Power Up: Trump says the GOP is stuck with him. Whether they like it or not.

In doing so, he made clear the GOP — whose leaders toyed with breaking with him after the deadly Capitol insurrection less than two months ago — is now more even firmly tied to the man they failed to convict in a second impeachment trial.

From Florida, where Trump is holed up at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the ex-president reclaimed the GOP mantle with a vengeance. He told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida that he was considering a presidential run in 2024, ruled out forming a third party and read the names of those who voted to impeach him — lawmakers he called “grandstanders” and “RINOs.”

• Ahem: “We cannot have leaders who show more passion for condemning their fellow Americans than they have ever shown for standing up to Democrats, the media and the radicals who want to turn America into a socialist country,” Trump threatened. “Instead of attacking me and more importantly, the voters of our movement, top establishment Republicans in Washington should be spending your energy and opposing Biden, [Nancy] Pelosi, [Charles E.] Schumer, and the Democrats.”

Republicans spent the days leading up to Trump’s speech painting the GOP civil war as a media fabrication. Yet a seemingly unencumbered Trump ripped the scab right off by pillorying Republican lawmakers he plans to oust from their seats for voting to impeach him.

Trump’s tirade against members of his own party came with an explicit ask to support “Trumpism,” which he defined as a nativist, isolationist, pro-business ideology, by donating to elect “America first Republicans” through his new leadership PAC to play ball in the midterm elections. 

• “We are not starting new parties,” he said. “We have the Republican Party. It is going to unite and be stronger than ever before.”
• Trump is also “exploring the possibility of drafting a bullet-pointed ‘America First” agenda,’ which fellow Republicans could sign onto in a show of fealty to his leadership,” our colleagues Dave Weigel and Michael Scherer report. 
• Trump has already endorsed one primary opponent against a Republican incumbent who voted to impeach him: “On Friday, he formally backed a former White House aide, Max Miller, as a primary opponent to Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), who was one of 10 Republicans to vote for Trump’s impeachment in January,” per Weigel and Scherer. 

Where is the love? But Trump’s grip on the GOP may not be as strong as he thinks.

The results of the straw poll conducted by secret ballot at a conference tailor-made for Trump’s base weren’t a total lock “ … only 68 percent of those at the conference said they wanted the former president to run again in 2024,” the New York Times’s Elaina Plott and Shane Goldmacher report. 

• “Far more attendees, 95 percent, said they wanted the Republican Party to advance Mr. Trump’s policies and agenda than endorsed him running again, even as the mere mention of Mr. Trump’s name earned loud applause throughout the three-day gathering of activists.”
• “If we idolize one person, we will lose,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told CNN’s Dana Bash  of all of the focus on Trump. “And that’s kind of clear from the last election.”
• Reality check: “If we plan to win in 2022 and 2024, we have to listen to the voters. Not just those who really like President Trump, but perhaps those who are less sure,” Cassidy added. “If we speak to the voters who are less sure that went from President Trump to President Biden, we win. If we don’t, we lose. That is a reality that we have to confront.”
• The GOP is “the voters’ party” instead of Trump’s, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), told Fox News’s Chris Wallace when asked whether Republicans were still Trump’s party.

Though Trump has frozen the field, the backbench of 2024 hopefuls were sure to kiss the ring: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) loudly proclaimed that Trump “ain’t going anywhere,” and others were sure to tweet their praise after Trump’s meandering speech, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) and Trump’s former ambassador to the U.N. who recently landed in hot water for sharply criticizing her former boss over the Capitol riot. 

• “Strong speech by President Trump about the winning policies of his administration and what the party needs to unite behind moving forward,” Haley tweeted. “The liberal media wants a GOP civil war. Not gonna happen.”

“Party of new ideas”: The fact-checkers were also back in action for Trump’s return to center stage. The conservative gathering was light on policy and heavy on the baseless claim that the 2020 election was rigged. (Biden earned seven million more votes than Trump and he won the electoral college. 306 to 232). 

• Shot: “That would be a big mistake,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told CNN’s Manu Raju about the possibility Trump would falsely claim to CPAC attendees the election was stolen.
• Chaser: “Who knows?” Trump told the audience on Sunday before implying he won the 2020 election. “I may even decide to beat them for a third time.”

An alarming 62 percent of CPAC attendees named election integrity as the most important political issue — a sign of the pervasiveness of Trump’s baseless election claims. There was little interest in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that Democrats are pushing through Congress and far more focus on “cancel culture,” challenging Big Tech and efforts from Republicans like Govs. Noem (R-S.D.) and Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) to keep the economy open during the coronavirus pandemic. 

• “ … sometimes you’ve got to give some deference to where your base wants to go. … Do I think the Republicans have to get over the election process issues? Yes, because you don’t win on ‘we’re going to tighten up absentee ballot eligibility.’ It doesn’t turn out to vote,” Sal Russo, a co-founder of the Tea Party Express, told Politico’s David Sider. 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) was on of those name-checked for defeat by Trump. His allies have started a super PAC to support him, and he had this to say:

IT’S STIMULUS WEEK: On Saturday, the House passed Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, 219 to 212. Republicans unanimously opposed the bill and all but two Democrats voted in favor. 

This week, the bill moves to the Senate. 

