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– Donald Trump resumed public campaigning Saturday with renewed attacks on long-standing targets: President Joe Biden, the 2020 election, federal and state prosecutors, and a lengthening list of Republican opponents.
“We will do it again,” Trump told supporters while introducing his “South Carolina Leadership Team” during an event at the statehouse in downtown Columbia, capping a day-long trip that also took him to New Hampshire; both states hold early primaries in the 2024 presidential election.
In an earlier speech to members of the New Hampshire Republican Party, Trump said: “So, we’re here and we start, we begin.”
The trip comes after more than two months of political turmoil for Trump following his mid-November announcement of a 2024 campaign. A rising number of Republicans say the former president cannot win next year and the party should look for another standard-bearer.
“We just want the best normal candidate,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told NBC News in the days before Trump’s visit.
Among Trump’s themes on a renewed campaign:Target: Biden
In rambling speeches in both South Carolina and New Hampshire that bounced rapidly from topic to topic, Trump berated Biden and other Democrats as “radical” leftists who have pursued bad policies.
The Trump rollout:Donald Trump plans campaign stops targeting Republican opponents – and prosecutors
Polls, polls, polls:Trump trails DeSantis in possible 2024 matchup in New Hampshire, which holds first primary
Trump criticized the president over border security, military aid to Ukraine, election rules, drug trafficking, education, energy, military policy and son Hunter Biden’s business practices.
While bemoaning Biden’s presidency, the ex-president again made false claims about the administration of the 2020 election, despite a lack of proof about systematic voter fraud.
Biden and his allies say they aren’t worried about the prospect of running again against Trump, noting that they defeated him in 2020.
Democrats mocked Trump’s events. South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Trav Robertson, Jr., noting that former Gov.
