Donald Trump declares 'incredible journey is far from over' as he suggests he may run in 2024
Donald Trump has suggested he may run for president in 2024 as he made his first major appearance since leaving office.
The former president used his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference to criticise his successor, President Joe Biden, and and try to cement his status as the party’s undisputed leader despite his loss in November.
“Do you miss me yet?” Mr Trump said after taking the stage, where his old rally soundtrack had been playing.
“I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we begun together, we went through a journey like nobody else, there's never been a journey like it, there's never been a journey so successful.
"We began it together four years and it is far from being over, we've just started."
ITV News US Correspondent Emma Murphy on Trump's speech
He called for Republican Party unity at the conference, where he has been hailed as a returning hero.
Though Mr Trump has flirted with the the idea of creating a third party, he pledged to remain part of what he called “our beloved party”.
“I’m going to continue to fight right by your side. We’re not starting new parties,” he said. “We have the Republican Party. It’s going to be strong and united like never before.”
The conference, held this year in Orlando instead of the Washington suburbs because of Covid-19 restrictions, has been a tribute to Mr Trump and Trumpism, complete with a golden statue in his likeness.
Speakers, including many potential 2024 hopefuls, have argued the party must embrace the former president and his followers, even after the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.
And they have repeated his unfounded claims that he lost the November election only because the election was “rigged” — claims that have been rejected by judges, Republican state officials and Mr Trump’s own administration.
Still, Mr Trump continued to repeat what Democrats have dubbed the “big lie,” calling the election “rigged” and insisting that he won in November, even though he lost by more than 7 million votes.
“As you know, they just lost the White House,” he said of Biden, rewriting history as he teased the prospect that he will run again in 2024. “I may even decide to beat them for a third time,” he said.
And he mocked those who have warned that such talk will damage the party.
“If Republicans don’t get this and the other things I’m going to say, then you should, like the Supreme Court, be ashamed of yourselves,” he said.
Mr Trump delivered a sharp rebuke of what he framed as the new administration’s first month of failures, including Biden’s approach to immigration and the border.
“Joe Biden has had the most disastrous first month of any president in modern history,” Trump said.