Former United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that he run for the post in 2024, CNN reported.
Twenty-two months after he left the White House, Trump said that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination for the elections.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago, his home in Florida.
The 76-year-old said that he would seek another term as “the world has not yet seen the true glory of what this nation can be”, according to the Associated Press. He claimed that the Republicans could not afford to nominate a “politician or conventional candidate” if they want to return to power two years later.
Shortly after his speech, the Federal Election Committee received documents for his candidacy.
Trump made the announcement against the backdrop of midterm elections in the United States, in which the Republicans fared below expectations. The party failed to gain a majority in the Senate, the upper chamber of the Congress.
In the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Congress too, the party is ahead only in 215 seats as against the majority figure of 218, according to CNN.
Midterm elections are held in the middle of the four-year tenure of a United States president. Historically, the party in power ends up losing the midterm polls.
Shortly after Trump announced his intention to run for president again, incumbent President Joe Biden released a video on Twitter alleging that his predecessor “failed America”. A voiceover in the video said that the Trump administration’s economic plan hinged on “tax cuts for the rich and corporations” and that his term was characterised by record-breaking unemployment.
The post also featured visuals from the insurrection at the Capitol building in Washington DC on January 6 last year, and accused Trump of having incited a violent mob. It shows him saying: “And if I win, we will treat those people from January 6 fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons.”
Five persons died in the violence after hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol complex and clashed with the police as members of the Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential elections, which Biden won.
The violence broke out after Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol and criticised Mike Pence, who was then his deputy, for failing to overturn election results in his favour.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!