Former US president Donald Trump announced a third White House run, 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.
Mr Trump filed his official candidacy papers with the US election authority moments before he was due to publicly announce his candidacy.
“In order to make America great again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Mr Trump said to a cheering crowd.
Mr Trump’s unusually early entry into the White House race is being seen in Washington as an attempt to get the jump on other Republicans seeking to be the party flag-bearer in 2024 and to stave off potential criminal charges.
Mr Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka has ruled herself out of his campaign, saying she was prioritising her family and private life.
In a post on Instagram, she said: “I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.”
US President Joe Biden responded to Mr Trump’s announcement by saying the Republican “failed” his country while in office.
“Donald Trump failed America,” Mr Biden said in a tweet from Bali, where he was attending the last day of the G20 summit.
Analysis: Trump’s ‘big announcement’ was no surprise
This accompanied a video compilation saying Mr Trump presided over “rigging economy for rich”, “attacking health care”, “coddling extremists”, “attacking women’s rights”, and “inciting a violent mob” to try to overturn his 2020 election loss to Mr Biden.
Republicans are licking their wounds after disappointing midterms, widely blamed on the underperformance of Trump-anointed candidates.
Some are openly asking whether Mr Trump, with his divisive brand of politics and mess of legal woes, is the right person to carry the party next time around.
Several possible 2024 primary rivals are circling, chief among them the governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, who bucked the tide and won a resounding reelection victory on 8 November.
Mr Trump, who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden after being impeached twice by the House of Representatives, launches his latest White House 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 last year’s attack on the US Capitol, his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and his stashing of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
With Mr Trump now a declared candidate, Mr Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, may be forced to name a special counsel to pursue the various investigations into the former president launched by the Department of Justice.
Popular support
In addition, the powerful media empire of Rupert Murdoch has appeared to turn its back on Mr Trump, labelling him after the midterms as a “loser” who shows “increasingly poor judgement”.
Mr Trump also remains banned by Facebook and Twitter, which was instrumental in his political rise.
Despite the dismal election showing by Mr Trump loyalists, the real estate tycoon retains an undeniable popularity with the millions of grassroots supporters who have flocked to his “Make America Great Again” banner.
Despite being abandoned by several top Republican donors, he has amassed a campaign war chest of well over $100m (€96.9m).
Leading up to the midterms vote, Mr Trump made denial of the 2020 election results a key litmus test for candidates seeking his endorsement.
“This is certainly not the rollout I’m sure Donald Trump wanted for his announcement tonight,” said outgoing congresswoman Liz Cheney, a Republican critic.
Having failed to wrest control of the Senate, Republicans are inching towards a likely takeover of the House, but with a razor-thin majority that will be difficult to keep in line.
The 79-year-old Mr Biden, whose victory Mr Trump still refuses to acknowledge, has said his intention is to seek a second term, but he will make a final decision early next year.
‘Better choices’
Mr Trump’s once-loyal vice president, Mike Pence, is seen as a potential 2024 challenger. He old ABC News this week that Mr Trump’s behaviour on January 6, 2021 had been “reckless”.
But Mr Pence declined to say directly whether Mr Trump should be president again.
“That’s up to the American people, but I think we’ll have better choices in the future,” he said.
For the moment, the hard-right Mr DeSantis looks like the leading challenger in a Republican field that may include Mr Pence, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.
The 44-year-old, dubbed “Ron DeSanctimonious” by Mr Trump, had a ready reply yesterday when asked about the former president’s attacks on him, urging “people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night”.
Without naming Mr Trump, he also suggested a Republican ticket headed by the former president would have trouble attracting independent voters “even with Biden in the White House and the failures that we’re seeing”.
Mr Trump is seeking to become just the second American president to serve non-consecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland who was elected in 1884, lost in 1888, and won again in 1892.
Donald Trump announces 2024 White House bid
Source: Viral Trends Report
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