Road to White House: What challenges will Trump face ahead of 2024 presidential campaign

Republican Leader Donald Trump has announced he is running for president again in 2024. The former US President who still denounces the results of the 2020 presidential election and allegedly instigated a deadly riot at the Capitol in a desperate attempt to keep himself in power, announced he is running again for the post of US president in 2024.  

"I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States," the 76-year-old Republican leader said from his Mar-a-Lago club and home in Palm Beach, Fla.  

Trump's announcement came after an official filing in the Federal Election Commission of the United States. The development comes post the 2022 US midterm elections, which saw a dull performance by the Republican candidates in competitive House elections and key Senate races. This subsequently led the Democrats to retain control of the Senate.  

Key Highlights from Donald Trump's speech

The speech by the former US President, clocked in more than an hour, saw Trump boast of his own record as the President of the United States in addition to attacks on the current US President Joe Biden following two years in the office.  

Donald Trump covered some key issues as per the conservatives, such as crime in America and immigration. Meanwhile, he also touched upon some sensitive issues such as the missteps and hardships encountered during the Covid-19 pandemic. The former US President also attempted to defend his Party's poor performance in last week's midterm election and his support for losing candidates.  

However, Donald Trump’s bid to be the US President may encounter various obstacles in the time to come due to a number of reasons.  

Trump’s record as the former President  

As a fresh face in the presidential race in the United States, Donald Trump was a blank slate in the US political scenario eight years ago. This enabled him to make bold promises during his campaigns. However, now with a record as an ex-officeholder, critics would surely point out his past shortcomings and failed promises.  

However, during his time in the Oval Office, Trump has also enabled some notable policy reforms which included tax cuts and reforms in the criminal justice system.  

Meanwhile, his failures include the inability of his leadership to repeal the Democratic healthcare reforms amid his repeated promises of infrastructure investment. Moreover, the handling of the pandemic by the Trump-led administration has long been criticized by the Democrats as insufficiently aggressive.  

Implications of the January 6 Capitol riots  

To add to the challenges of Donald Trump’s presidency bid, he will have to come clean with the way he handled the culmination of his presidency and his role in the January 6 Capitol riots. The attack on the US Capitol on January 6 had seen Trump supporters put a temporary obstruction on the peaceful transition of power in the United States.  

Moreover, the US midterm elections evidently demonstrated that the January 6 riots may still be influencing voter behaviour. Notably, many Republican candidates who offered support for Donald Trump's refusal to accept the 2020 election results lost in the midterms. Many of them underperformed other Republican candidates in their states who were not outspoken in their denial of the 2020 election.  

Trump’s legal complications  

Following the launch of an investigation into the January 6 Capitol riots, Trump has been served with a subpoena from the US House Select Committee for his alleged involvement in the riots. However, Donald Trump’s presidential bid may allow him to frame his multiple civil and criminal investigations in a more effective manner.  

According to the BBC, the Republican leader is currently defending against a criminal election-tampering inquiry in Georgia, a defamation lawsuit involving a sexual assault allegation, a civil fraud case targeting his business empire in New York, and probes by the federal authorities into his role in the Capitol attack and his post-presidential handling of classified material.  

Meanwhile, in case Trump wins his presidential bid in 2024, he would be 78 years old when sworn in. This would make him the second-oldest president in the history of the United States.