that's it in january but the rollouts has been slow india's the 2nd worst hit nation behind the united states and the students in indian administered kashmir are returning to the classroom nearly one year after the pandemic forced schools to close the students have been forced to study at home even before the pandemic shooter a military clampdown on aug $21000.00 new delhi ended its the region special status and put it under the direct rule of central governments internet was cut off and local politicians put under house arrest. this is al jazeera and these are the headlines a court in france has found former presidents nicolas sarkozy guilty of corruption charges handed him a 3 year prison sentence to which are suspended is appealing against the conviction

that sasha butler was at the court proceedings in paris and sent this updates lawyers for nicolas sarkozy say that he does intend to appeal this case out of focus on an instant in 2014 in which sarkozy was charged with trying to influence a magistrate trying to offer this magistrate a top job in return for information into another investigation which was being carried out of the time by police on nicolas sarkozy over campaign funds now nicolas sarkozy during the trial always protested his innocence he said that that he had been the victim of a political smear campaign but it seems that the charge here in paris disagreed handing out this jail sentence a devastating blow indeed to nicolas sarkozy. armenia's prime minister says he is ready to call a snap elections or ends of political crisis which began after his government ceded learn to azerbaijan and fighting in the disputed to go back region because she now has been rallying his supporters the u.s.

is in a section $191000000.00 in additional humanitarian aid for war torn yemen that brings its total financial supports to 350000000 dollars this year the u.n. though is asking for nearly $4000000000.00 as it holds a donor conference and human rights experts are calling for an international investigation into the poisoning of kremlin critic alexina vall me and a lesser to moscow they've pointed to high level russian involvement the bomb it was poisoned with novacek nerve agent last year. and spanish police have raided the stadium offices of barcelona football club making several arrests among those reportedly detained as the club's former president's josep maria bartiromo you the operations for these it's in last year's so-called barsa kate scandal that is she up to date keep it here and al-jazeera inside story is next.

donald trump once again shows his dominance of the republican policy. speech since leaving office at the high profile conservative gathering but whether is that leave the republican party really make a comeback in 2024 this is inside story. welcome to the show i'm sami's a than the conservative political action conference is usually an indicator of

where the u.s. republican party is headed but at this year's gathering in florida there was only one man who stole the spotlight former president donald trump in his 1st major speech since leaving the white house he criticized president joe biden and hinted at a possible run in 4 years those who have spoken against him in the past were largely absent from the stage for many his appearance on sunday is an indication of just how much influence he still has within the republican party will bring in our guests in a moment but 1st this report from john hendren in orlando. the former president told his most fervent followers the trump era is alive well and ongoing we began it together 4 years ago and it is far from being over. the news that the 45th president will remain on the national. stage. was crafted in

his honor in the shape of the number 45 was well received by this conservative crowd that includes the head of the proud boys who calls establishment republicans rhinos republicans in name and i got a rough one. 7 right. now. i want to see it running a party no i don't want to wait just $24.00 but whether the party's 2024 presidential standard bearer will be named trump or which trump donald don jr or of he didn't say who do you like to see leave the party in 2024 is there any leader. and what about the other drums. i hope they run for 28 in his 1st public address since he left the white house rejected by voters trump

ease the minds of many republicans with a call to unify the party across the bitter divide he helped create the republican party is united the only division is between a handful of washington d.c. establishment political hacks and everybody else all over the country i think we have tremendous. call for unity behind trump is a challenge to those republicans who want the party behind someone else posts from europe but the former president isn't releasing his vice like grip on a clear majority of republican voters every party but now especially the republican party has to look inside after january 6th and say what have we become what's our great history and how do we go forward from here and i tell you reaching out to donald trump and more of the same is not going to do that as expected in his kitchen sink speech trump attacked his rivals promise to defeat them. repeated baseless claims that he won the past election actually as you know they just lost

the white house but he also left the door wide open for another run in 2024. i may even decide to beat them for a 3rd term ok was it was a welcome message for everyone in attendance but for other conservative voters and politicians it's a worrisome reminder of the widening rift in a bitterly divided republican party john hendren al-jazeera orlando florida. let's bring our guests into the show now than we have joining us from washington d.c. jack kingston a former republican congressman for the state of georgia and a former senior adviser to donald trump's friends eventually campaign in new york lincoln mitchell author and political analyst focusing on american politics and democracy he's affiliated with the arnold a saltzman institute for war and peace studies at columbia university and also in

