Former President Donald Trump, with US Senator Lindsay Graham (right) and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (left) at the 2024 election campaign event in Columbia, South Carolina, January 28, 2023 – Photo: AFP
At a rally in South Carolina on January 28 local time, Mr Trump called the 2024 presidential election “his only chance to save America”.
According to Reuters news agency, the 76-year-old former Republican president spoke to several hundred supporters at a small rally in the South Carolina state capital of Columbia, after he spoke to Republican activists in the state capital. Salem town, New Hampshire.
Mr. Trump chose to speak in New Hampshire and South Carolina because these are two of the first states in the US to allow early presidential campaigns in presidential election years.
These events have been seen as the opening activities of Mr. Trump’s campaign since he announced his re-election bid last November.
The contents of his speech did not show any discernible change in his campaign message. He still clings to “baseless” claims that the 2020 election is stolen.
“Only one president has ever challenged all of Washington. With the vote next year, we’ll do it again,” Trump said.
In a speech to Republican activists in the town of Salem, he praised his record of law and order, immigration and “rebuilding” the US military, and vowed to save the country. America from “destruction by a selfish, radical, corrupt political organization”.
He also used the event to criticize “nominal Republicans”, referring to vocal dissidents whom he considers “even more dangerous than Democrats”.
“I’m angrier and more determined now than ever. We need a president who can be ready on day one,” Trump said.
In South Carolina, Trump repeated that he was the most suitable president: “We need a fighter who can fight the left, the media, the globalists, against China and stand up for America”.