Donald Trump kicks off his 2024 White House bid – and says he’s ‘more committed than ever’ | US News
Former US President Donald Trump began his bid for the White House in 2024 with stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina, brushing off criticism that his campaign has started slowly.
Speaking to party leaders at the New Hampshire Republican annual meeting in Salem, the former president insisted he was motivated to win as he proceeded with his third White House bid, which he announced in November.
“We’re starting right here as a presidential candidate,” he announced. “Now I’m more angry, and now I’m more committed than ever.”
Unlike the noisy rallies in front of thousands of devotees that Trump often hosts, Saturday’s events were noticeably subdued.
In Columbia, South Carolina, Mr. Trump spoke to about 200 people at the State Capitol building, with Governor Henry McMaster and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Trump’s sluggish start to the campaign has led some to question his ambition to run again, but he dismissed the rumors, saying “we have huge rallies planned, bigger than ever before.”
Once the undisputed center of gravity of the Republican Party, a growing number of elected officials have expressed
concerns about Trump’s ability to defeat Democratic President Joe Biden.
Several Republicans are considering filing their own White House bids, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who many see as Trump’s biggest threat.
Leading Republicans in both states visited by the former president, including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, are among those weighing their own proposals.
At both stops on Saturday, Trump repeated some of the themes of his 2016 campaign, including scathing criticism of illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border and in China.
But he also focused on social issues, perhaps in response to DeSantis, whose relentless focus on the culture wars helped build his national profile.
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In Colombia, the former president said: “We are going to stop the radical left racists and perverts who are trying to educate our youth, and we are going to get their Marxist hands off our children.
“We are going to defeat the cult of gender ideology and confirm that God created two genders: men and women. We will not allow men to play women’s sports.”
Trump also hinted at his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, calling the poll “ridiculous.”
