Former US president Donald Trump has announced that he will run for the White House in 2024.
Speaking at Mar-a Lago, his home and private club in Florida, Mr Trump painted a rosy picture of the United States during his presidency from 2016 to 2020 and maintained that the country was being destroyed under current president Joe Biden.
“To make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” he said.
Earlier, aides filed paperwork with the US federal election commission establishing a committee called Donald J Trump for President 2024.
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In an address that lasted just over an hour, Mr Trump said when he was in the White House “everybody was doing great, everyone was thriving like never before”.
He added: “Two years ago we were a great nation and soon we will be a great nation again.”
Mr Trump, who was impeached twice while in the White House but not convicted by the US Senate, gave a dark portrait of the United States under the Biden administration that evoked his controversial “American carnage” speech at his 2016 inauguration.
He highlighted increased fuel prices, claimed cities were facing a crime wave that had left them “cesspools of blood” and claimed that the southern border “had been erased and the country invaded by millions and millions of unknown people”.
“The decline of America is being forced upon us by Biden and the radical left lunatics who are running this country into the ground.”
Mr Trump claimed Mr Biden was leading the world to the brink of nuclear war over the conflict in Ukraine, which, he said, would never have happened if he was in the White House.
“Even just today a missile sent in, probably by Russia, to Poland.
“The people are going absolutely wild and crazy and they’re not happy. They’re very, very angry.”
The former president played down climate change and spoke of oceans rising one-eighth of an inch over hundreds of years.
Mr Trump also took credit for his Republican Party’s likely capture of the House of Representatives following last week’s election – although the margin was far less than expected.
“Nancy Pelosi [the current Democratic Party speaker of the House of Representatives] has been fired. Isn’t that nice?” he said.
Mr Trump said more than 200 candidates in the election that he had backed had won their contests while 22 had lost. US media pointed out that most of these were in solid Republican constituencies.
The former president did not use the speech to highlight his long-standing claims – for which no evidence has been accepted by any court – that the 2020 election was stolen due to fraud.
However, he made a cryptic reference to China having played an active role in the 2020 election.
“This is not just a campaign. This is a quest to save our country,” Mr Trump said at the conclusion of his speech.
Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who along with her husband Jared Kushner played key roles as advisers in the White House during his presidency, said on Tuesday night that she would not be involved in his 2024 campaign.
“I love my father very much. This time around, I am choosing to prioritise my young children and the private life we are creating as a family.
“I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.”
As the former president was speaking, the White House tweeted on the official account of his successor Mr Biden saying: “Donald Trump failed America.”
