For the first time in history, a sitting United States president addressed a crowd at the conservative Value Voters Summit. As expected, Donald Trump's remarks didn't go over well with many on social media.

Trump at the summit

When Donald Trump first announced his plan to run for president back in June 2015, many questions were raised in regards to his candidacy. One question pertained to Trump's ability to convince enough conservative Christians to support him due to his controversial background. After winning the GOP nomination, Trump found a way to appeal to enough of the religious right that he was able to move forward to the general election and pull off a shocking upset over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Since his inauguration last January, Trump has taken steps to cater to those in his religious base, most notably his actions on Obamacare and other healthcare related items like limiting abortion and contraceptive coverage. Fast forward to present day and the president appeared at the Values Voter Summit run by the right-wing Christian group known as the Family Research Council. As reported by CBS News on October 13, Trump continued to pander to conservative Christians.

Appearing at the Values Voter Summit in Washington D.C, on Friday morning, Donald Trump addressed his religious supporters, making in the first sitting president to attend the conference run by the controversial Family Research Council.

The president kicked off his speech by addressing the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas, praising the first responders and those who took part in helping the victims. "In the wake of such horror, we also witnessed the true character of our nation," Trump said.

"We defend out Constitution...we protect religious liberty," Donald Trump went on to say, before saying the United States was a "nation of believers." "We are all made by the same God in heaven," he noted, "When I came to see you last year, I made you a promise," the commander in chief said, before adding, "I pledge in a Trump administration that our nation's heritage would be protected like you have never seen before." Trump then turned to the president of Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, and asked if he had to come back to the summit the next year.

"Can I take next year off, or do I have to come back?" Trump said in an awkward moment. Not stopping there, Trump then went on to call out "radical Islamic terrorism," before claiming to bring back "moral clarity" to the world.

Next up

As expected, it didn't take long before those who oppose Donald Trump and the Family Research Council to speak out on social media.

"Now on television: A man with no values addressing the so-called "Value Voters Summit." Yea, I'll skip it," one tweet read.

"This pig speaking at the Value Voters Summit he's a fu**ing disgrace," one Twitter user wrote. "How is it the Value Voters Summit decided to have a philandering, adulterating, misogynistic fraud such as you speak??" another tweet wondered.

"The pussy grabber gets standing ovation from highly conservative value voters summit," an additional tweet added. "The guy who’s on his 3rd wife & has been accused of raping a teenager is speaking at #ValueVotersSummit What do these people value," yet another post noted. As the backlash continued, it only showed that the rift between those who support Donald Trump and those who oppose him won't be finding common ground anytime soon.
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