Trump throws hat into race
Ex-president brushes off misconduct allegations in bid for top post
Palm Beach: A combative Donald Trump launched into the 2024 White House race, setting the stage for a bruising Republican nomination battle after a poor midterm election showing by his hand-picked candidates weakened his grip on the party.
“America’s comeback starts right now,” the 76-year-old former president told hundreds of supporters gathered in an ornate American flag-draped ballroom at his palatial Mar-a-lago residence in Florida on Tuesday.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” he said, minutes after filing the official paperwork for his third presidential run.
Trump’s unusually early entry into the race is being seen in Washington as an attempt to get the jump on other Republicans seeking to be party flag-bearer – and to stave off potential criminal charges.
In a fiery, hour-long speech, Trump lauded – and at times inflated – his accomplishments as America’s 45th president and fired off verbal salvos against Democrat Joe Biden, who defeated him in 2020.
“I will ensure that Joe Biden does not receive four more years,” Trump vowed, while the US leader greeted his announcement with a tweet saying: “Donald Trump failed America.”
Trump, who was impeached for seeking political dirt on Biden from Ukraine and again after the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters, launches his new bid with several potential handicaps.
He is the target of multiple investigations into his conduct before, during and after his first term as president – which could ultimately result in his disqualification.
These include allegations of fraud by his family business, his role in the attack on the Capitol, his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and his stashing of classified documents at Mar-a-lago.
In his announcement speech, Trump attacked Biden over inflation, crime and immigration, mocked climate change and congratulated himself for toppling the Islamic State, keeping North Korea in check and building a border wall with Mexico.
“Under our leadership, we were a great and glorious nation. But now we are a nation in decline,” he said.
“This is not just a campaign this is a quest to save our country.
“In two years the Biden administration has destroyed the US economy,” he said.
“With a victory we will again build the greatest economy ever,” he said.