Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign

"Donald Trump presidential campaign" redirects here. For his 2000 presidential campaign, see Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2000.

Donald J. Trump for President
Campaign	U.S. presidential election, 2016
Candidate	Donald Trump
Affiliation	Republican Party
Status	Announced: June 16, 2015
Headquarters	725 Fifth Avenue Manhattan, New York
Key people	Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager Katrina Pierson, national spokesperson Hope Hicks, press secretary Michael Glassner, deputy campaign manager Daniel Scavino, director of social media
Receipts	US$19,405,216 (2015-12-31)
Slogan	Make America Great Again!
Website
Official website

The 2016 presidential campaign of Donald John Trump, businessman and television personality, formally launched on June 16, 2015. Donald Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2016 election at the Trump Tower in New York City with the slogan "Make America Great Again!" His campaign manager is Corey Lewandowski.

Trump's populist and nativist politics earned him support among Republican working-class voters, especially blue-collar voters. His proposed policies and his statements about the state of the country have propelled him to be the consistent Republican front-runner in public opinion polls. Many of his remarks have been highly controversial among the public, other political candidates, the media, and Trump's business partners, some of whom have ended their business relationships with Trump as a result. His campaign has been extensively covered by most mainstream media sources, allowing him to eschew large campaign contributions and supporting political action committees (super PAC's), which Trump has criticized along with politicians who use them. His abstention from political correctness has been a staple theme of his campaign, and has proved to be popular among his supporters. Trump's most polarizing and widely reported statements have been on issues of immigration and border security, on which he has proposed deportation of all illegal immigrants, construction of a substantial wall on the Mexican–American border, and a temporary ban on alien Muslims entering the U.S., while speaking extensively about perceived issues pertaining to illegal immigrants travelling over the Mexican border into the U.S.

Trump's campaign rallies have attracted large crowds, as well as public controversy. The events have been marked by incidents of violence against protesters by Trump supporters, mistreatment of some journalists, and disruption by a large group of protesters who effectively shut down a major rally in Chicago. Trump said he himself wished to punch protesters, and has defended their ejection from his events, but has also said he hopes that he has not encouraged physical force to subdue or remove protesters.

In the 2016 Iowa caucus, Trump ranked second out of all the Republican candidates, garnering 24% of the vote, behind Ted Cruz with 28%. Trump later won the New Hampshire primary with slightly over 35% of the vote, the South Carolina primary with 33%, and the Nevada caucus with 46%. On Super Tuesday, Trump won Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Alabama, Arkansas, and Vermont, solidifying his status as the Republican frontrunner.

Background

Further information: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2000

Since the 1988 presidential election, Trump has been considered a potential candidate for President in nearly every election. In October 1999, Trump declared himself a potential candidate for the Reform Party's presidential nomination, but withdrew on February 14, 2000. In 2004, Donald Trump identified as a Democrat, openly supported Hillary Clinton, and donated a large sum of money to Democratic groups. Trump rejoined the Republican Party in 2009. In early 2011, presidential speculation reached its highest point and Trump began to take a lead in polls among Republican candidates in the 2012 election. However, Trump announced in May 2011 that he would not be a candidate for the office.

At the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Trump said he is "pro-life" and "against gun control". He has spoken before Tea Party supporters. In December 2008, Trump emerged as an early supporter of the 2009 government backed rescue plan for the U.S. auto industry which by 2012 gained the support of 56% of Americans (63% support in Michigan), according to a Pew Research Center poll. Trump opposed granting "fast track" trade-negotiation authority to President Barack Obama to negotiate the international trade agreements.

Trump expressed a desire for stronger negotiations with China on trade, plus the imposition of tariffs if necessary. Trump has called for a policy of leadership to deal with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which he has criticized for causing high oil prices.

In 2011, polls had Trump among the leading candidates. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll from March 2011 showed Trump in the lead for the Republican nomination for president of the United States. A February 2011 Newsweek poll placed Trump within a few points of President Obama in a potential 2012 presidential contest, with many voters undecided. A poll released in April 2011 by Public Policy Polling showed Trump having a nine-point lead in a potential contest for the Republican nomination for President of the United States while he was still actively considering a run. In December 2011, Trump placed sixth in the "ten most admired men and women living of 2011" USA Today/Gallup telephone survey. Trump has been a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). In 2013, Trump researched a possible run for President of the United States in 2016. In October 2013, New York Republicans suggested Trump should run for governor of the state in 2014. In February 2015, Trump did not renew his television contract for The Apprentice, which raised speculation of his candidacy for president of the United States in 2016.

Announcement

Donald Trump speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)

Trump formally announced his candidacy for the presidency in the 2016 election on June 16, 2015. His announcement came at a campaign rally at Trump Tower in New York City. Trump said, "We are going to make our country great again" and also announced that he would be the "greatest jobs president that God ever created." His 45-minute presidential campaign announcement speech, the longest of the major party candidates to date, included a pledge to restore the "American dream ... bigger and better and stronger than ever before." Trump said he would keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and criticized John Kerry's Iranian negotiations. He also criticized Kerry's overall judgment, in breaking his leg (at age 71) riding his bicycle; Trump made a campaign promise "never [to] be in a bicycle race." In the speech, Trump also pledged he would fund Social Security, renegotiate U.S. trade agreements, oppose federal Common Core education standards, and complete the United States–Mexico border fence and make Mexico pay for it. Trump said he would self fund his presidential campaign, and would not need to use money from donors and lobbyists.

