Trump calls himself a 'political dissident' being persecuted by a 'Biden regime' full of 'fascists', 'thugs' and tyrants in fiery CPAC speech

Donald Trump: Developer, property mogul, billionaire, former president, defendant, Republican frontrunner and now 'dissident.' 

He gave himself the new title on Saturday as he set out his nightmare vision of what a second Biden term would look like. 

It is part of what aides say is a pivot to attacking President Joe Biden while Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival in the Republican nomination race, is heading to certain defeat in her home state of South Carolina, later on Saturday.

'A vote for Trump is your ticket back to freedom. It's your passport out of tyranny, and it's your only escape from Joe Biden and his gang's fast track to hell,' he told a crowd of adoring fans at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held just outside Washington D.C.

'I stand before you today not only as your past and hopefully future president as a proud political dissident. I am a dissident.' 

Former President Donald Trump described himself as a 'dissident' as he set out his nightmare vision of what a second Biden term would look like on Saturday at a gathering of conservatives

Trump supporters recited the pledge of allegiance before the former president took the stage

Trump, who faces four criminal trials, last week compared himself with Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in a Siberian penal colony.

It may sound outlandish, but the idea has gained traction with supporters who refer people imprisoned for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as 'political hostages,' and who believe Trump is being victimized by a 'weaponized' Department of Justice.

Attendees could even play on a Jan. 6 themed pinball machine, which promotes various rightwing conspiracy theories about the day. 

The result was a receptive audience and a rambling speech. His thousands of adoring fans were more interested in chanting, 'We want Trump,' than fact checking some of the wilder claims. 

Trump riffed on the theme that he was the victim of a witch hunt.

'I would rather lose my freedom than surrender to this group of thugs and tyrants and fascist scoundrels,' he said. 

And he added that a Biden win in November would usher in as many as 50 million more migrants and send street crime rocketing. 

'Four years ago I told you that if crooked Joe Biden got to the White House our borders would be abolished,' he said. 'Our middle class would be decimated, our communities would be plagued by bloodshed chaos and violent crime. 

'We were right about everything. 

'So believe me when I offer you another warning .... If crooked Joe Biden and his thugs win in 2024. The worst is yet to come. Our country will go and sink to levels that were unimaginable.'

'So believe me when I offer you another warning .... If crooked Joe Biden and his thugs win in 2024. The worst is yet to come. Our country will go and sink to levels that were unimaginable'

Trump spelled out the nightmare he sees if Joe Biden wins another four-year term

There was standing room only at the back of the hall as Trump addressed a capacity crowd

On Saturday, Trump is expected to easily beat Nikki Haley in the South Carolina primary. Aides say it will be the last time he focuses on her, instead pivoting to the contest with Biden

It was a speech on the very friendliest of territory. And his fans got what they wanted: Impersonations of Biden wandering the wrong way off the stage, factoids about how people in Beverly Hills can only brush their teeth once a day because of low water pressure (but they could get all the water it wanted from Canada if they stopped it flowing into the Pacific), the derring-do of flying into warzones, and an old story that he once tried to give himself the Congressional Medal of Honor.

'Here's the problem with that story,' he said,' the fake news media will lead with it tomorrow.'

He closed by saying that he had to be somewhere else. 

'I'm going to leave you with this one final message,' he said after saying he had to head to South Carolina. 'We're going to win the election. We're going to win it big.' 

Polls suggest South Carolina's electorate will give a huge boost to Trump on Saturday. An average maintained by the FiveThirtyEight website suggests the former president could win by a margin of 30 points in the state where Haley served as governor. 

She has promised to fight on in the race whatever happens and has kept up her attacks on the frontrunner.

CPAC provided a huge show of strength for Trump as he tries to wrap up the nomination

People write on a Trump themed bus at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Maryland

Trump, 77, has already scored convincing wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, is plotting a different course. He is not even planning to travel to Michigan on Tuesday when it holds its primary.

His aides joke that if Haley wants attention she will have to get a job on The View or with liberal broadcaster MSNBC.

They say Trump will now focus only on the match-up with Biden and ramp up attacks on the president ahead of next month's State of the Union address.

On Saturday, he told conservatives that it is up to them to make their feelings clear and finish the job begun with his election in 2016

'Eight years later, the Swamp has rejected your righteous pleas for reform—and at the ballot box this November, it is you the people who will deliver their reckoning,' he is expected to say.

Kari Lake, who is running for U.S. Senate in Arizona, addressed the crowd before Trump

'The more the corrupt establishment tries to stop us, the more you know the day is near at hand when we will break free from their grip forever.'

It is part of a theme he will develop in the next few weeks as he presents himself as the presumptive Republican nominee, signaling the general election campaign is now under way. 

'For hardworking Americans, Nov. 5 will be our new liberation day. But for the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and imposters who have commandeered our government, it will be judgment day,' he said to loud applause. 

'When we win, the curtain closes on their corrupt reign and the sun rises on a bright new future for America.'