• “In the week ahead, [Democrats] will face challenges in steering other aspects of the bill through procedural obstacles, including debates over how to distribute expanded tax benefits aimed at helping impoverished families,” the New York Times’s Emily Cochrane and Jim Tankersley report.
• In the Senate, lawmakers “may add, change or eliminate some provisions — including the proposed $15 minimum wage,” CNN’s  Tami Luhby and Katie Lobosco report.
• About the minimum wage fight: “Senior Democrats are abandoning a backup plan to increase the minimum wage through a corporate tax penalty, after encountering numerous practical and political challenges in drafting their proposal over the weekend, according to two people familiar with the internal deliberations,” our colleague Jeff Stein scooped yesterday.

The timeline: “Democrats hope to push the legislation through both chambers and get it signed into law by March 14, when enhanced unemployment benefits are set to expire. It is uncertain whether disputes over the minimum wage or other issues could complicate that timeline,” per our Erica Werner and Jeff Stein. 

• Biden: “We have no time to waste. If we act now — decisively, quickly and boldly — we can finally get ahead of this virus. We can finally get our economy moving again.”

ABOUT TANDEN’S CONFIRMATION BATTLE: “Washington is undergoing an awkward realignment,” Biden’s beleaguered nominee gets the Ben Terris treatment. Neera “Tanden’s confirmation hearings coincided with Trump’s impeachment trial, which meant senators weighing whether Tanden’s rude tweets should disqualify her from running the White House budget office were, at the same time, weighing whether Trump’s exhortations to his followers in the run-up to a deadly insurrection, should disqualify him from serving as president.” 

• “With [former president] Trump gone, the city’s political classes were renegotiating the rules of engagement for political warfare. Questions of who was allowed to fight, and how, were back on the table.”
• ‘There’s more than mean tweets: “As much as her confirmation battle has been about her tweets, Tanden’s life story does not fit neatly into 280 characters or fewer.”
• Back story: “Her parents were nearly strangers when they wed; the marriage was arranged, and ultimately doomed. They got married in India, moved to the Boston area and split up when Tanden was 5. Her father left town … With the help of public assistance, her mother, Maya, kept their heads above water before landing jobs that allowed her to buy a house and send Tanden and her brother to college. Tanden came away with the understanding that welfare programs are part of what makes the American Dream possible.”
• Tanden’s talent as a fundraiser has led to $45 million to $50 million budgets for [the liberal leaning think tank she heads] CAP, and for the most part people enjoy working there.”
• Butttt: That’s not universal.

NEW VACCINE SHIPS TODAY: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending the nation’s third coronavirus vaccine for people 18 and older, paving the way for the easier-to-use, one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be administered starting this week,” our colleague Lena H. Sun reports. 

• 3.9 million doses will go out to state health departments, pharmacies, federally qualified health centers and community vaccination centers today.
• “The vaccine is the first one authorized in the United States that doesn’t need to be kept frozen or administered twice.”

Meanwhile, Jeff Zients, Biden’s coronavirus czar, spoke to “60 Minutes’s” Bill Whitaker yesterday about the vaccine rollout:

CUOMO UNDER FIRE: Charlotte Bennett, a former aide to New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, “is accusing him of sexual harassment, saying that he asked her questions about her sex life, whether she was monogamous in her relationships and if she had ever had sex with older men,” the New York Times’s Jesse McKinley reports.

• Bennett: “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” she told the New York Times. “And was wondering how I was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job.”
• This is the second sexual harassment allegation made by a former aide in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Lindsey Boylan wrote that Cuomo had harassed her on several occasions between 2016 and 2018, from giving her an unsolicited kiss in his Manhattan office to inviting her to play strip poker on a government airplane.

Yesterday, Cuomo issued a statement apologizing for “anything he said may ‘have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation,’ but denied he ever inappropriately touched or propositioned anyone in his office,” our colleagues Amy B Wang and Hannah Knowles report. 

• Cuomo: “I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended.” Read the statement.
• “He also said he would refer an investigation of the accusations against him to the New York attorney general,” our Post colleagues report. “The decision came after White House officials, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a coalition of female state lawmakers and several members of Congress joined the growing number of activists and Democratic lawmakers calling for an independent investigation into [the] allegations. Some have demanded Cuomo resign, capping a tumultuous week for the governor facing several scandals.”

HAIL TO THE NEW INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: Avril Haines, the Biden administration’s new director of national intelligence, “has taken over [during] a turbulent time,” NPR’s Greg Myre reports. 

• What’s going on? “A massive computer hack blamed on Russia is still under investigation. Biden has raised the possibility of rejoining a nuclear agreement with Iran. [And a declassified report released Friday] said Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was responsible for the brutal 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.” National security agencies also have to contend with elevated threats of domestic terrorism.
• “I think it has been a challenging time, particularly for the office of the director of national intelligence,” Haines told NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly, co-host of All Things Considered. “There was a lot of turnover during the last administration and I think, more generally, that intelligence analysis wasn’t necessarily being appreciated in the same way that it normally had been in the past.”
• “You have now a president who very much wants to hear what you have to say, regardless of whether it’s consistent with his particular policy views.”

GOLDEN GLOBES WINNERS: Jane Fonda won this year’s Cecil B. DeMille Award and Chadwick Boseman received a posthumous award for best performance by an actor in a motion picture drama.