washington d.c. jennifer lim co-founder of republican women for progress a warm welcome to all if i could start with jack so jack has the see pat conference conference demonstrated that anyone who had any ideas about the republican party perhaps cutting ties with donald trump after he leaves the white house ridding itself of trump isms that is definitely not going to happen he truly is the forseeable future of the trump of the republican party well i would say it put to rest a little trouble kinzer not finished with donald trump that donald trump will still remain as a part of the party i do think there will be a struggle as that so who really is that already but i think that we could say for now it is donald trump he was the main there and it wasn't just the. see see pat seep past was the venue but really the world was watching and his critics were

watch and democrats were watch and republicans were watching and he has an ability to get the camera get the microphone then the crowd does listen to him like what he says or dislike what he says he was the main event just that cepat but i'd say the main a political event of the week interesting let's take that thought to jennifer do you agree with that. i think jack and i probably disagree on a lot of things but i absolutely agree that it's clear that trumpet still the head of the republican party for better or worse to pound our common work around in this show in the 1st 3 minutes i think that's that's a 1st go on jennifer. yes you know while c. pac you know i think it was a far cry from 1984 when ronald reagan addressed the crowd it was essentially a trump rally but i think it's really important you know while it's clear that

trump still has a hold on their public and party there were some definite cracks starting to show only 68 percent of folks in attendance wanted to see donald trump run again and i think that's relevant because this is a self-selecting group of trump supporters so i think that really opens the door for somebody else to command and be the leader republican party all right lincoln still a number of investigations court cases going on but is it safe to say at this point look if donald trump survive to impeachments and an attack on capitol hill incident cold cases are unlikely to impact his popularity within the republican party at least well within the republican party that's right the republican party i think is an interesting situation here don't trump i agree this is going to disappoint if you reside degree with both of the other guests this is still very much don't transform he's still the most powerful force in the party however the republican party is in a bit of a corner if you if donald trump wants to be the nominee it's pretty safe to say he

will be the nominee but he probably can't win the general election. he's the leader and very popular of county that's getting smaller that lost the last election where he you know he wanted 26000 by got his narrow margin possible in the few states you know the key states so this it took situation for the republican party anybody who breaks with trucks is going to have a hard time certainly a hard time running for higher office and they have a primary challenge but if they kind of give in to trying joe biden or come to somebody else probably win 2024 this might be a good time to look at some polls all right jack i can see jack is angling to get in let's let's listen in to a quick a comment from jack before we go to those polls well i want to say that lincoln is correct in terms of everybody has to deal with donald trump regardless of where you are and if we're going to be the majority party we have to have particularly northeastern swing more liberal more more moderate republicans otherwise you can't

get to the majority of $280.00 congressmen in the in the house to have the majority so it is tricky water but i will say this the republican party is not getting stronger despite lose in the white house we had incredible gains in state legislative races and in the u.s. congress and the senate except for in my home state of georgia which was a disaster but you know we did not have a bad year politically so there is something to say about the message of donald trump and the republican principles of smaller government less regulations pro small business and so for jack that you said they didn't have a bad hit the republican party lost the election though it's pretty bad yeah you know what and we always. put the big prize no question about it it is the white house we lost that but what i'm saying it did not have the coattails of the state

representatives lose in the state senators and u.s. members not none of them i mean we had a great year the state of georgia well we lost. the senate races because they became involved in the presidential race but we still had great a great year in terms of that state house also it was a it was a mixed bag at very very worst but i'd say it was not a disaster or i can see lincoln once i think to disagree because i saw and jennifer was shaking her head in agreement which is a bit a surprise the direction we're going so let me give a chance to lincoln 1st who might come with some disagreement then we'll come to you jennifer well i think i may be the only person on this panel who's not been a republican strategist so i may have a different perspective on this but you know it's a kind of an interesting situation of the congress and pointed out the republicans had about as good a year as you could have while still losing both houses of congress in the white house and that's kind of an odd split the difference they did very well at the state level they lost the senate by about by literally as narrow margin as possible

they picked up seats in the house of representatives and not enough seats which nobody really thought they were going to do and they lost the white house but they were trying to there this is a party that will remain competitive the question for the republican party is do they remain more competitive with the message that the congressman described as the kind of traditional republican message or or are they more competitive with the message which is basically donald trump right or wrong which is more or less the platform in 2024 to 2024 me and then you have this other problem which is that all of these republican candidates these politically sharp republican candidates tend to outperform donald trump so that's a quandary he tends to bring out voters but he can't close the deal with those northeastern voters who are always so liberal we're not talking about you know for example the upper west side of manhattan we're talking about suburbs in places like new york in places like pennsylvania where the from when the trump runs he really hurt the republican party generally so it's definitely a needle they have to thread i don't think it's going to be easy but certainly doable all right jennifer go ahead and give us your thoughts on that i could see us

