"America's comeback begins now, we must save our country," said Donald Trump early yesterday morning (Israel time), and to the applause of select guests from among his supporters at his estate in Mar-a-Lago, he officially began his race for the White House.
It happened two years before Election Day, and maybe not for nothing: the third race is expected to be more complex.
On the one hand, he has a huge base of supporters, for whom Trump is much more than a candidate, and he comes to the race with the experience of someone who has already served as president.
On the other hand, his tenure could also be in his hands, not to mention a new star shining in the Republican sky, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Trump announced a run for the presidency: "We will return America to its greatness"
"To restore America to its greatness and glory, I am today announcing my candidacy for President of the United States," said Trump, with American flags lined up behind him, "We are a nation in decline. For millions of Americans, the past two years under Joe Biden have been a time of pain, anxiety and despair".
In his speech, Trump attacked Biden's policies in the area of immigration, in dealing with crime and high gas prices.
"Two years ago we were a great nation, and soon we will be such a nation again," he promised.
Reactions to the speech within the Republican Party were divided.
"If President Trump persists with these messages, it will be difficult to defeat him," estimated Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, "his speech paves the way for him to win the Republican primaries and the race itself."
Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and who ran twice in the party primaries, was even more emphatic.
"The speech was perfect," said Huckabee in a conversation with "Fox News", "If he continues like this, he will be invincible in 2024. No one will be able to come close to him, neither Republican nor Democrat."
On the other hand, Sarah Matthews, who served as an assistant to the 45th president until the events on Capitol Hill, tweeted in response to Trump's announcement: "This is one of the grayest and most uninspiring speeches I've ever heard from Trump. Even the audience sounds bored."
Trump's next opponent.
Ron DeSantis, photo: AFP
Trump's (76) announcement made him the first official contender in the Republican primary.
However, the announcement at such an early time raised question marks, certainly against the background of the modest results in the mid-term elections, in which they did not win a majority in the Senate but hardly guarantee a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
Many in the party see Trump as responsible for the failure, as candidates he chose lost in key races such as Pennsylvania and Arizona.
But the modest results may be one of the reasons why Trump rushed to announce his candidacy - without even waiting for the results of the runoff in the race for the Georgia Senate seat.
It is not impossible that the former president wanted to establish facts on the ground and be the first contestant to enter the arena.
This both conveys determination and allows from the moment of the announcement onwards to present the investigations in his case as political persecution.
Reminder: Suspicions of treason and breach of security classification hover over Trump because he allegedly took documents from the White House to his estate in Florida.
In August, the FBI raided the estate, but then Trump was a private man.
Now, at least for the conspiracy-believing crowd, any investigative action will be new "evidence" of the "persecution" of a potential presidential candidate.
Former President Trump and Florida Governor DeSantis, photo: AP
Equally important - Trump this time has a serious threat in the form of the governor of Florida.
In the mid-term elections, Ron DeSantis (44) kept his job and even did so by a margin of 20 percent.
DeSantis, whose achievement stood out especially in the absence of the "red wave", is gaining increasing popularity.
According to a recent "Politico" poll, if the Republican primaries had been held today, DeSantis would have won 33% of the vote - compared to the 26% he had ten days ago.
Trump still leads in the same poll with 47%, but the Republican establishment, and also the press associated with it, are increasingly leaning towards the Florida governor.
Thus, for example, Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Loomis, who previously opposed the confirmation of Biden's victory, said on Monday this week that "DeSantis is the leader of the Republican Party, whether he wants it or not."
The "New York Post", which is associated with the right, gave Trump's announcement yesterday the mocking title "The man from Florida made a statement" (where the term "the man from Florida" is an expression for ridiculous characters).
And Republican contributor Ken Griffin called Trump a "triple loser."
Carey Lake and former President Trump, photo: AP
In any case, given the state of affairs, it seems that it was important for Trump to gain as much time as possible in the race and perhaps thwart in advance the entry of additional candidates, such as two of his former colleagues - his Vice President, Mike Pence, who has become his fierce critic, and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Another problem facing Trump is the investigative committee into the events on Capitol Hill at the end of his term.
The committee finished listening to thousands of testimonies and summoned Trump himself to testify before it, but he chose not to come.
And while the committee is considering accusing him of contempt of Congress, the former president's conduct may gain sympathy among his supporters, but it also alienates swing voters or those who believe that Trump is, after all, a danger to American democracy more than anything else.
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