Trump announces 2024 run for president | The Hill
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PALM BEACH, Fla. - Former President Trump, facing questions about his influence over the Republican Party, on Tuesday announced his entry into the 2024 race for the White House.
Trump made the announcement during a much-anticipated event at Mar-a-Lago, his private estate and club in Palm Beach, Fla., just a week after a lackluster midterm election performance denied Republicans the "red wave" they had long anticipated and led to days of finger-pointing within the party.
Flanked by a dozen American flags in a gilded ballroom, Trump delivered a winding speech in which he boasted about — and often exaggerated — his record in the Oval Office and defended his party's midterm performance, claiming that Republicans had "taken over Congress" and "fired" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Of other Republican midterm failures, Trump claimed that Americans had "not yet realized the full extent and gravity of the pain our nation is going through."
"We always have known that this was not the end. It was only the beginning of our fight to rescue the American dream," Trump said. "In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States."
The former president on Tuesday made good on months of hinting that he could mount a comeback bid after losing reelection to President Biden in 2020. Since then, Trump has continued to cling to his false claim that widespread voter fraud and systemic irregularities robbed him of a second term in the White House — allegations some in the party say cost them crucial midterm races.
Even in announcing his latest campaign on Tuesday, Trump suggested that China may have played "a very active role in the 2020 election."
Tuesday marks the beginning of Trump's fourth presidential campaign, though only the third in which he is running as a serious political figure. But he is entering the 2024 race in a very different position than he was in when he launched his first successful bid for the Oval Office in 2015.
He is no longer just the businessman and reality TV star who won over Republican voters with his bombastic and controversial promises to "build the wall" at the U.S. southern border and "drain the swamp" in Washington.
To many Americans, Trump is a political pariah who sought to cast aside the peaceful transfer of power between presidential administrations in order to preserve his reputation as a winner in all facets of life.
Trump's efforts to turn over his 2020 electoral loss have put him at the center of a congressional investigation and isolated him from the biggest social media platforms, including Twitter, the site that once helped him build up his political profile.
He has also found himself at the center of a complex web of legal threats, ranging from investigations into his business to probes into his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. In August, FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida as part of an inquiry into classified documents being kept there, an unprecedented move, though one Trump sought to cast as politically motivated.
He's also heading into his campaign in a weakened state. Republicans had long anticipated a so-called red wave in 2022, believing that resentment of Biden and his party's control of Congress would sweep them into the majority.
Instead, the elections yielded a significantly cloudier picture of the country. While Republicans are poised to capture a narrow majority in the House, they missed out on an opportunity to take control of the Senate — a failure that many Republicans blame on Trump and his repeated intervention in GOP primaries.
In fact, some advisers reportedly urged Trump to delay his announcement until more time had passed after the midterms.
But to other Americans, he remains a visionary who sought to bulldoze an opaque federal bureaucracy and advocate for the United States' best interests in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world.
And indeed, there are no signs that Trump may seek to turn over a new leaf in his 2024 presidential bid. His announcement on Tuesday echoed the themes that have defined his political career. He described America as being in a weakened state under Biden, railing against what he dubbed out-of-control inflation and immigration, and claiming that China had once again begun taking advantage of the U.S.
He said that his presidency had brought about a "golden age" in the U.S. Now, he said, America is "a nation in decline."
"Under our leadership, we were a great and glorious nation — something you haven't heard for quite a long period of time," he said. "Now we are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation. For millions of Americans, the past two years under Joe Biden have been a time of pain, hardship and despair."
While not entirely unexpected, his entrance into the 2024 presidential race comes at an unusual time.
While the midterm elections have passed, there are still three weeks until a runoff Senate election in Georgia, and some Republicans fear the effect a Trump presidential run will have on their campaign in the state.
And while Trump remains by and large the most popular figure in the modern GOP, there are questions about whether he is the best standard-bearer for the political movement he started seven years ago.
He remains unpopular among most voters. Exit polling from the 2022 midterm elections found that Trump is less popular than Biden, who's favorability rating has sunk deep underwater. A Politico-Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday found that 65 percent of voters do not believe that Trump should mount another bid for the White House.
Most early polling shows him as the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nod. But there are signs that other prospective candidates may be catching up, most notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. A growing number of Republicans see DeSantis, a longtime Trump ally, as a top-tier pick for the White House.
While DeSantis has downplayed the notion that he has presidential ambitions, he hasn't ruled out a 2024 bid. Strengthening his argument for a presidential run was the fact that he notched a 19-point landslide victory in the midterms that sent him to a second term with a governing mandate.
