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Trump gets standing ovation at CPAC as he arrives an hour late, hugs and kisses flag: 'Do you miss me yet?'

Trump took the stage and immediately hugged and air-kissed the American flag, something that he had done in his last appearance as the president

Former president Donald Trump's appearance at CPAC 2021 in Orlando, Florida, was a much-awaited sight to behold for the attendees of the conservative event and on Sunday, February 28, and the ex-POTUS did not disappoint his fans by making a grand entrance. 

His speech was scheduled to start at 3.40 pm but he was 45 minutes late to the event. Just before his arrival, Laura Branigan's song 'Gloria' was playing. After he took the stage, Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the U.S.A.' started to play. With his hands clapping to the music, Trump took the stage and immediately hugged and air-kissed the American flag — something that he had done in his last appearance as the president. He got a standing ovation from the crowd and as soon as he took the microphone, he asked his fans, "Do you miss me yet?" adding, "I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we began together... is far from being over.”

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Trump's grand entrance went viral on Twitter despite the fact that the former leader of the country remains permanently banned from the platform as a number of his supporters uploaded the clip of his arrival on social media. It was met with mixed reactions. "I really wish I was at CPAC right now!! President Trump being fashionably late...making his entrance dramatic. Love it!!" one of them said while another remarked, "After Jan. 6 so many of our leaders were so sure the Trump problem had solved itself, and he would never reclaim his former role. So they saved themselves the trouble of doing anything about it. And soon it's going to be like Jan. 6 never happened." Another touted, "Apparently Trump arrived at CPAC fashionably late. how Trumpian-the grand entrance."

There were those who remembered that the song 'Gloria' was also playing before Trump delivered his speech on January 6. His speech reportedly led to his supporters storming the Capitol building in an insurrection against the certification of President Joe Biden. "So they're playing 'Gloria' at CPAC right now as they wait for Trump to make his grand entrance, which if I remember rightly was the same track they played before Trump spoke at the Insurrection Rally on 1/6. This is a collection of very sick people. #CPAC2021," one of them noted while another commented, "Ah now CPAC is playing 'Gloria' in anticipation of Trump’s entrance. As a fun little homage to the last time that song played at a Trump event while insurrectionists staged a coup on his behalf. Just neat little Republican facts."

Downplaying the civil war that currently grips the Republican Party, Trump pledged to remain a part of what he called “our beloved party" although he had flirted with the idea of starting his own party in the recent past. “I’m going to continue to fight right by your side. We’re not starting new parties,” he said. “We have the Republican Party. It’s going to be strong and united like never before.”

He did, however, call out by name the 10 House Republicans and seven GOP senators who voted to impeach him for inciting the Capitol riot. Among them, he singled out Rep. Liz Cheney, who has faced tremendous backlash in Wyoming for saying Trump should no longer play a role in the party or headline the event. Insisting that the division was merely a spat “between a handful of Washington, D.C., establishment political hacks and everybody else, all over the country,” Trump swore that he would "get rid of all" the incumbents who had dared to cross him.