Most attention focused on Trump's comment on illegal immigration where he stated in part "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best... They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with [them]. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." Trump's statement caused a wider public controversy and a backlash. The comment led several businesses and organizations—including NBC, Macy's, Univision, and NASCAR (along with sponsor Camping World)—to cut ties with Trump in the following days. Reactions from other presidential candidates were mixed, with some Republican candidates disagreeing with the tone of Trump's remarks yet supporting the core idea that illegal immigration is an important campaign issue, other Republican candidates preferring to avoid intra-party feuds with other Republican candidates and concentrate on putting forth their own positions, and several Republican candidates criticizing both Trump's remarks and his policy-stances (as did leading Democratic party candidates).

Fact-checking the comment, the Washington Post wrote that the allegation of a correlation between illegal immigration and crime was false and gave the statement four pinocchios. Republican politician Steve King said he admired Trump's response to the backlash, saying that Trump "delivers more facts to support [his] statement" and that on the subject of illegal immigration Trump is more accurate than not. Rudy Giuliani, who ran in 2008, said Trump's statement could have been better stated, and that most illegal immigrants are good people who come to the country to work, but that an insecure border does also let in "terrorists, drug dealers, rapists, murderers, all of whom I've prosecuted." Various families of the victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants have come forth in support of Trump. For his part, Trump has defended his comments, claimed that "Democrats and [my] enemies" picked a relatively small portion of his announcement speech to criticize, cited news articles to back up his claims and made illegal immigration a major issue in his campaign. Trump later said that he intended his comments to be aimed solely at the government of Mexico, specifically for using the insecure border as a means of transferring criminals out of their own country, and says he did not intend his comments to refer to immigrants themselves in general.

Trump's announcement generated the highest Google search volume of any of the presidential candidates to date. According to Politico, the speech was "discursive, pugnacious... bizarre... most entertaining." Trump's announcement speech included the song "Rockin' in the Free World", causing Neil Young, the author of this song, to distance himself from Trump; Young supports Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Despite a casting company having sent emails (some of which have leaked) to background actors explicitly asking them to cheer Trump for money, Trump's campaign manager denied that Trump paid any actors to cheer him at the event. An early supporter of Ronald Reagan for president, Trump trademarked the campaign slogan from the 1980 election, "Make America Great Again."

Campaign

See also: Nationwide opinion polling for the Republican Party 2016 presidential primaries and Nationwide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2016

Trump at an early campaign event in New Hampshire on June 16, 2015

Immediately after his announcement in New York, Trump traveled to Iowa to campaign in the state ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus. Trump has also campaigned extensively in New Hampshire, site of the first Republican primary. Trump's campaign cancelled events in Charleston, South Carolina, in light of the June 17 mass shooting. Trump kicked off a western swing in early July 2015, giving rallies and speeches in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

In June, Trump said that he would like to have Oprah Winfrey as his running mate.

On July 22, the Federal election regulators released new details of Trump's wealth and financial holdings that he submitted when he became a Republican presidential candidate, showing assets above $1.4 billion and outstanding debts of at least $265 million. Shortly afterwards, Trump's campaign released a statement claiming his net worth to be over US$10 billion, but Forbes estimates that it is US$4 billion. On July 23, he visited the Mexican border to highlight his stance with regards to opposition towards illegal immigration. The border patrol union pulled out of the planned event.

Michael Cohen, Trump's senior counsel, was criticized for claiming that "you cannot rape your spouse" in response to a Daily Beast article about Trump's divorce proceedings. The article related how Ivana Trump had accused her ex-husband of raping her, a claim she has since retracted. Cohen subsequently apologized for his comments.

In response to a question asking candidates during the first primary debate, the main Fox News debate held on August 6, 2015, whether they would pledge to support the Republican party in the general election, Trump refused to rule out a third-party candidacy. When pressed, he also refused to say he would endorse the eventual Republican nominee. After meeting with Reince Priebus (chairman of the Republican National Committee) in New York, during a news conference at Trump Tower on September 3, Trump announced he had signed the loyalty pledge.

On August 21, 2015, the Federal Election Commission released a list of filings from Super PAC's backing candidates in the 2016 presidential race, which revealed Trump to be the only major presidential candidate among the GOP candidates who appeared not to have a Super PAC supporting his candidacy. Two months later, the Make America Great Again PAC, which had collected $1.74 million and spent around $500,000 on polling, consulting, and other activities, was shut down after the Washington Post revealed multiple connections to the Trump campaign.

On December 21, 2015, Trump attacked Hillary Clinton saying that her bathroom break during the last Democratic debate was just too "disgusting" to talk about and then stating she "got schlonged" by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race. Trump responded to critical coverage of these statements by saying the mainstream media is "dishonest", that the term "schlonged" was not vulgar, and citing a 1984 NPR report in which the term was used to mean "beaten badly".

Trump and supporters attend a rally in Muscatine, Iowa in January 2016. Multiple supporters hold up signs, which read "The silent majority stands with Trump".

Rallies and crowds

Trump has held large rallies during his campaign, routinely packing arenas and high school gymnasiums with crowds. Trump "regularly drew thousands of people to rallies in Iowa, far more than any of his Republican rivals."

