Former President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, that he will run for president a third time. Trump made the announcement shortly after filing a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said, to applause from his supporters.
When he and former first lady Melania Trump entered the room, the former president was introduced as the “next president” of the United States, teasing his announcement. Trump is the first major candidate to formally declare his candidacy for president in 2024.
“Two years ago, we were a great nation, and soon, we will be a great nation again,” 76-year-old Trump, told his supporters in a speech that was often more subdued than many of his other rallies.
Much of Trump’s roughly hour-long speech was a reaction to Joe Biden’s presidency, with Trump blasting gas prices, inflation, and current president’s energy policy.
“This is not just a campaign,” he explained. “This is a quest to save our country.”
Trump was expected to declare his candidacy for president a third time on Tuesday night, as he has hinted in recent weeks. “I will very, very probably do it again,” Trump said earlier this month at a rally in Iowa.
In Indonesia, when asked if he had a reaction to Trump’s announcement, Mr. Biden said, “No, not really.”
Republicans are still reeling from voters’ rejection of several of their key candidates, many of whom Trump endorsed and even handpicked. Nonetheless, Trump insisted during his announcement that the midterm elections would be a great night for his candidates.
Some Republicans blamed Trump for endorsing a slate of extremist candidates who were eventually rejected by independents and did little to motivate base voters. “The party needs to get past Donald Trump,” retiring Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey said after the election. In the race for Toomey’s seat, Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman defeated Republican Mehmet Oz.
Former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker also suggested Trump’s grip on the GOP harmed the party’s chances of a “red wave.”
“There’s significant influence from the former president and I think that influence probably hurt the party and hurt the party’s chances on Election Day,” Baker told reporters.
Trump is also facing criticism from his former vice president, Mike Pence, after the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, caused a schism between the two.
When asked if he thinks Trump should run for president again, the former vice president said it was up to the American people, but “I think we’ll have better choices in the future.”
Pence is being considered as a possible presidential candidate in 2024.
According to reports, some Trump supporters urged the former president to wait until after the Dec. 6 Georgia runoff election between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, but Trump ignored them. A senior adviser told CBS News last week that he thought it would look weak if he only announced an exploratory committee and not a campaign.
Even one of Trump’s closest allies, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said on the day his announcement was expected, that Trump should not announce his presidential bid yet.
“I just think we need to get 2022 over before we talk about 2024,” he told reporters on Tuesday. He believes Trump “has a decent chance of coming back — maybe a good chance — depending on how the country unfolds next year.” But first, he added, alluding to the Walker-Warner Senate runoff race, “I prefer to get Georgia behind us.”
While Trump’s influence in the party remains strong, the failure of many Trump-endorsed candidates, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ dominant performance last week, and Republicans’ failure to capture the Senate have cast some doubt on Trump’s 2024 prospects.
In addition, he enters the race with unresolved personal and professional legal battles.
And this was the week the House Jan. 6 select committee demanded he testify about his actions leading up to the assault on the U.S. Capitol by thousands of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. He is suing the select committee in an attempt to prevent the panel from issuing a subpoena.
In a letter to Trump, Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, said the panel has “assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power.”