The Hill’s 12:30 Report — Trump, DeSantis give competing GOP speeches

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–> A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.* 

*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically. 

TALK OF THE MORNING 

*insert announcer voice* — And entering from the first door, we have veteran, Donny T: 

Even though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has not officially launched his likely 2024 presidential bid, this past weekend felt like a split screen of the race to come. Trump fired up a crowd of firebrand conservatives at the annual conservative conference on Saturday, while DeSantis spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on Sunday. 

The gist of Trump’s CPAC speech this weekend — CNN’s Stephen Collinson summed it up well: “Trump served up his familiar brew of fury, falsehoods and dishonest braggadocio at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, billing himself as the only man who could save the planet from World War III, girding his adoring supporters for their ‘final battle’ against communists, globalists and the ‘Deep State,’ and declaring: ‘I am your retribution.’”  

And entering from the other side, Ronny D has joined the chat: “DeSantis [channeled] the same conservative anger at what he claims is a left-wing ‘woke’ elite takeover of politics, education, Covid-19 public health policy and big business, tapping into the modern Republican Party’s driving ideological force.” Full comparison of the two messages, from CNN 

WHEN WILL DESANTIS MAKE HIS DECISION?: 
DeSantis recently hinted that he would make his decision after Florida’s legislative session ends in May.  

SIDE NOTE — THE BACKDROP OF DESANTIS’S SPEECH WAS STUNNING:  

Photo tweeted by Yahoo’s Tom LoBianco 

It’s Monday — welcome back! We’re Cate Martel and Elizabeth Crisp with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here. 

🎡 Over the weekend 

CPAC always has the BEST color:

Conservative activists and leaders gathered in National Harbor, Md. over the weekend for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Former President Trump and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley were among the featured speakers. 

The line from Trump’s speech that’s getting traction: “Trump gripped the CPAC lectern as he workshopped a new sales pitch: ‘I stand here today, and I’m the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent—and very easily—World War III.’ (Wild applause.) ‘And you’re gonna have World War III, by the way.’ (Confused applause.)” More from The Atlantic’s John Hendrickson 

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS FROM CPAC: 
There’s a man dressed as George Washington: Insider’s Bryan Metzger tweeted, “James Manship, 69, is here at CPAC dressed as George Washington. Says he’s spreading the word about the evils of electronic ballots. He also told me the flag he’s carrying is from January 6, where he symbolically crossed the Reflecting Pool after hearing about ‘Benedict Pence.’” Of course there are photos 

Check out the crowd when Donald Trump Jr. spoke: The room is quite large, but there were a lot of empty seats. Photo from writer Tim Miller 

And here’s video of the room when former President Trump spoke: From The Atlantic’s John Hendrickson 

Here’s a back and forth between journalist Matt Laslo and former Trump White House adviser Sebastian Gorka: Photos and their conversation 

Sarah Palin made an appearance: Photo from The Washington Post’s Isaac Arnsdorf 

Check out the merch: Including a “dump your liberal boyfriend” sweatshirt. Photos from The Hill’s Caroline Vakil 

A tough crowd when you’re running against Trump: Vice’s Elizabeth Landers tweeted, “Chants of ‘We love Trump’ as [Nikki Haley] leaves CPAC and takes photos. Watch 

WHO WON THE STRAW POLL? — THE SURPRISE IS ACTUALLY WHO WON THE VP POLL: 

Former President Trump unsurprisingly won the straw poll for president with 62 percent of the vote.  

Former Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who has refused to accept her loss in November and is fighting the election results in court, won the conference straw poll for Republican vice presidential candidate.  

She beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Republican candidate Nikki Haley. 

Reaction from Lake: “We’re flattered, but unfortunately our legal team says the Constitution won’t allow for her to serve as Governor and VP at the same time.” 

MEANWHILE, IN WASHINGTON, D.C., THIS WEEKEND: 
Progressive Marianne Williamson officially launched her 2024 presidential campaign during an event at Union Station.  

