Donald Trump announces official step towards presidential run

The 68-year-old says he could make America great 'again'

Donald Trump has previously pondered a White House run (Getty)

Donald Trump, the developer and TV host, formally signalled his interest in running for president in 2016 declaring with a familiar absence of humility that he is “the only one who can make America great again”.

In a statement, the head of the Trump Organisation, a huge property conglomerate, said he was forming an “exploratory committee” to assess the possibility of a bid for the Republican Party nomination, traditionally the first step by any candidate with more than flippant designs on the White House.

Mr Trump, 68, flirted with a presidential run before the 2012 race but ultimately backed off. This time may be different; he also said he had recruited political staff with ties to three states that are crucial in the early stages of the nomination contest, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Donald Trump has previously pondered a White House run (Getty)

Lest anyone in the already crowded field of potential Republican rivals doubt him, Mr Trump also announced he will visit New Hampshire, the first state to hold primary voting, on Thursday. A New Hampshire newspaper meanwhile cited sources close to Mr Trump saying he would not renew his contract with NBC television to remain as host of The Apprentice, the long-running reality series.

“We have lost the respect of the entire world,” Mr Trump said in today’s statement. “I am the only one who can make America truly great again!” He also touted his career building the Trump Organisation into the behemoth that it is “with very little debt”, skating over four bankruptcies over the years.

Hitherto Mr Trump’s biggest contribution to political discourse in the US was his haranguing of President Barack Obama to prove that he was actually a US citizen, a campaign that attracted widespread scorn but nonetheless was successful in forcing the president to release a full-length birth certificate.

“I have a great love for our country, but it is a country that is in serious trouble,” Mr Trump, sometimes referred to as The Donald, said in his statement that also called for rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, improving border security, strengthening the military and improving the economy. “Americans deserve better than what they get from their politicians who are all talk and no action.”