A Trump rally on July 11, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona "drew several thousand people to the Phoenix Convention Center, making it one of the largest events for any candidate so far, though short of the crowd of 10,000 predicted by the Trump campaign." Trump was introduced by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. During his speech, Trump invoked Richard Nixon's "silent majority" speech, saying "The silent majority is back."

On August 21, Trump held a campaign rally at the Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, with approximately 30,000 people in attendance.

At a campaign rally in Biloxi, Mississippi on January 2, 2016, YouTuber duo Diamond and Silk riled up the crowd, urging Democrats and independents in the audience to "ditch and switch", i.e. to register as Republicans and vote for Trump if they really wanted to show their support. It is believed that this could be an important strategy for the Trump campaign as it might be relying on people who do not tend to vote and trying to persuade some Democrats and independents to change parties so that they can vote in states that allow only registered Republicans to participate.

Trump's campaign, scheduled for a January 7, 2016, appearance in the traditionally liberal city of Burlington, Vermont, came under scrutiny for releasing approximately 20,000 tickets for a 1,400-person venue. The Burlington mayor and police chief both expressed concern for a public-safety risk from crowds of people, likely including many protesters, to be turned away from entry.

Violence and expulsions at rallies

Trump rally at UIC Pavilion in Chicago on March 11, 2016 immediately after news of Trump's cancellation of attendance of the event. Many protesters cheer "Bernie!" to show their support for Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.

There have been verbal and physical confrontations between Trump supporters and protesters at Trump's campaign events. Rally attendees have physically provoked protesters and members of the press in many rallies.

The New York Times reported that the most "potentially dangerous recurring act committed by ordinary voters in the 2016 presidential cycle" is protesting Trump at one of his rallies; when a protest breaks out as at rally, "Trump supporters typically begin shouting, pointing, jeering — and sometimes kicking or spitting — at the protester, surrounding the offender in a tight circle." "Trump's tone often seems to encourage aggression," and he "has berated security guards for not ejecting protesters quickly enough." Trump's Republican rivals have blamed Trump for fostering a climate of violence and escalating tension at campaign events.

Trump himself has "not been quick to criticize the violence" at his rallies. In November 2015, Trump said of a protestor in Birmingham, Alabama, "Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing." On February 1, at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump told a crowd, "So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of 'em, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise." On February 23, 2016, at a rally in Las Vegas, Trump reacted to a protestor by saying "I love the old days — you know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks." He added "I'd like to punch him in the face."

During an August 25, 2015 press conference, Trump's chief of security Keith Schiller removed Univision anchor Jorge Ramos from the event. On September 3, 2015 Schiller was filmed punching a protester.

On February 27, in Valdosta, Georgia, 30 Valdosta State University students were asked to leave a college building in advance of a Trump speech.

At a rally on February 29, veteran photojournalist Chris Morris was grabbed by his throat and thrown to the ground by a member of the Secret Service.

In March 2016, Politico reported that the Trump campaign has hired plainclothes private security guards to preemptively remove potential protesters from rallies. On March 1, Kashiya Nwanguma attended a Trump rally in Louisville, Kentucky, with two anti-Trump signs. She reported that Trump supporters ripped her signs away, and shouted racial epithets and "leftist scum" at her. A video of violence and verbal abuse against her was released on March 8, 2016 (Super Tuesday).

After a Jupiter, Florida news conference on March 8, Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager, is reported to have accosted Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields "...moving her out of the way and nearly bringing her down to the ground" and caused bruising to her arm. On March 11, Kurt Bardella, the company spokesman and longtime public relations consultant for Breitbart News, resigned his position due to Breitbart's lack of support for their reporter. Ms. Fields has filed a police report.

On March 10, as he was being led by police from a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, a protester was punched by a Trump supporter. Charges of assault and battery have been filed by the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.

Anti-Trump protesters in Chicago on March 11, 2016

On March 11, during a rally in St. Louis, violence broke out between supporters of Trump and protesters, resulting in 32 arrests. A planned event for later that day in Chicago drew confrontations between supporters and protesters in the arena at the University of Illinois at Chicago before Trump could come out to speak, due to an unusually large amount of protesters, and the campaign cancelled the rally due to safety concerns. Trump stated that he made the decision himself, commenting "I didn't want to see people get hurt [so] I decided to postpone the rally."

On March 12, Thomas Dimassimo, 32, attempted to rush the stage as Trump was speaking at a rally in Dayton, Ohio; Dimassimo was stopped by Secret Service agents and subsequently charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and inducing panic.

Media coverage

Trump is "by far the most newsworthy storyline of Campaign 2016, accounting alone for more than a quarter of all coverage" on NBC, CBS and ABC's evening newscasts, Andrew Tyndall said. In response, a petition to "Stop promoting Donald Trump" accused the media of "relentlessly chasing ratings and devoting massive airtime to Donald Trump interviews and live coverage of his speeches" and quickly amassed over 200,000 signatures. The media's coverage of Trump has generated some disagreement as to its affect on his campaign. John Sides of The Washington Post said, "Trump is surging in the polls because the news media has consistently focused on him." In a later analysis, The Washington Post said, "support for Trump appears to increase in spite of media coverage declining." A Rasmussen Reports survey showed that 47% of likely voters think most reporters are biased against Trump, 31% disagree, but 22% are not sure. Politico said, "blaming the press for the Trump surge neglects the salient fact that so much of the coverage of him has been darkly negative."