Photo from her Union Station event, via FiveThirtyEight’s Nathaniel Rakich 

BTW — WE HAVE SOMEONE TO CROSS OFF YOUR 2024 BINGO CARDS:

Former Republican Maryland governor and Trump critic Larry Hogan announced that he will not run for president in 2024. 

✈️ From the skies

Baltimore flight ends with panicked, vomiting passengers 

A Southwest flight from Baltimore to Raleigh turned into a scary situation on Friday with panicked passengers vomiting over the turbulent delayed landing. 

WNCN out of Raleigh, N.C. — the flight’s final destination — reports that multiple passengers on Southwest flight 3094 started vomiting as the plane shook “like crazy” over the bumpy ride. 

In Congress 

Chu blasts congressman, other Republicans over ‘racist’ attacks 
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) penned an article on MSNBC’s website on her struggles with bias against Chinese Americans. 

“I wasn’t going to let this malicious, xenophobic attack silence me in any way. And so, I have called these comments out for what they are: outrageous, disgusting and absolutely racist,” she writes. 

Chu’s full opinion piece can be found here. 

In other news 

Trump takes aim at Murdoch over 2020 election 

Former President Trump has a new target: Fox News’ Rupert Murdoch, after a lawsuit’s revealed that top Fox personalities didn’t agree that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump but continued to falsely claim so. Trump has continued to claim without proof that Democrats “cheated” in the 2020 election.  

Murdoch admitted in a recent deposition that some Fox News commentators knew Trump’s claims were false. 

The Hill’s Julia Mueller has more on the story and Trump’s gripe here. 

Diabetes, hypertension on the rise among younger adults: 

Diabetes and obesity rates are increasing in people ages 20 to 44 in the U.S., according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

“Over about a ten-year period from 2009 to 2020, diabetes prevalence among those aged 20 to 44 increased from 3 percent to just over 4 percent. Obesity rates increased from about 33 percent to about 41 percent,” The Hill’s Chia-Yi Hou reports. 

Black adults had the highest rates of hypertension. 

Read the full story here.

🦠 COVID-19  

Last call for D.C. covid centers 

D.C. Health will close its COVID-19 centers at the end of the month. The centers opened across the District in January 2022 as a resource for free vaccines, testing and masks. More from WJLA here. 

NUMBERS IN THE U.S.: 

Cases to date: 103.5 million 

Death toll: 1,117,856 

Current hospitalizations: 19,841 

Shots administered: 671 million 

Fully vaccinated: 69.3 percent of Americans 

CDC data here. 

🧽 Notable tweets 

This is SO satisfying to watch:

The National Mall and Memorial Parks for the National Park Service tweeted, “Shout-out to our Facilities Management crew for their work on the annual cleaning of the Reflecting Pool. The scrubbing is done, and after a pipe repair, we’re expecting the pool to be refilled next week. Here’s a rerun of the popular 2022 ‘Super-Scrubber’ video, just for fun.” Watch the super-scrubber clean the reflecting pool — I could watch this all day 

There’s a dupe for everything these days: 

ABC News’s Jay O’Brien tweeted a photo of a Trump Oval Office replica at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). It does look pretty real. Photo 

⏱On tap 

The House is out on Monday. President Biden is headlining the 2023 International Association of Fire Fighters Legislative Conference. On Thursday, he’ll unveil his proposed budget for the coming year during an event in Philadelphia, and Vice President Harris is in California but will be heading to Denver later this afternoon for a climate crisis discussion.  

• 12 p.m..: The House returns to legislative work. 
• 1 p.m.: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. 
• 3 p.m.: The Senate returns to consider more of President Biden’s judicial nominations. 

All times Eastern. 

📺 What to watch 

• 1 p.m.: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gives a press briefing. Livestream  
• 5 p.m.: Vice President Harris takes part in a discussion on climate change. Livestream 

🥛 In lighter news 

Today is National Oreo Day! Grab a glass of milk and enjoy.  

And because you read this far, here’s where you can find ways to learn more about Irish Americans via the National Park Service.