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By Steve Holland
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland (Reuters) - President Donald Trump took a victory lap of sorts before a large gathering of conservatives on Saturday to celebrate his first month in office, a period marked by deep cuts to the federal bureaucracy and dust-ups with allies.
In a rally-like speech to an enthusiastic audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington, Trump touted his accomplishments since coming into office on January 20 and criticized his political opponents, including former President Joe Biden.
"Every single thing he touched turned to shit," Trump said of his predecessor, eliciting a standing ovation from the crowd.
A straw poll of attendees conducted earlier showed continued support for Trump as he drops hints about wanting to run for a third term in 2028, which would require a change in the U.S. Constitution.
The CPAC straw poll gave Trump a 99% approval rating, according to pollster Jim McLaughlin, who read the results on stage. He said 61% of respondents said Trump's vice president, JD Vance, should be the 2028 Republican nominee. McLaughlin did not mention Trump with regard to 2028.
The Constitution's 22nd Amendment says "no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice."
At a Black History Month event on Thursday, Trump joked to the audience: "Should I run again? You tell me.”
In his first month in office, Trump has triggered a variety of controversies. He rattled Washington by putting billionaire adviser Elon Musk in charge of an effort to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy with cuts to staffing at many federal agencies.
"Elon is doing a great job," Trump said on Saturday. "We love Elon, don't we?"
Musk on Saturday told federal employees to explain what they had accomplished in the last week or face termination.
Musk got a hero's welcome on Thursday at CPAC when he was handed a chainsaw onstage by Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei.
"This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy," Musk said, waving the tool in the air.
In a social media post earlier on Saturday, Trump said Musk could do more to cut government waste.
"Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive. Remember, we have a country to save," he said.
Trump has imposed tariffs broadly on many allies and has angered Europeans by insisting they pay more for the common NATO defense and by putting pressure on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to reach a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war.
Trump said on Saturday the United States is close to an agreement with Ukraine on sharing revenue from Ukrainian minerals. His spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters at the White House that national security adviser Mike Waltz would be working around the clock over the weekend on a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Daniel Wallis)
