On Tuesday, November 15th, former President Donald Trump announced his bid for the presidency in 2024, putting an end to months of speculation and clearing the GOP primary field ahead of a potential rematch with President Joe Biden.
Trump addressed a throng assembled at Mar-a-Lago, his seaside resort in Florida, where his campaign will be based, saying, “In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.”
The 45th President officially declared his candidacy just before making his speech by submitting paperwork to the Federal Election Commission.
Later in his speech, he added, “I will ensure that Joe Biden does not receive four more years; our country could not take that. And I say that not in laughter; I say that in tears. Our country could not take four more years. They can only take so much.”
Trump later stated that the republican party cannot afford to choose “a politician or conventional candidate” if they hope to take power of the White House again. His words addressed a roomful of Republicans who anticipate he will face primary opponents in the upcoming months.
Trump declared, “This will not be my campaign; this will be our campaign altogether.”
Polls show that since leaving office, Trump’s popularity among Republicans has decreased, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now considered one of the leading candidates for the nomination.
In a hypothetical primary, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday, 47% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents would favor the former president, while only 33% would support DeSantis.
The former president criticized Biden for his conduct and his frequent gaffes while praising his own initiatives during his four years in office and declaring that he was running on a “national greatness agenda.”
President Biden says he still intends to run for president in 2024 despite turning 80 on November 20th.
Trump promised to intensify protectionism and ensure “low taxes, minimal regulations, and fair trade.”
He also promised to reduce inflation, which is currently at its highest sustained rate since the early 1980s, from 7.7% to approximately 1%, and he pledged to seek to bring back manufacturing and supply chains from China.
According to the former president, “people are being shot and killed at random like you’ve never seen before,” and cities are turning into “cesspools of blood” as a result of the rising violent crime. He also said he would “insist” that local officials accept federal intervention to reduce the crimes.
Trump added that he would complete the long-promised US-Mexico border wall, work to deport “illegal immigrant criminals,” and attack the “festering rot” in Washington by pushing for a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on the House of Representatives and a lifetime ban on lobbying by former lawmakers and cabinet members, as well as new rules restricting congressional stock trades.
Trump is launching his third consecutive campaign for president against the backdrop of a possible Justice Department indictment on charges of improper handling of classified information following the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on August 8 and the removal of dozens of delicate documents.
Trump is also under investigation in relation to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, which saw a ferocious mob of his supporters obstruct the certification of Biden’s victory.
If Trump wins the White House once more in 2024, he will have pulled off one of the most impressive political comebacks in US history after leaving office, with the riots overshadowing his domestic and foreign policy successes.
