Palm Beach, Florida, US: Mr. Donald Trump, the former US President, has officially announced that he will run for Presidency in 2024, making it his third run for office.
In a speech delivered recently from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Mr. Trump stated that, “we are a nation in decline” and “America’s comeback starts right now.”
The former US President has been hinting at this decision for months. It comes at a time when the troubled real estate mogul is facing several criminal and civil investigations. Mr. Trump’s party is dealing with a worse-than-expected performance in the midterm elections which raises questions about how much influence the former President has over the Republican Party.
Mr. Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020 but did not concede and has continued to spread the story that the election was “rigged” and “stolen.” The former US President has hinted at running for Presidency again over the past year. Last week, he told a crowd at a rally to expect a “big announcement.”
It is unprecedented in American history for a former one-term President to run for Presidency again as the front-runner for his party’s nomination. Mr. Trump is running for Presidency for the third time. He was once a real estate mogul before turning into a reality television celebrity, and then he called himself the “MAGA king.”
The violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump fans on January 6, 2021, culminated in Mr. Trump’s election deceptions, for which nearly 1,000 people have already been charged with crimes. The former US President has often downplayed the violence and said that if he won another term in office, he would free anyone accused of taking part in the attack.
Some of the former President’s aides have said that announcing his candidacy will protect him from the investigations. However, many legal experts disagree, saying that Mr. Trump won’t have special protections if he does this.
Mr. Trump has a firm hold on his Republican base despite being twice impeached during his four years in office but not found guilty either time. According to a poll conducted earlier this year by ABC News/Washington Post, six out of ten Republicans support the former President as their party’s leader.
In the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections, the former US President used his political clout by sponsoring hand-picked candidates for significant congressional seats, including Senate candidates Mr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania and Mr. Herschel Walker in Georgia. In the campaign’s last weeks, the former President increased the number of rallies he organized, holding several throughout the weekend before Election Day.
Some have begun to question Mr. Trump’s ability to continue winning elections for the party after at least 30 of his backed candidates, including Mr. Oz, lost their races.
Mr. Trump has already attacked some potential rivals for the 2024 Presidential nomination, such as Mr. Ron DeSantis, who has easily won reelection as Governor of Florida. In a statement released last week, the former US President called Mr. DeSantis an “average” governor, claiming that he was “politically dead” before receiving his endorsement in 2018 and criticizing his failure to declare whether he will run for Presidency in 2024.
The former U.S. President called the governor of Florida “Ron DeSanctimonious” and stated that, “Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s not the right answer.”
Mr. Trump has reportedly lost patience with Mr. Ron DeSantis as the Florida Governor’s political profile has grown. Some party members have stated they would like Mr. DeSantis to run for Presidency instead of him.