New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary status has been under attack by President Joe Biden, who seeks to wrest that away for South Carolina — a Super Tuesday state that turned his fledgling 2020 primary around.
But former President Donald Trump vowed to the New Hampshire Republican Party on Saturday he will stand with the Granite State in keeping its first-in-the-nation status in the presidential primary process.
"From the very beginning, I have strongly defended New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary status," Trump said, kicking off his 2024 presidential campaign, in a Salem, New Hampshire speech that aired live in its entirety on Newsmax. "And I have refused to let any Republican — and there are some, you know who they are — even think of taking that cherished status away.
"And believe me, there were many of them that wanted to do it.
"You have an incredible tradition and we're going to keep that tradition. You have it. You're first and you're going to remain first."
Notably, Trump ripped Biden for his poor early primary showing in New Hampshire in 2020, as Biden has talked about bringing first-in-the-nation status to South Carolina for 2024 — which Trump called an act of "revenge."
"Joe Biden lost the New Hampshire primary in a crushing and humiliating fifth-place defeat," Trump said. "Now, he's taking revenge on the voters of your state by cruelly and disgracefully trashing this beloved political tradition.
"And I hope you're going to remember that during the general election."
Throughout the speech, Trump denounced the crumbling of President Joe Biden's administration and its attack on the border, legal immigration, law and order, foreign policy, and freedom of speech as an "April fool's joke."
Trump was introduced by Stephen Stepanek, who he announced will be Trump's 2024 campaign New Hampshire chairman. Stepanek stepped down Saturday as the New Hampshire Republican Party chairman.
Trump boasted he won two New Hampshire presidential primaries in 2016 and 2020.
"One year from now, we will win the New Hampshire primary and then, with the help of the good people of the state — I love the people — we are going to take back our country and will take back the White House," Trump concluded in his nearly one-hour address. "And we straighten out the United States of America. God bless you."
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