His swelling profile among Republicans nationally may be one of the reasons that Trump decided to jump into the race so early, according to multiple party operatives and strategists.
"The president wants to get ahead of the curve," one GOP donor, who requested anonymity to speak openly about the dynamics of the budding 2024 race, said. "I think he knows that every day, he's losing a little bit more relevance. The idea is: Put yourself out there before someone else comes along."
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FFS!
he really needs some new material. lucky for his gullible supporters that breathing is an involuntary reflex.
Seems to me, Trump believes that if he wins the nomination that he will win the support of most of the GoP.
He might be right. There is a big problem within the GoP. Members who would not vote to nominate Trump would vote for him if he were the nominee. That entirely flawed reasoning is the enabler for Trump.
I had the speech on. A couple thoughts.
Trump looked tired, and not particularly engaged with what he was saying. Right wing media is explaining that as him being "serious".
I had Fox news on all night, which I never do. I havent watched more than 5 minutes of Fox News live for a couple years, but I did tonight. What a horror show that shit is. Nothing but attacks on Democrats, and I mean nothing. Oh and Mike Pillow commercials. He easily has more commercials on Fox News than any other company. I guess Fox doesnt care that he is batshit nuts.
Hannity and Laura Ingraham had "panels" to discuss Trump's announcement. You havent seen so much fawning over Trump since Marjorie got down on her knees in front of him.
We are far far away from politics getting any better in America. Years away.
But on a positive note trump is just becoming increasingly unpopular with a majority of Americans. The more closely GOP candidates aligned with trump in this last cycle the smaller their margins of victory or they just flat out lose in races they should have won. Apparently some dipshits like those in fox just don’t understand that most Americans do not like Donald trump, have never liked trump, and are tired of his constant bullshit.
And the Freak Show is off and running.
same old bullshit and a never ending campaign...
I've posted this elsewhere, but it's just as applicable here as well. Oh how the dollars will roll in for him now - he can rely on the ignorance of his supporters. His first hurdle will be to get the nomination to be the Republican candidate, and let's see if those who do the nominating will fit my description of his supporters as well. I think they are going to be faced with a quandary. If they nominate him they will have nominated the person who has just been proven to be the "kiss of death" for the Republicans, and if they nominate DeSantis, Trump won't back down, just as he has not backed down from losing the election, he will probably form his own third party and fight both the Democrat and Republican candidates, splitting the conservative vote and assuring a Democrat win even if it IS "Sleepy Joe". Oh, I hope I live long enough to watch this circus.
I think trump still has like a 100 mil war chest.
Those legal fees aren’t cheap.
And Dem operatives are thrilled. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016, eking out an electoral win by 70000 vote spread across 3 states. He lost the 2018 midterms, lost in 2020 to a “guy campaigning from his basement”, and lost in the 2022 midterms. Looks like he is going to fuck the GOP over in 2024 now.
Rumor has it that Rupert Murdoch has already said that Fox News will support DeSantis over Trump during the primaries. We'll see if that plays out.
Maybe, but last night Fox News was pretty much all in for Trump.
DeSantis will likely keep his options open and unannounced for some time. If Trump remains unconvicted and a candidate, I doubt that DeSantis will run against him. It would get very ugly quickly and the 30-40% of the based, the always Trumpers, would hate DeSantis and stay out of the general if he prevailed over Trump. He is still young, and it would be smarter to let Trump lose again in 2024 while DeSantos remains a governor and then run in 28.
I think the stars a line for a candidate only once. If he wants to be President, he's unlikely to have a better chance than now. If he declines to run, he may well end up like Chris Christie, who probably could have had the nomination handed to him in '12 but thought '16 would be easier and he got steamrolled. The environment changes so much in 6 years and the shine may wear off the golden boy.
Were I to advise DeSantis it would be to point out that there would be no better person to primary against that Trump with all his current baggage. Much to the tune of Trump couldn't get it done, but DeSantis will kind of thing. Their populist politics are very much the same so the base will fall in line with whomever gets the nomination.
I wonder if this is his last ditch effort to stay away from being prosecuted in the MULTITUDE of law suits against him.
That and to keep donation money flowing.
But I remember the RNC stated that if he announced his candidacy they would no longer fund his defense fundings against those law suits. So either he swings the donation money to that or he spends his own money. Unless the RNC decides they will fund his legal defense anyway...
I suspect that is a major factor in his decision.
Not to mention that attention is his oxygen.
He requires it even more than Big Macs and KFC.