TV appearances and coverage of his tweets, rallies and controversial statements allowed Trump to dominate the media landscape on the cheap. In an interview with CBS, Trump said of his campaign's plans to purchase advertising, "I think I’m probably wasting the money. But I'm $35 million under budget. Look, I was going to have 35 or 40 million spent by now. I haven't spent anything. I almost feel guilty ... I'm leading by, as you all say, a lot. You can take the CBS poll. You can take any poll and I'm winning by a lot. I don't think I need the ads. But I'm doing them. I almost feel guilty."

Some conservative leaning media sources have covered Trump negatively. In January 2016, National Review released a special issue "Against Trump" in opposition to Trump's bid for the presidency. A statement issued by Fox News days before the GOP Debate preceding the Iowa Caucus said, "We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president—a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings." Trump responded by criticizing the "wise-guy press release" and said he would instead host a competing event in the state designed to raise money for wounded veterans, which he held the day of the debate.

Trump has frequently criticized the media, saying "the media is among the worst people I've ever met, I mean a pretty good percentage is really a terrible group of people. They write lies, they write false stories. They know they're false. It makes no difference. And frankly I don't call it thin-skinned, I'm angry." He has constantly called upon his supporters to be "the silent majority", apparently referencing the media. At a rally in Fort Worth, Texas in February 2016, Trump stated that if elected he would "open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money." Trump specifically referenced the New York Times and the Washington Post. On March 8, Fox News reported that the media is going apocalyptic against Trump.

Twitter controversies

On November 22, 2015, Trump tweeted an image containing racially charged and inaccurate crime data between blacks and whites, cited to a non-existent group. When later asked by Bill O'Reilly about his sharing of the image, Trump confirmed that he had personally retweeted the image and said that it came from "sources that are very credible." The Annenberg Public Policy Center's FactCheck.org reported that the image was a "bogus graphic" in which almost every figure was wrong, "some of them dramatically so." Politifact gave the image a "pants on fire" rating, reporting that the image was "packed with racially loaded and incorrect murder statistics".

Trump also raised controversy by "retweeting" posts from white supremacist Twitter feeds, including posts from a user with the handle "WhiteGenocideTM" (a reference to the white genocide conspiracy theory), whose website contains a pro-Adolf Hitler documentary and a photo of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell. Trump's actions were criticized by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups.

Fascism comparisons

Fascism scholar Robert O. Paxton has cited some parallels including a belief in Nationalism and national decline, the need for a strong leader, and an aggressive foreign policy. Former president of Mexico Vicente Fox asserted Trump was a fascist, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio described Trump as a "proto-fascist". Others disagreed; John Cassidy of the New York wrote that Trump was not a fascist, but rather was "the latest representative of an anti-immigrant, nativist American tradition that dates back at least to the Know-Nothings" of the 1830s and 1840s," while Max Ehrenfreund of the Washington Post wrote that Trump was not a fascist because, among other things, his message was individualist rather than collectivist and he has not "called for suspending the U.S. Constitution." Gianni Riotta wrote in The Atlantic that Trump's "xenophobic rhetoric, his demagoguery, and his populist appeals to citizens' economic anxieties certainly borrow from the fascist playbook" but that she was "dead sure" that Trump is not a fascist because he has no "rational, violent plan to obliterate democracy." Riotta commented that the "fascist" label unfairly "indicts [Trump's] supporters, who have real grievances that mainstream politicians ignore at their peril."

Hitler comparisons

On Saturday, March 5, 2016 at a rally in Orlando, Florida, and in rallies since, Trump asked the crowd to raise their right hand pledging their commitment to voting for him in the upcoming primaries. Afterwards Trump said "Don't forget you all raised your hands. You swore. Bad things happen if you don't live up to what you just did." before continuing with his speech. As photos of the pledge circulated online, many pointed out the visual seemed reminiscent of scenes from Nazi Germany. Former Anti-Defamation League leader Abe Foxman said that Trump was knowingly evoking fascist symbolism at his rallies. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto also compared Trump's rhetoric to that of Hitler and Mussolini in an interview with Mexican newspaper Excélsior.

On March 8, Trump was asked about the comparisons on The Today Show and Morning Joe. He responded on The Today Show by saying,

I don't know about the Hitler comparison. I haven't heard that, but it's a terrible comparison. I'm not happy about that certainly.... Well, I think it's ridiculous. I mean, we're having such a great time. Sometimes, we'll do it for fun. They'll start screaming at me: 'Do the swearing! Do the swearing.' I mean, they're having such a great time. ... Honestly, until this phone call, I didn't know it was a problem.

When asked if he would stop asking for the pledge, Trump responded by saying that he would "certainly look into it" saying he would like "to find out that that’s true, but I’ll certainly look into it, because I don’t want to offend anybody."

Events and proposals

Veterans for a Strong America event

Further information: Veterans for a Strong America

The Veterans for a Strong America (VSA) organized an event for Trump on September 15, 2015. According to the Associated Press, the IRS revoked the nonprofit status of the organization, and its endorsement of Trump raised campaign finance questions as corporations are restricted to donating up to US$2,700 to a campaign, but the event exceeded that amount. Other concerns raised include reports that the VSA does not appear to have any members or relation with veterans. According to CNN, the group "sounds like a charity" and "touted having more than a half-million supporters" but is in fact a political action group; CNN "found scant evidence" of the number of supporters claimed by the group. The group's tax-exempt status had been revoked before the event; the group is appealing.

