Tycoon, who says he’s ‘the only one who can make America truly great again’, forms exploratory presidential committee with White House in mind

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Sideshow, spectacle or fascinating American grotesquerie: whatever you want to call it, it’s happening again, apparently.

Donald Trump, the ubiquitous real estate speculator, is forming an exploratory committee to weigh a presidential run in 2016, according to a statement he released late on Tuesday.

Trump’s statement was received by the New Hampshire Union Leader, one of many papers expected to cover a planned visit by Trump to the Granite State on Thursday.

New Hampshire is home to the nation’s second primary-season election contest in each presidential cycle. Trump was to meet there this week with business people and attend a reception at the home of a state legislator.

Trump is “the only one who can make America truly great again”, according to Trump, in the statement.

Trump has been talking about running for president for at least three decades and perhaps longer. In 1987, the New York Times ran a full-page ad, reportedly paid for by an outside group, calling on Trump to run for president.

Trump’s flirtation with running has been more arduous in recent cycles, however. The current cycle is the only one in which he has made visible campaign hires in early voting states and declared the formation of an exploratory committee.

Media coverage of past talk by Trump about the White House has fed his celebrity but has never culminated in the headline “Trump announces presidential run.”

Trump made a well-received appearance on the stage of the the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) gathering of conservatives in Washington last month, although he drew a mixture of boos and cheers when he said the United States may have to place “boots on the ground” to win the fight against Isis militants in the Middle East.

Multiple New Hampshire news outlets reported that Trump had not renewed a contract to produce a new season of his reality TV show, the Celebrity Apprentice, a possible indication that he is planning to do something else. The current season of the show was held back a year by NBC before it aired.