United States President Donald Trump launched his 2020 re-election campaign on Tuesday amid chants of “USA, USA” at a rally in Orlando in Florida, AFP reported.

“We did it once and we’re going to do it again – and this time we’re going to finish the job,” he said, while promising over 20,000 supporters an “earthquake at the ballot box”. “Our economy is the envy of the world.”

Trump told the crowd he will “keep America great again”. “Oh we will keep it so great,” he said. “Better than ever before. And that is why tonight I stand before you to officially launch my campaign for a second term as president of the United States.”

The president also encouraged the crowd to boo journalists covering the event, calling them “fake news.” He then accused the Democrats of seeking to “rip your country apart.”

“Just think what this angry left-wing mob would do if they were in charge of this country,” Reuters quoted him as saying. “Imagine if we had a Democrat president and a Democrat Congress in 2020. They would shut down your free speech, use the power of the law to punish their opponents.”

Trump said his Democratic opponents would radically change the US and that they would seek to legalise migrants coming across the southern border so they could vote and boost the Democratic political base. Trump had warned of the threat of illegal immigration and promised a crackdown during his 2016 presidential campaign as well.

Trump, who has been accused by opponents of wide-ranging corruption, told the crowd that together they had formed “a great political movement” that had “stared down a broken and corrupt political establishment.”

Early poll numbers show that Trump faces a difficult race, but his re-election fight is marked by soaring growth, low unemployment, and confidence in the loyalty of his right-wing base. A wide range of polls show Trump lagging far behind Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, who is campaigning on a promise to return the country to what he portrays as the calmer days of former President Barack Obama, under whom he served as vice president.