Donald Trump announces 2024 presidential run, promises to defeat 'radical left Democrats'
Washington (PTI): Former US president Donald Trump has announced that he will run for the US president in 2024 to make America "great and glorious" again, vowing to defeat the "radical left Democrats" that are trying to destroy the country from within.
Trump, seeking a potential rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden, made the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday, a week after midterm elections in which Republicans failed to win as many seats in Congress as they had hoped for.
"In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing that I will run for President of the United States. This will be our campaign altogether," Trump, 76, told his cheering supporters.
"I am your voice," he said, asserting that he will ensure that US President Biden is not re-elected in 2024.
Shortly before making the announcement from his resort in Florida, in front of some 400 invited guests, Trump, 76, filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
"I am running because I believe the world has not yet seen the true glory of what this nation can be. We have not reached that pinnacle, believe it or not," Trump said.
"This campaign will be about issues, vision and success and we will not stop, we will not quit until we've achieved the highest goals and made our country greater than it has ever been before. We can do this. We can do this," he said.
Incumbent President Biden, who turns 80 on November 20, has said that he intends to run but would take a final decision during the Christmas-New Year vacation. This is Trump's third bid at the White House. He won in 2016 in his maiden attempt to defeat the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton but lost to Biden in 2020.
"Are you getting ready? And I am too," Trump told his supporters, noting that his Republican Party did not do as well as it should have while emphasising that the Republican candidates supported by him had a better strike rate.
The United States is going through tough times, he said, acknowledging that this is not going to be an easy task.
"Together we will be taking on the most corrupt forces and entrenched interests. Our country is being destroyed before your very eyes," he said.
During his speech, Trump listed out the accomplishments of his 2016-2020 presidency and urged his countrymen to unite.
"Success was greater than this country has ever had. We were leapfrogging China, leapfrogging everybody else and everybody wanted to be something," he said.
"So, from now until election day in 2024, I will fight like no one has ever fought before. We will defeat the radical left Democrats that are trying to destroy our country from within," he said.
Trump lashed out at the Biden administration.
"Joe Biden is the face of the left-wing," he alleged.
The United States cannot take another four years of Biden.
"It can only take so much," he said.
"Our victory will be built upon big Ideas, bold ambitions and daring dreams for America's future. We need daring dreams," he said.
"The radical left Democrats have embraced an extreme ideology of government domination and control. Our approach is the opposite one, based on freedom values, individual responsibility and just plain common sense," Trump said.
"We will again put America First," he said, adding that other countries must pay to come into the American market.
Trump took a dig at Chinese President Xi Jinping and described him as the president for life.
"On day one, we will end Joe Biden's war on American energy," he promised.
The socialist disaster known as the 'Green New Deal', which is destroying the country, and the many crippling regulations that it has spawned will be immediately terminated so that the United States can again breathe, grow and thrive as it should, he said.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
