MANCHESTER, April 27 (AFP) - Donald Trump vowed on Thursday (Apr 27) to "crush" Joe Biden in the 2024 election, warning in his first campaign stop since his successor entered the race that the United States will descend into "anarchy" if the Republican billionaire isn't returned to office.

The defiant address at a hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire, came with the twice-impeached former president's legal woes multiplying, as a writer who accuses Trump of rape testified for a second day at a civil trial in New York.

"The choice in this election is now between strength or weakness, between success or failure, between safety or anarchy, between peace or conflict, and prosperity or catastrophe," Trump told a relatively-modest crowd of around 1,500 supporters.

"We are living in a catastrophe. With your vote on November 5, 2024, we are going to crush Joe Biden and the White House ... at the ballot box, and we are going to settle our unfinished business."

It was Trump's first appearance since January in the Granite State, which propelled him to victory in the 2016 Republican nominating contest after a shaky start in Iowa.

Biden, 80, announced on Tuesday he would seek a second term in 2024, warning that the next election, like the last, would be a "battle for the soul".

Many top Republicans say Trump, 76, is positioning himself to lose again after leading Republicans to poor showings in the 2020 general election and in the last two midterm cycles.

"Republicans want someone who can win in November of '24. Donald Trump is a loser," New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who is said to be mulling a rival presidential bid, told NBC on Sunday.