Donald Trump has officially launched a third bid for the US presidency.
Just over two years since he lost the 2020 presidential election to President Joe Biden, on Tuesday night, the 76-year-old former president of the United States announced that he's running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
"In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States," Trump said on a stage at his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, surrounded by Make America Great Again banners.
Vowing to defeat the current 79-year-old president in 2024, the twice-impeached former leader who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, declared: "America's comeback starts now."
Listen to Trump's speech below:The former president, who - according to many - incited a deadly riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a desperate attempt to keep himself in power, said that "everybody was doing great" during his four years in office and that "the world was at peace".
"Our nation was at the pinnacle of power, prosperity, and prestige, towering above all rivals vanquishing all enemies, and striding into the future confident and so strong," he said.
Trump also said that his exit from the White House last year had made the US "a nation in decline" and "a failing nation" that could only be saved by him returning to power.
"Two years ago we were a great nation. And soon we will be a great nation again," the ex-POTUS added. "The decline of America is being forced upon us by Biden and the radical left... this is not a decline we must accept."
Throughout the hour-long speech, Trump looked past the Republican reversals in 2022 and his loss in 2020 and insisted that he was the only candidate who could deliver a victory for the party in 2024.
"Anyone who truly seeks to take on this rigged and corrupt system will be faced with a storm of fire that only a few could understand," he said, explaining the emotional impact his presidency and post-presidential period had on him and his family.
His third candidacy comes as he faces heightening legal problems, such as investigations by the justice department into the displacement of classified documents from the White House to his Florida home, as well as his role in the Capitol attacks.
However, Trump has denied misconduct and said the narrative that he used the riots to further his role as a leader has been used, unjustly, by his political opponents.
Furthermore, his announcement comes after the midterm election results last week which saw more than a quarter of people (28%) say their vote had been made "to oppose Donald Trump," even though he was no longer in office, per Sky News.
According to the outlet, the infamous former leader's allies also suggested he wait until after the midterms and December 6 Senate run-off election in Georgia were over before announcing his candidacy bid.
However, it seems that Trump was keen to return to the spotlight, and is hoping to beat a list of potential competitors, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
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