USA: In a move many Republicans are preparing to distance themselves from their longtime leader, Donald Trump has officially entered the 2024 US presidential race. He had been pointing this out for months.
Trump's campaign submitted federal paperwork to officially announce his candidacy minutes before appearing at an event to do so, making him the first major candidate of either party to do so.
Twenty-three minutes before the start of Trump's announcement speech, he filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission naming his campaign committee as the recipient of the donations.
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On Tuesday evening local time, the former US president welcomed guests to his gilded Florida resort Mar-a-Lago. The 76-year-old told a group of donors and cheering supporters gathered in an elaborate American flag ballroom at the resort that "America's comeback begins now."
In a combative speech, Trump criticized Biden on crime and inflation while praising his achievements as president, such as defeating the Islamic State and building a border wall with Mexico.
We were a great and proud nation under our leadership. But right now, our country is deteriorating, he said. "The Biden administration has ruined the American economy in just two years. If we win, we will create the best economy ever again."
The streets of our once-great cities, now covered in blood, are a bloodbath for violent crimes, declared Trump, who promised to "restore and secure America's borders."
Trump is the first major candidate of any party to formally declare with his announcement. His unusually early entry into the race for the White House is seen as an attempt to gain an advantage over other Republicans in Washington to lead the party in 2024 - as well as to fend off possible criminal charges.
However, for Republicans, the timing couldn't have been worse. Voters rejected election-rejecters and others with extreme positions on social issues such as abortion rights and education, leading to the failure of Trump-backed candidates in key races during last week's midterm elections.
Republicans were within one seat of controlling Monday night, nearly a week after polling ended nationwide, but that cost them their chance to retake the US Senate and left them far short of that sizable majority. which he had expected. House.
Trump, twice impeached by the House of Representatives before losing the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, begins his latest run for the White House with several potential pitfalls.
His actions before, during, and after his first term as President are the subject of numerous investigations that may eventually lead to his disqualification.
These include claims of fraud against his family business, his involvement in the attack on the US Capitol last year, his attempt to rig the 2020 election, and the storage of sensitive information at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump has now officially announced his candidacy, which means Biden's Attorney General Merrick Garland may need to appoint a special counsel to handle a number of investigations against the former president, which the Justice The department has already started.
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Additionally, Trump has been shunned by Rupert Murdoch's influential media conglomerate, who described him as a "loser" with "increasingly poor judgment" following the midterm elections.
Facebook and Twitter, which were instrumental in his astonishing political rise, continue to block Trump.
The real estate magnate continues to enjoy undeniable favor among millions of grassroots supporters who flock to his "Make America Great Again" banner despite a poor poll performance by Trump supporters.
And despite losing the support of many influential Republican donors, he has amassed a war coffer of over US$100 million for his campaign.
Trump's negating the results of the 2020 election has made it an important criterion for candidates seeking support for the midterm elections.
But Trump's most devoted allies suffered a setback that eroded their support ahead of Tuesday's launch.
"This is definitely not the roll-out I'm sure Donald Trump wanted for his announcement tonight," said Liz Cheney, a staunch Republican critic of Trump and the late Congressman.
Republicans are inching closer to a possible takeover of the House after failing to gain control of the Senate, but they do so with a reduced majority that will be challenging to control.
The 79-year-old Biden, whose victory Trump still won't acknowledge, has said he plans to run for re-election, but he won't make a decision until early in 2019.
Mike Pence, Trump's former vice president and a potential challenger in 2024 who just published a new book called So Help Me God, told ABC News this week that Trump's actions on January 6, 2021 had been "reckless."
Pence would not directly address whether Trumpshould run for office again. He said, "I think we'll have better choices in the future. That's up to the American people.
In a Republican field that may also include Pence, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, hard-right DeSantis currently appears to be Trump's main rival.
When asked about the former president's criticism of him on Tuesday, Ron DeSantis, 44, who Trump has dubbed "Ron DeSanctimonious," had a prepared response, advising "people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night."
He also implied that a Republican ticket led by the former president would struggle to win over independent voters, "even with Biden in the White House and the failures that we're seeing," without specifically mentioning Trump.
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Trump is attempting to become only the second American president to hold office for a non-consecutive period of time after Grover Cleveland, who was elected in 1884, lost in 1888, and won again in 1892.