Border wall and illegal immigration

See also: Political positions of Donald Trump § Border wall between U.S. and Mexico

In his announcement speech, Trump promised that he would build "a great, great wall" on the United States–Mexico border, and has continued to lay emphasis on this proposal throughout his campaign, further stating that the construction of the wall would be paid for by Mexico. He proposed a broader crack-down on illegal immigration, and in a statement of July 6 claimed that the Mexican government is "forcing their most unwanted people into the United States"—"in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc." In his first town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire on August 19, 2015, Trump stated: "Day 1 of my presidency, they're getting out and getting out fast." These statements elicited considerable controversy.

José Antonio Meade Kuribreña, Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, said that Trump "is a politician who ignores the context in which it is participating", with regard to U.S. international economic relations and Trump's comments. Trump's Republican rival Jeb Bush stated that "Trump is wrong on this" and "to make these extraordinarily kind of ugly comments is not reflective of the Republican Party." Trump acknowledged that Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus asked him to tone down his rhetoric on immigration reform and stated that his conversations with the RNC were "congratulatory" as well.

At a July 2015 rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Trump was welcomed by the controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, turning over the lecturn for part of his speech to a supporter whose child was killed in Los Angeles in 2008 by a Mexican-born gang member. The brother of Kate Steinle, who was murdered in San Francisco by an illegal immigrant, has criticized Trump for politicizing his sister's death, telling Anderson Cooper Trump's platform "isn't exactly what our family believes in."

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz praised Trump for giving attention to illegal immigration, while Congressman Steve King also defended Trump's remarks about illegal immigration and crime. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly praised Trump's comments and his continued response to the backlash, saying that Trump has successfully changed the debate and brought the issue of immigration reform back to the foreground, while also not backing down against media scrutiny and businesses severing ties with him. Former Arizona governor Jan Brewer said, "I believe that Mr. Trump is kind of telling it like it really, truly is." On July 10, 2015, Limbaugh cited a report which he claimed supports Trump's remarks about illegal immigration and crime.

Univision announced it would no longer carry broadcasts of the Miss USA Pageant. In response, Trump indicated the matter would be handled by legal action, and followed through by filing a US$500 million lawsuit against Univision. The complaint asserts that Univision is attempting to suppress Trump’s First Amendment rights by putting pressure on his business ventures. NBC announced it would not air the Miss Universe or Miss USA pageant. Afterwards, the multinational media company Grupo Televisa severed ties with Trump, as did Ora TV, a television network partly owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. Trump gave the rights to broadcast the Miss Universe and Miss USA Pageants to the Reelz Channel.

Paulina Vega, the current Miss Universe and former Miss Colombia, said that, although she repudiates the immigration remarks of Trump, who in turn called her a "hypocrite", she cannot give up the crown because her contract forbids it, and she could be sued.

Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica will not send representatives to the Miss Universe competition.

Macy's announced it would phase out its Trump-branded merchandise. Serta, a mattress manufacturer, also decided to drop their business relationship with Trump. NASCAR ended sponsorship with Trump by announcing it would not hold their post season awards banquet at the Trump National Doral Miami. ESPN decided to relocate its ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic to the Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Beach. The charity golf tournament was once scheduled to be held at a golf course owned by Trump.

Reuters journalists found that Trump's companies sought to import 1,100 workers on H-2B visas since 2000. The Trump-owned Palm Beach, Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago is notable for the large number of guest workers employed.

Latino support for Trump

Despite the above-mentioned problems, according the New York Post, Trump is on the course to win 38 percent of the Latino Republican Vote. This may be enough to ensure his nomination. Trump also won the Nevada primary with 45 percent of the Latino Republican Vote. Trump's unfavorables among Latinos is higher than any other presidential candidate, at 72%, with Latinos seeking citizenship with the purpose of voting against Trump.

Temporary Muslim ban proposal

See also: Political positions of Donald Trump § Muslims

In remarks made following the November 2015 Paris attacks, Trump stated that he would support a database tracking Muslims in the United States and expanded surveillance of mosques. Trump's support for a database of American Muslims "drew sharp rebukes from his Republican presidential rivals and disbelief from legal experts."

Trump justified his proposals by repeatedly saying that he recalled "thousands and thousands of people ... cheering" in Jersey City, New Jersey, when the World Trade Center towers fell on September 11, 2001. Politifact noted that this statement was false, giving it a "Pants on Fire" rating and reporting that it was based on debunked and unproven rumors. Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop called Trump's claim "absurd" and said that Trump "has memory issues or willfully distorts the truth."

On December 7, 2015, Trump further called for a "total and complete shutdown on Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."

Following these remarks, on December 8, 2015, the Pentagon issued a rare statement of concern, stating "anything that bolsters ISIL's narrative and pits the United States against the Muslim faith is certainly not only contrary to our values but contrary to our national security." The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, and the Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls, both issued statements in response to Trump's press release condemning him. However, Geert Wilders, leader of the right-wing Party for Freedom in the Netherlands applauded his remarks calling them "brave" and "good for Europe". Among the European right wing, Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party called it "perhaps a political mistake too far" and even Marine Le Pen of the far-right French National Front distanced herself from the idea. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also rejected Trump's proposal, prompting Trump to "postpone" a planned trip to Israel.

