Despite the poor performance of the candidates he backed in last week’s midterm elections, Donald Trump has announced that he will run for President of the United States again in 2024.
Trump launched his third presidential bid on Tuesday evening at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a week after Republicans failed to gain as many seats in Congress as they had hoped.
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Trump delivered a speech to hundreds of supporters in a ballroom decorated with several chandeliers and lined with dozens of American flags, which was broadcast live on US television.
“In order to make America great again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” the 76-year-old told the cheering crowd of donors and longtime supporters.
“I am running because I believe the world has not yet seen the true glory of what this nation can be. We will again put America first,” he added.
Earlier in the day, aides registered a committee called “Donald J Trump for President 2024” with the US Federal Election Commission.
Before the Republican presidential nominee is formally selected in the summer of 2024 in the United States, the first state-level contests are more than a year away.
Analysts believe Trump’s unusually early launch is intended to fend off potential challengers for the Republican nomination in 2024, such as rising star Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 44, and Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence.
“He’s getting ahead of other Republicans,” said Adolfo Franco, a Republican Party strategist.
“Being Donald Trump, he would frame any other candidate who were to launch a presidential bid henceforth as disloyal to him as being the former president and in a sense the titular head of the party.”
He had hoped to launch his campaign in the aftermath of Republican midterm victories fueled by candidates he supported in this year’s primaries.
Instead, many of those candidates lost, allowing Democrats to keep the Senate and leaving Republicans with only a sliver of a House majority.
The defeats have prompted some prominent Republicans to openly blame Trump for promoting weak candidates, whom they claim derailed the party’s hopes of regaining control of Congress.
Franco who spoke to Al Jazeera said, Trump still remains a “formidable force”.
“The Republican Party, frankly, is just loyal to him. And I think losing that base would hurt us in 2024. In many ways, today is Donald Trump’s low point. It’s only up from here for Donald Trump.”
