized take-no-holds criticism of modern progressivism as well as an emphasis on what he called the "forgotten man" left disadvantaged by years of globalist policies and Democratic failures. 

The former president continued that style of populist conservatism through his four years in the White House, remaining broadly popular among Republican voters during that time. His loss in the 2020 race appears to have had little effect on his standing among conservative voters; he has retained a solid standing in Republican polls over the last nearly year-and-a-half since he lost reelection to Joe Biden. 

His appearance at CPAC this like, like a similar appearance at last year's conference, will likely serve as what is effectively an ongoing series of trial balloons to determine if that popularity is strong enough to bolster another stab at the White House.

Trump's freewheeling political style—established at rallies at which he has riffed on a cascading series of subjects and engages with lively crowds at length—is no longer as novel as it once was, though he continues to command a committed base of millions of supporters. 

Notably, this year's CPAC is taking place in Florida, a state presided over by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis. Among likely Republican challengers for the 2024 election, DeSantis has emerged as the potential candidate most likely to pose a serious challenge to Trump's securing the Republican nomination. 

Trump has been a major backer of DeSantis and is widely hailed as a significant reason for DeSantis's 2018 gubernatorial victory. The two politicians have apparently remained on good terms since then, though they have lately sparred over issues including COVID policies, with DeSantis criticizing Trump for what the Florida Republican claimed was misguided support of COVID rules early in the pandemic. 

DeSantis has thus far given little indication that he plans to run for the presidency in the next race. The governor is up for re-election this year, with many polls showing him consistently beating his Democratic rivals.