Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US had become a “cesspool of crime” and a “war zone” since he left the White House — as he called for law and order to be urgently restored across the country.

Speaking in Washington, DC for the first time since leaving office 18 months ago, Trump blamed Democrats for the surge in crime plaguing the country.

“We’re living in such a different country for one primary reason: There is no longer respect for the law and there certainly is no order,” Trump said as he delivered the keynote speech at the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit.

“Our country is now a cesspool of crime. We have blood, death and suffering on a scale once unthinkable because of the Democrat Party’s effort to destroy and dismantle law enforcement … It has to stop and it has to stop now.”

Trump added: “Under the Democrat rule, in Democrat run cities, Democrat run states and a Democrat run federal government, the criminals have been given free rein more than ever before.

“There’s never been a time like this. Our streets are riddled with needles and soaked with the blood of innocent victims.”

“Many of our once great cities — from New York to Chicago to LA — where the middle class used to flock to live the American dream are now war zones, literal war zones,” Trump continued.

“Every day, there are stabbings, rapes, murders and violent assaults of every kind imaginable.”

The 45th president rattled off a string of crimes in New York alone, including the February stabbing death of Christina Yuna Lee in her Manhattan apartment and last week’s attack on GOP gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin during a campaign stop.

Trump also referenced the recent saga involving wrongfully charged Manhattan bodega worker Jose Alba, who was jailed for fatally stabbing a violent ex-convict in self-defense.

“The message sent by jailing this man was that if you’re attacked, you must lie down as an act of sacrifice and let yourself be pummeled and beaten to death to uphold the Left’s vision of reimagining public safety,” Trump raged. “The vision is sick.”

Trump fired off ways public safety could be restored to the US, including tougher bail laws, reinstating “stop and frisk” policies and hiring more cops.

“The next Congress and the next president should crack down on this insanity and crack down very, very hard and very, very quickly,” Trump said of bail reform in cities like New York.

“The civil liberties of people, the safety of law abiding Americans cannot be violated by weak mayors and governors who are people that just don’t know what they’re doing.”

He also voiced support for imposing the death penalty for convicted drug deals, saying “the penalties should be very, very severe.”

“If you look at countries throughout the world, the ones that don’t have a drug problem are ones that institute a very quick trial death penalty sentence for drug dealers,” he added.

“It sounds horrible, doesn’t it? But you know what? That’s the ones that don’t have any problem. It doesn’t take 15 years in court.”

Trump said elsewhere during his address that public safety could be restored if Republicans take control of the House of Representatives and Senate after the midterm elections — and when a GOP president “takes back the White House in 2024.”

While much of his address was related to public safety, Trump repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 election — a declaration that sparked the Capitol riots.

“I ran the first time and I won. Then I ran a second time and I did much better. We got millions and millions more votes … We may just have to do it again,” Trump said.

“It was a catastrophe that election. A disgrace to our country,” he added.

Those comments came less than a week after the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack focused on Trump’s inaction as his supporters stormed the Capitol building.

Meanwhile, Trump’s address came just hours after Mike Pence — his vice president and potential 2024 rival — urged Republicans to stop looking backward.

“Some people may choose to focus on the past, but elections are about the future,” the ex-veep said as he touted his own “Freedom Agenda” at the 44th National Conservative Student Conference in Washington Tuesday morning.

Neither Trump nor Pence has publicly confirmed if he’ll run for president in 2024 — but their back-to-back events in Washington has sparked speculation of a potential showdown between the former White House partners.

Asked about the growing divide between Trump and himself, Pence said Tuesday that the two don’t differ on issues.

“But we may differ on focus. I truly do believe that elections are about the future and that it’s absolutely essential at a time when so many Americans are hurting and so many families are struggling, that we don’t give way to the temptation to look back,” Pence said.