Trump hints at running in 2024 polls, ignores Republican calls

I ran the first time and I won, then I ran a second time 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted that he won his second bid for the White House and would not allow his perceived enemies to bar a return, ignoring pressure from some fellow Republicans to avoid repeating his false claims about a stolen 2020 election, Qazet.az reports.

In his first speech in Washington since leaving office 18 months ago, Trump stopped short of declaring his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election but predicted Republicans would retake the Senate, House of Representatives and the White House.

"I ran the first time and I won. Then I ran a second time and I did much better ... and you know what? That's going to be the story for a long time, what a disgrace it was. But we may just have to do it again," Trump said in a 93-minute speech to the conservative America First Policy Institute.

The ex-president also championed the job he did as head of state and criticized incumbent President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers.

"Our country is now a cesspool of crime," he said, blaming Democrats for leaving the nation in a terrible state, especially when it comes to public safety.

"We have blood, death and suffering on a scale once unthinkable because of the Democrat Party's effort to destroy and dismantle law enforcement."

Citing that the murder rate in the United States is up 51% and saying that America has "been brought to its knees" by crime, Trump focused his attention on giving police the power to make America safer.

"We have to leave our police alone," he said, emphasizing his desire to reinstate "stop and frisk" policies. "Let the people that have to have guns, that need to have guns, let them have them ... take the guns away from the criminals who shouldn't be having guns."