smiling and nodding away. i think it's really important kind of to build on both what built of our what both of our guests have said is that you know if you're talking about donald trump as the future of the republican party you know i'll agree with jack that this is the most exciting candidate the republican party has at in a while and you know he's able to turn out new republican voters over 74000000 people voted for him but i think what we have to remember is not only is he exciting to you know some new republican voters but he also turned out democrats in huge numbers and even with the popularity of donald trump you did lose the white house and he cuts their homework and the house in the senate so i think the problem is you know donald trump is going to be donald trump and he's going to stay exciting for a lot of people but i don't think he can build that coalition that the republican party needs to actually you know when moving forward whether that's the presidency

the house or the senate that is a very important for we're going to pick up on that and moment since we're talking about popularity and polls reports suggest don't trump remains very popular among his voting base now 2 weeks ago a poll led by suffolk university surveyed a 1000 trump voters namely 6 out of 10 said they would like him to run for president again in 2024 and if trump formed a 3rd party then any hof would support it while 27 percent would back the republican party on the $81.00 in 5 said the party should be less loyal to trump and more aligned with establishment republicans so clearly jack there is still a bit of a challenge here you said we had a good year because on the state level you know things didn't go too bad even though they didn't go the way the republican party hope when it comes to the white house and perhaps the congress but how will trump unite as he vowed to do.

see pat conference the republican party how is he going to do that when you know the polls show that there is still something of a division and a challenge well and my own frank assessment you can't talk about the election you can't keep talking about it want to win a run and win it for a 3rd time that does not bring in swing voters it certainly does as jennifer said motivate democrats the polls so you've got to start talking about that and you've got to talk about what is your vision and the president touched on it and it's ok to contrast his vision with joe biden's version but you still got to give that he's running for president we'll talk about donald trump former president right just to clarify yes. this just doesn't make him last left with with them in the last in the moment ok no i but i think i think the best way to unify republicans is to stop the

circular firing squad you've got to have the philosophical diversity to to hold the majority and sometimes your moderate swing members for either party they're going to be a pain in the net but you have to have have them to get to the numerical majority that you need in the way to do that is the focus on will what is your agenda say for families we're going to reopen schools we're going to give you health care choice for the economy we're going to help small businesses we're going to bust up the big tech monopolies we're we're going to go after them for main street and not the wall street tack that is the sound like that was the bulk of the former president's message at c pac you know as as you said earlier that this was a kitchen sink everything in the kitchen sink was discussed which is a very donald trump type speech where he talks about everything so i would say it was in there but it wasn't the. primary message and i write

a primary message should be ideas all right let's let's look at. what else was in the kitchen sink and lincoln we saw the former president at the c. pac conference take a lot of aim at republican senators who voted against him in the 2nd the preachment does that say something about how the republican bob he's becoming the trump party while the agenda seems to be the vengeance agenda going forward that seem to be the bulk of donald trump's message that in that well i mean the congressman for the circuit circle the circular firing squad and when you are going giving a speech of super pac naming the people who voted to convict you want to pitchman that is in fact the circular firing squad in action the republican party the problem with what will the conscience saying is that he's right that is a message on which a party can run that is a message in which a party can win back support in the northeast in the bed midwest in those key suburban areas however as long as donald trump is the head of the party the message

is trump the message is trumps last week not a policy onslaught is the republicans want to promote but trump's last week not an alternative health care policy that they may finally come up with after all these years trump's last bizarre statement or last criminal case and it is important to remember that trump has been a you know a major figure in american culture for almost 40 years now and in political world you could say for a decade but certainly since 2015 and he's never been particularly. you know i'm trying to think about in 1081 if you took a poll of how many democrats want to jimmy carter to run again it's probably about 20 percent in a similar poll in 1903 about george h.w. bush you probably get slightly better numbers people who lose presidents who lose office don't run again for a reason they've been rejected by the american people and the problem for the republican party is do they want to put some of the head not only who's been rejected at the american people are the american people but his personality his background his behavior is

a constant distraction from doing what they have to do to be competitive right now the republican party is negative because of because of the way our legislature is set up and because of how some voters are more represented than others you know we had if this were a little small the democratic system this wouldn't be particularly close and we have a different conversation all right i think jennifer it's fair to say you represent a wing of the republican party that wants the party to move in a shall we say slightly different direction than donald trump ism. when when lincoln that pose the question of the republican party has to choose between basically traditional republican values and what donald trump represents what do you think what sort of decision do you think the republican party is going to make where would it go. well and that that's exactly it is as long as i don't trump is at the head of the party there's no room to actually discuss ideas you know just broadly ideas in general to people like you do jennifer van. good while we're still