Trump was widely criticized by leading Republican Party figures, including Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus and Republican leaders in South Carolina and Iowa.

During the controversy regarding his comments, Trump alleged that "We have places in London and other places that are so radicalized that the police are afraid for their own lives." London's Metropolitan Police Service responded by stating "we think it's important to state to Londoners that Mr Trump could not be more wrong." London Mayor Boris Johnson, a member of the UK Conservative Party, demanded an apology and described Trump's comments as "ill-informed" and "complete and utter nonsense."

Following Trump's controversial comments on Muslim immigration, a petition with the title "Block Donald J Trump from UK entry" was opened in the UK, on the Parliament's e-petition website, calling on the UK government's Home Office to ban him from entering the country. By 5:00 am on December 11, the total number of signatures exceeded 500,000, far above the threshold of 100,000 required for a Parliamentary debate. On January 18, the UK's House of Commons debated whether to ban Trump, but ended without a vote, as UK members of parliament did not have the power to enact such a ban. The three-hour long debate saw members on all sides of parliament describe Trump as "a buffoon", "crazy", "offensive", and "a wazzock".

Trump caused further controversy when he recounted an uncorroborated, apocryphal story about how U.S. general John J. Pershing shot Muslim terrorists with pig's blood-dipped bullets in order to deter them during the Moro Rebellion. His comments were strongly denounced by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Muslim support for Trump

According to a CAIR automated phone poll, Trump is supported by 11 percent of Muslims in the Super Tuesday states. This is more than the remaining Republican candidates combined. Indian media reported that Muslims held a campaign rally for Trump in a suburb of Washington D. C. and officially founded the group Muslim Americans for Trump. At a campaign rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on February 19, 2016, a Muslim-American man gained national notoriety after telling Trump, "I'm a Muslim and I love you! I'm for you all the way." He was later identified as Elhamy Ibrahim, a sixty-two years old Egyptian businessman who immigrated to the United States in 1981 by Reuters.

People and groups

Campaign support from family members

Although Trump has called his wife Melania "my pollster", and has said she strongly supports his presidential run, he held back early in the campaign from asking her to actively campaign for him, although "she will", he told CNN in September 2015. She did appear both at her husband's June 2015 campaign announcement, and in the audience at the Fox News debate in Cleveland; and in November 2015 did several televised interviews, and spoke briefly at a Trump campaign rally in South Carolina, also attended by a number of Trump's other family members.

If Trump were to become President, his wife Melania (Slovenian-born, and a naturalized U.S. citizen) would become only the second U.S. First Lady in history to be born outside the United States (after Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams).

Fox News and Megyn Kelly

Trump was one of ten candidates in the main Fox News debate on August 6, 2015. At the beginning of the debate, Bret Baier asked the candidates in case they do not win the Republican nomination if they would pledge not to run as an independent candidate and would support the eventual nominee. Trump was the only candidate who refused to pledge at that time. Baier questioned Trump about Obamacare, Chris Wallace asked him about Mexican illegal immigrants, and Megyn Kelly asked about how he would respond to a Clinton campaign saying that he was waging a "war on women". Trump replied, "I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct."

In a later interview with Don Lemon on CNN Tonight, Trump said that Kelly is a "lightweight" and had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her... wherever." Trump tweeted that his remark referred to Kelly's nose but was interpreted by critics as a reference to menstruation. RedState.com editor Erick Erickson cancelled Trump's invitation to a RedState meeting, saying "there are just real lines of decency a person running for President should not cross." The Trump campaign issued a statement calling Erickson "a total loser" and saying that anyone who thought Trump's comment was a reference to menstruation was "a deviant".

Trump retained the first place after the debate, with an NBC News poll showing him at 23% support and a Reuters/Ipsos poll at 24%, followed by Ted Cruz at 13% and Ben Carson at 11%.

Roger Stone

Following the dust-up with Megyn Kelly, Roger Stone, Trump's veteran political adviser, left his campaign citing "controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights." Despite this, Stone revealed in an interview with National Review that he is "the ultimate Trump loyalist" and remains effusive about Trump and his campaign.

John McCain

Arizona Senator John McCain was not supportive of Trump's position on illegal immigration, and in an interview with The New Yorker said, "what he did was he fired up the crazies." Trump later asked McCain for an apology. McCain did not apologize, saying "crazies" was "a term of endearment", and "a term of affection".

Trump received criticism for saying of McCain: "He’s not a war hero" and "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured." Trump acknowledged, "If somebody’s a prisoner, I consider them a war hero"; however, he criticized "politicians like John McCain" for having "totally failed" on veterans issues and on securing the border. Trump declared his support for veterans and pledged to "build the finest and most modern veterans hospitals in the world."

Asked whether Trump should apologize to him for the remarks, McCain said on MSNBC: "I don’t think so. I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country." Trump later stated that he did not owe the Senator an apology. Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson detailed how the Washington Post had taken Trump's remarks on McCain out of context; she stated in part, "In fact, Trump’s actual quote is the opposite of what is presented in the Post’s first sentence." Politifact rated Trump's claim that the quote was taken out of context as "mostly false". Trump's comments generated disagreement among the other Republican presidential candidates, including Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, and Chris Christie. Two candidates, George Pataki and Rick Perry, openly called on Trump to withdraw from the race over his comments. Conversely, two other candidates came to Trump's defense: Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, with Carson commenting that all differing opinions should be heard, and with Cruz opining that the party should stop its infighting altogether in order to unite. Before the first voting in Iowa, all the candidates who criticized Trump had either withdrawn or were in single-digit popularity polling.

