Donald Trump announces 3rd presidential bid despite dwindling Republican support

Trump's announcement came after a weak Republican midterm performance and a looming runoff election in Georgia, which has prompted many in the party to look for alternatives.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump formally launched his third bid for the White House on Tuesday with a grievance-filled speech from his Mar-a-Lago club, setting the stage for a potentially ugly presidential campaign over the next two years.

Despite two impeachments, mounting electoral losses and declining support among Republicans, Trump pitched himself during a primetime address as the only candidate who can defeat President Joe Biden, who is expected to run for re-election in 2024.

“America’s comeback starts right now,” Trump told a room of cheering supporters.

His speech echoed the ones he delivered at rallies across the country over the past several months, claiming acts of aggression from North Korea, China and Russia, including the war in Ukraine, would not have happened under a second term.

He blamed Biden for record-high inflation and energy prices, as well as a surge of migrants across the southern border that he called “an invasion” — recalling his first campaign launch in 2015, when he likened Mexican immigrants to “rapists.”

“Two years ago we were a great nation, and soon we will be a great nation again,” Trump said.

At one point, in the middle of a litany of complaints about the state of the country, Trump claimed he and his movement did not want to be “critics” or “complainers.” He largely avoided his biggest complaint to date — that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite no supporting evidence — which nearly two years ago incited an attack on the U.S. Capitol and led to his second impeachment and multiple criminal investigations.

“I didn’t need this, I had a very nice and easy life,” he said later. “But we love our country and we want to protect it.”