Donald Trump has announced that he is running for US president and it looks like he means it this time.
The Republican presidential candidate, real estate mogul and TV personality formally announced his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. During a launch speech at his Trump Tower skyscraper in Manhattan, the businessman said “I am officially running for president of the United States, we are going to make our country great again.”
He also added that he would be the “greatest jobs president that God ever created.”
Trump has teased that he may run for president in the past and always backed out. However there are signs that he’s more serious this time around.
As well as hiring staffers in early primary states such as New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, Trump has notified NBC that he won’t be renewing his contract for the popular reality show, “The Apprentice.”
The Guardian reports:
Trump, 69, took the stage in the basement of his building as speakers blasted Neil Young’s 1989 song Rockin’ in the Free World.
He went on to attack most of the rest of the world as he bemoaned the fact that America’s leaders had let the country collapse to the level of “a third world country”.
Most of his wrath was directed at Mexico, which he accused of “bringing their worst people” to America, including criminals and “rapists”.
“They’re sending us not the right people,” he said, adding: “The US has become a dumping ground for everyone else’s problems.
“They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing their problems,” he said. “They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some I assume are good people but I speak to border guards and they tell us what we are getting.”
He said that Barack Obama, and previous administrations, had allowed Mexico, China and other countries to take American jobs and prosperity.
“China has our jobs, Mexico has our jobs,” he said. “Our enemies are getting stronger and stronger by the day, and the US as a country is getting weaker and weaker,” he said. “How stupid are our leaders, how stupid are our politicians to let this happen.”
Trump, who boasted of having $8.7 billion in net worth, accused Republican rival Jeb Bush of being weak on education. “How the hell can you vote for this guy?”
Trump is a celebrity, a businessman and a master of self-promotion. He will be entering an increasingly crowded presidential race, punctuated by such big names as former Florida governor Bush, who is the son and brother of two former US presidents, and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.