WASHINGTON
\nFormer US president Donald Trump is expected to officially launch another White House bid on Tuesday, refusing calls from within his own Republican party to fade away after his loyalists underperformed in this year\u2019s midterm elections.
\nThe 76-year-old billionaire, whose 2016 win shocked America and the world, has summoned the press to his Florida mansion for a \u201cvery big announcement\u201d at 9:00 p.m. Tuesday (0200 GMT Wednesday).
\n\u201cPresident Trump is going to announce on Tuesday that he\u2019s running for president,\u201d said one of his advisers, Jason Miller, who predicts the speech will be \u201cvery professional, very buttoned up.\u201d Known for his unpredictability, Trump could still change his mind at the last minute, but for months he has barely hidden his desire to vie for the presidency again in 2024.
\nAnd delaying the announcement now, as some of his advisers have reportedly suggested to him, would be highly awkward considering Trump\u2019s boast that it would \u201cperhaps be the most important speech given in the history of the USA.\u201d
\nA 2024 White House bid would be Trump\u2019s third presidential campaign and \u2014 if he wins his party\u2019s nomination \u2014 the fifth national election with him as the Republican Party standard-bearer.
\nIn 2016, Trump and the Republicans swept into power, taking control of the White House and maintaining their majorities in both chambers of Congress.
\nBut Democrats won back the House of Representatives in a 2018 landslide after campaigning largely against Trump\u2019s caustic style. Trump then lost reelection in 2020 to Democrat Joe Biden \u2014 Trump still refuses to accept defeat \u2014 while Democrats won control of the 100-seat Senate with a de-facto majority due to Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019s tie-breaking vote in the chamber split 50-50.
\nAfter leaving Washington in chaos shortly after his partisans stormed the US Capitol, Trump chose to remain in the political arena, continuing to fundraise and hold rallies around the country. Leading up to the 2022 midterm vote, in which Biden\u2019s Democrats had been expected to lose handily, Trump made denial of the 2020 election results a key litmus test for candidates to win his influential political endorsement.
\nBut the predicted Republican \u201cred wave\u201d failed to materialize, and Democrats will maintain their control of the Senate. In the still-undecided House, Republicans seem likely to eke out only a razor-thin majority.
\nThe results have emboldened Trump\u2019s Republican detractors and sapped most of his political momentum heading into the Tuesday campaign launch.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s basically the third election in a row that Donald Trump has cost us the race, and it\u2019s like, three strikes and you\u2019re out,\u201d said Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a vocal Trump critic, Sunday on CNN.
\nTrump\u2019s response has been to double down on unfounded claims of ballot rigging in the midterms, posting on his Truth Social platform that the results were a \u201cscam\u201d \u2014 and pointing a finger of blame at Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s Mitch McConnell\u2019s fault,\u201d he posted, saying the Kentuckian had badly allocated campaign funds and pursued a flawed legislative agenda.
\n\u201cHe blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him,\u201d said Trump, who has long been at loggerheads with McConnell.
\nTuesday\u2019s announcement is widely seen as a way to take the wind out of the sails of potential Republican rivals, namely Ron DeSantis, the freshly-reelected Florida governor and rising star who has also won the backing of Rupert Murdoch\u2019s conservative media empire.
\nThe speech is also set for the day that another possible 2024 rival \u2014 former vice president Mike Pence \u2014 publishes his memoirs recounting the pressure Trump laid on him to overturn the last election.
\nTrump\u2019s new White House pursuit will be hampered by the multiple investigations into his conduct before, during and after the presidency \u2014 which could result in his disqualification.
\nThose include allegations of fraud by his family business, his role in last year\u2019s January 6 attack on the US Capitol and his handling of classified documents at his private Florida home, which was raided by the FBI in August.
\nBut the former president is no stranger to scandal and has even survived two impeachments due to his continued Republican support in Congress.
\nThe 2024 election could yet prove to be a repeat of 2020, with Biden reaffirming on Wednesday that he intends to stand for reelection.
\nBut despite the strong midterm results, some in Biden\u2019s own camp would clearly prefer him to sit out, due to his age and unpopularity. Biden, 80, said he will make a final decision next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON Former US president Donald Trump is expected to officially launch another White House bid on Tuesday, refusing calls from within his own Republican party to fade away after his loyalists underperformed in this year\u2019s midterm elections. The 76-year-old billionaire, whose 2016 win shocked America and the world, has summoned the press to his Florida […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-295233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n