Former U.S. president Donald Trump, on Tuesday announced his intention to run for president in 2024, amidst growing opposition within the GOP.
Trump made the announcement to hundreds of his supporters, club members and members of the press in a ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, under his Make America Great Again! Mantra.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” he told the crowd.
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The announcement marks Trump’s third attempt at the presidency, underscoring his push to become only the second U.S. president ever elected to two nonconsecutive terms. He lost his reelection bid to current president Joe Biden in 2020, in an election he claimed was stolen.
Trump has always praised his tenure as the best even though it was riddled with controversies and economic shortfalls. He said during the announcement that “everybody was doing great” and that after his four years in office, “the world was at peace” and that he “kept his promises”.
“The decline of America is being forced upon us by Biden and the radical left… this is not a decline we must accept,” he added.
Biden responded to Trump by tweeting a video of the former president with the caption: Donald Trump Failed America.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1592704151384985602?s=20&t=HZADuC6nH19ryfCxpVtVpw
However, Trump’s aim to become the commander-in-chief faces upheavals unlike in 2016 and 2020. His influence in the Republican Party is waning and so is his supporters’ base across the United States.
Trump questioned the integrity of the U.S. election after his loss to Biden, calling it a sham election. His claim that the election was stolen from him led to Jan. 6 Capitol riot that resulted in the death of more than six Americans. But the number of Republicans who support the claim that the election rigged has significantly dropped, particularly as the House committee intensifies its inquiry into the matter.
Prominent GOP members have informed Trump that his influence is hurting the party, and there is now a widening hole in the support of both party members and voters for him. Trump’s waning influence was x-rayed during the midterm elections, which saw several of his endorsed election deniers lose to Democrats.
With Democrats now having a Senate majority, Trump is taking a large share of the blame from the GOP. He is being accused of backing candidates who clearly couldn’t win the elections.
Besides his increasing fallout with the GOP, Trump is facing a series of criminal cases, including the Department of Justice’s probe into his handling of classified documents found at his home in Mar-a-Lago in August. There is also investigation into his tax returns that may brew further trouble for him.
With other prominent GOP members, like DeSantis, lining up this time for the primaries, Trump will face an unusual fight to clinch the Republican nomination – that’s, if he does not get indicted in one of his cases before then.