Donald Trump made several bizarre proposals during his speech announcing that he will run for president in 2024 - including a space mission. The former President claimed that the US would "plant our beautiful American flag very soon" on Mars and that a defence shield would be built "to protect our people from the unthinkable threat of nuclear weapons".
According to the Daily Star, many had been expecting the businessman to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election for some time. However, the recent midterm elections - where Republicans received significantly less votes than predicted - have cast doubt on his ability to win the leadership race again.
During the speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump said: "We will expand the frontiers of human knowledge and will extend the horizons of human achievement. And we will plant our beautiful American flag very soon on the surface of Mars."
He also revisited an idea of former US President Ronald Reagan, by planning to build a nuclear weapons shield. He said: "To protect our people from the unthinkable threat of nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles, the United States must also build a state-of-the art next generation missile defense shield - we need it."
"The power of these missiles, and the power of a word I refuse to say - nuclear - we have to have it."
He also took aim at several key Democrats during his speech, and reiterated the need to "drain the swamp".
Trump said: "Three years ago when I left office, the United States stood ready for its golden age. Our nation was at the pinnacle of power, prosperity and prestige - towering above all rivals vanquishing all enemies and striding into the future confident, resourceful."
Many high-ranking Republicans pointed the finger at Trump for their poor performance in the midterm elections, including senate leader Mitch McConnell who said independent voters now had the "impression of many of the people in our party and leadership roles that they are involved in chaos".
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