President Donald Trump rallied right-wing activists Saturday with a speech offering conservative red meat on immigration, trade and the threat of "socialism" as he sought to move on from a bruising week in domestic and international politics.
"We believe in the American dream, not in the socialist nightmare," he said to boisterous applause from hundreds of supporters at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington.
"America will never be a socialist country," Trump added in a mammoth two-hour speech that seemed to draw energy from the fervent reception offered by some of his influential supporters in the room.
It was his first public appearance since coming home empty-handed, and to brickbats from all sides, from a nuclear-disarmament summit with North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Un.
The White House is also smarting from explosive testimony on Capitol Hill by Trump's former lawyer and fixer on Wednesday that branded him a criminal and a racist.
Trump, often speaking in mocking tones, portrayed the Democratic Green New Deal climate strategy touted by the left of the party as a socialist plan that will devastate the fossil fuel and motor industries.
He said progressive healthcare policies would "lead to colossal tax increases". Seeming to feed off the crowd's support, he added: "We're in the swamp of Washington DC, but you know what -- we're winning and they're not."
With the federal investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia reportedly approaching its conclusion, Trump again berated Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team as partisan hacks out to get him, adding that "these people are sick."