Lindsey Graham

On July 21, Trump publicly gave out Senator Lindsey Graham's phone number, a practice known as doxing, during a speech in South Carolina as a response to Graham calling him a "jackass". Graham released a statement on Twitter that he would "probably [be] getting a new phone" and later released a video in which he destroyed his phone. Gawker subsequently released a phone number belonging to Trump, and he responded by setting the phone number to play a campaign message. Trump's response was described as "brilliant" and Time Magazine said, "You can't out-troll the Donald."

Jeb Bush

The Jeb Bush-Trump dynamic was one of the most fiery relationships among the Republican contenders. Bush's campaign spent millions of dollars on anti-Trump ads, while in response Trump mocked Jeb Bush with the lasting epithet that he was "low energy". During an exchange with Jeb Bush in the ninth GOP Debate in South Carolina, the audience (most favoring Bush) repeatedly booed Trump. Trump scoffed that the audience was made up of "Jeb's special interests and lobbyists". When asked whether he remained in favor of impeachment for George W. Bush for starting the Iraq War, Trump said, "They [the George W. Bush administration] lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction."

Yet, according to The Washington Post, the most telling aspect of the Bush-Trump duel may have been the fact that, "No candidate in the race was prepared for GOP voters' opposition to immigration, with the exception of Trump," and the anti-immigration sentiment that Trump tapped into throughout the campaign, and, tellingly, with the Act of Love (advertisement).

Mitt Romney

On February 24, 2016, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney called on Trump to release his tax returns, suggesting they contain a "bombshell". On February 25, 2016, during the 10th Republican Party presidential debate, Trump claimed he would make the filings available after the conclusion of an Internal Revenue Service audit of the past "four to five years".

Mitt Romney expanded his criticisms on March 3 by referring to Trump University.

Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.

In contrast in 2012, while Romney was running for president, he praised Trump and sought his endorsement.

David Duke

On February 24, 2016, former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon, David Duke, urged followers to vote for Donald Trump, saying that a vote for anyone else "is really treason to your heritage" and saying he supports Trump without endorsing him. In response, the Anti-Defamation League called on Trump to distance himself from the KKK and disavow their ideology. At a press conference on February 26, when questioned, Trump tersely disavowed himself of Duke's support. But in an interview with Jake Tapper on February 28, Trump repeatedly claimed to be ignorant of David Duke and his support. Republican presidential rivals were quick to pounce on his wavering, with Senator Marco Rubio saying they make Trump un-electable. Others questioned his professed ignorance of David Duke by pointing out that in 2000 Trump said David Duke is a "Klansman". Trump later blamed the incident on a poor earpiece he was given by CNN. Later the same day Trump highlighted his previous terse disavowal of Duke in a tweet posted with a video on his Twitter account.

Condemnation from Republican foreign-policy experts

An open letter from 117 conservative foreign-policy and national-security leaders, released in March 2016, condemned Trump as "fundamentally dishonest" and unfit to be president. Signatories to the letter included a number of former high-level George W. Bush administration figures (including former homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff, former deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick, former homeland security adviser Frances Townsend and former undersecretary of defense Dov Zakheim) and others (including Eliot A. Cohen, Max Boot, and Daniel W. Drezner). The signatories specifically objected to Trump's vision of American influence in the world, calling it "wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle," and stated that "[Trump's] admiration for foreign dictators such as Vladimir Putin is unacceptable for the leader of the world’s greatest democracy." The letter also stated that Trump's "embrace of the expansive use of torture is inexcusable" and that Trump's "attempts to deny positions he has unquestionably taken in the past, including on the 2003 Iraq war and the 2011 Libyan conflict" are "simply misrepresentation." The signatories wrote that "as committed and loyal Republicans, we are unable to support a Party ticket with Mr. Trump at its head."

Religious community

Trump identifies as a Presbyterian and has in campaign speeches, he routinely has praised and sometimes carried the Bible, often saying that his own book Trump: The Art of the Deal is his "second-favorite book after the Bible." On occasion, Trump has "reflected a degree of indifference" to religion, causing unease among some social conservatives. For example, Trump drew criticism in August 2015 after he declined to cite his favorite biblical passage; has said that he does not ask God for forgiveness; and at one church campaign appearance mistook the communion plate for an offering plate.

Yet Trump has solicited the support of religious leaders, inviting in September 2015 dozens of Christian and Jewish leaders to his New York City offices for a meeting and laying on of hands prayer gathering. Trump has praised prominent national evangelical leaders of the Christian right, including Tony Perkins and Ralph Reed, and has received a blessing from Greek Orthodox priest Emmanuel Lemelson. In January 2016, Trump received the endorsement of Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., a prominent evangelical leader.

Trump has drawn high levels of evangelical support in spite of holding political views and religious commitments at odds with many evangelicals. The New York Times reported that "one of the prime paradoxes of the 2016 election" is that "A twice-divorced candidate who has flaunted his adultery, praised Planned Parenthood and admitted to never asking for God’s forgiveness is the favorite of the Christian right." Jonathan Merritt, writing in the The Atlantic, stated that although Trump was "immodest, arrogant, foul-mouthed, money-obsessed, thrice-married, and until recently, pro-choice," he appealed to "growing anti-establishment sentiments held by many evangelical Christians."