to ever get out you know i think the hard part is you know as as long as we still have to deal with donald trump you know i think so many republican leaders are worried about these are boaters and how they keep the voters but kind of move towards you know what the republican party needs to be in the future to actually retain women and minorities and actually bring in you know young people to the party you know we have no republican party platform right now they put out a page this year that was pretty much just trump and so i think what happens is that what has happened is republicans have to keep losing. you know late like they've lost the presidency the house and the senate right now and i think we're still in the throes of the republican party going back and forth between you know what their future is going to be and i think by 2022 we'll have a clearer vision of what of what their whole compared is inching towards but it

separate like if january 6 and the insurrection that happened if that didn't make all republicans kind of you know yearn for a new republican party i think it's going to be a slow multi-generational process wow let me bring jack into this do you think a republican party dominated by donald trump can bring in some of those votes his that you mentioned the more moderate and liberal some of the voters that jennifer is referring to women and minorities can you do that under a donald trump dominated republican leadership you know the one thing i think you can and one of the things that count of surprise me last night is that donald trump did not go after twitter and facebook and if i was him particularly fond of that audience i would have really driven that message i was surprised that he did did not now do. does that mean he's soft and he's maybe reassess and has his view on

the high tech or on the those platforms you know the point being this maybe he stepped in back and saying ok what is that that i could have done differently can i change that and i think if a candidate and we do see at work candidates you think it's funny in our speeches i've at least some of them like facebook account and i think this isn't about them is under review right now by their board who think it's real introspection and we'll see and donald trump who who has changed and grown. i think the jury is going to be out for a while but if we do see as we have same with other candidates who have had political comebacks they've changed they realize hey look i'm going to own what i did wrong then i think that there's no but if it's going to be then oh i didn't do anything wrong it's the it's the world that's not going to get the message across only cause not you when you're the white shaking heads in this agreement let me go

back all right the go ahead lincoln. well i mean in short donald trump has been on this planet almost a decade and he's never changed and he's never grown and the notion that this will be the time that donald trump changed this will be the time the donald trump of all of that was a mistake that much of the mainstream punditry fell and it really wasn't enabling so if i can republican party the donald trump you see is what you get this is who are you this is who i'm always been all right jennifer. we had a little bit of a head shake from you to you want to add something to that sentiment. you know since since 2016 when donald trump came down that elevator area that escalator he has never lied to us about who he is he is exactly the same as who he presented himself to be and i think and i think that's the problem right is he never actually became a republican he never actually you know he's not going to evolve he's you know developed his own republican platform men and i think that's the problem is

republicans are learning from their mistakes they're not moving forward they're still the circular firing squad at the pack and so that there in lies the problem is you jennifer why does that seem to work at the state level but not at the white house and congress level well i think what's really interesting and i think this is another one of the cracks we're seeing is that we had so many split ticket voters who you know don't want to see more of donald trump as the head of the republican party but they do want to support their you know local or state republican and i think that's why republican women are so successful and you know and i think when you look at things like this. you know that's kind of where you can root for a great parents clearly a lot of the port for the republican party still but republicans have an opening to get rid of donald trump you know replace him with anybody else and he could

actually move forward or it was off i think voting seconds left i want to give it to jack jack can the republican party win the next presidential election with donald trump on the ticket. but you know i think if we stick with the principles that brought us the lowest unemployment rates and for african-americans for women for hispanics for workers all across america that brought us a record numbers in the stock market that created all kinds of jobs and contrast there with a self-imposed border crisis that joe biden has well underway even before he was sworn in and if we look talk about the schools being closed down and reopening saying that california kids can go one hour a week if our energy prices are seeing gas prices go up $0.50 a gallon at the park now if we talk about there that's one of the bookends of politics is the contrast between here's what i can do has done and here's what my opponent is doing and in this last election he could not really talk about joe

biden's record but now the democrats want to handle that and everything joe biden does all right i know we can go on talking about this plan afraid we are out of time so let's thank our guests jack kingston link mitchell and jennifer lim and thank you too for watching you can see the show again any time by visiting our website al-jazeera dot com for further discussion and have it on facebook page that's facebook dot com for a.j. inside story can also join the conversation on twitter have a very sad day inside story from me sam is a than and the time team here for now it's go by.

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