Conversely, some Christian religious leaders have critiqued Trump. After finishing a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, asked about Trump's proposal to build a large border wall, said: "A person who thinks only about building walls — wherever they may be — and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel. As far as ... whether I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he said things like that." Trump then called the pope's comments "disgraceful." The Holy See Press Office later said that the pope's comments were "in no way a personal attack" but instead were a general comment on Catholic social teaching that was "not at all a specific question, limited to this case."

Other figures have made more direct religious-based critiques of Trump, including from the American Christian right. Russell D. Moore, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public-policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is a prominent Trump critic and has argued that Christians should vote for a conservative third party or independent candidates if Trump wins the nomination. On the Christian left, preacher and New York Daily News columnist Shaun King has criticized Trump's racially charged rhetoric as inconsistent with Christianity, arguing that "his words stand in stark contrast to the compassionate Christ of the Bible." Two sociologists of religion at Baylor University wrote that support for Trump does not square with Christian commitment," arguing that Trump lacks compassion, appeals to fear and anger, tells public falsehoods, and fails to model Christian virtues such as sacrifice, altruism, and Christian.

Tax plan

Individual income tax brackets in Donald Trump's tax plan

Ordinary income	Capital gains & dividends	Single filers	Married filers	Head of household
0%	0%	$0 to $25,000	$0 to $50,000	$0 to $37,500
10%	0%	$25,001 to $50,000	$50,001 to $100,000	$37,501 to $75,000
20%	15%	$50,001 to $150,000	$100,001 to $300,000	$75,001 to $225,000
25%	20%	≥$150,000	≥$300,000	≥$225,000

• Cuts the corporate tax and business tax to 15%
• 15% small business pass-through tax
• Eliminates estate taxes
• Eliminates the alternative minimum tax (AMT)
• Eliminates the marriage penalty
• Retains the foreign tax credit, but ends the deferral of taxes on corporate income earned abroad.
• Retains charitable giving and home mortgage interest deductions, while reducing deductions across income brackets.
• 10% repatriation tax holiday

Republican front-runner

Trump signs the Republican loyalty pledge: If Trump does not become the Republican Party nominee for the 2016 general election, he pledges to support whomever the nominee may be, and to not run as a third-party candidate.

Trump has consistently had high poll numbers during his candidacy. A survey conducted by The Economist/YouGov released July 9, 2015, was the first major nationwide poll to show Trump as the 2016 Republican presidential front-runner. A Suffolk/USA Today poll released on July 14, 2015, showed Trump with 17% support among Republican voters, with Jeb Bush at 14%. A Washington Post/ABC News poll taken on July 16–19, showed Trump had 24% Republican support, over Scott Walker at 13%. A CNN/ORC poll showed Trump in the lead at 18% support among Republican voters, over Jeb Bush at 15%, and a CBS News poll from show of August 4ed Trump with 24% support, Bush second at 13%, and Walker third at 10%.

A CNN/ORC poll taken August 13–16, 2015, in the swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania showed Trump ahead of, or narrowly trailing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in direct match-ups in those states. In Florida, Trump led by two points, and in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, he was within just five points of Clinton.

Trump has had a persistently high popularity among Republican and leaning-Republican minority voters. Surveys taken in late 2015 showed Trump polling unfavorably among women and non-white voters, with 64% of women viewing Trump unfavorably and 74% of non-white voters having a negative view of the candidate, according to a November 2015 ABC News/Washington Post poll. A Public Religion Research Institute survey in November 2015 found that many of his supporters are working class voters with negative feelings towards migrants, as well as strong financial concerns. Numerous polls show Trump polling significantly favorably among minority and woman voters compared to past and present Republican presidential candidates, citing a September 2015 SurveyUSA poll. This poll also reports that Trump garners some support from voters outside of his party.

Trump's status as the consistent front-runner for the Republican nomination led to him being featured on the cover of Time magazine in August 2015, with the caption: "Deal with it." Although some establishment Republicans expressed concern by late 2015 about Trump's perceived negative effect, were he to become the Republican nominee, on other Republican candidates running for Congressional or Gubernatorial positions in 2016, few leading donors seemed willing to sponsor a negative campaign against him. "A 'Stop Trump' effort wouldn't work, and it might help him", said Republican Senator Lamar Alexander. While the National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated a confidential memo in September 2015 that did not dismiss the possibility of Trump winning the GOP nomination, it called him a "misguided missile" with "wacky ideas about women", and noted that he "is subject to farcical fits." The memo urged candidates to carve out platforms broadly consonant with Trump's anti-Washington messaging, and to "stake out turf in the same issue zone and offer your own ideas", while not getting "drawn into every Trump statement and every Trump dust-up." Candidates were advised in particular not "to re-engage the 'war on women' fight" and were told they "shouldn't go near this ground other than to say that your wife or daughter is offended by what Trump said."

Early caucuses and primaries

Further information: Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016

In the lead-up to the Iowa caucus, poll averages showed Trump as the front-runner with a roughly four percent lead. Ted Cruz came in first in the vote count, ahead of Trump. Cruz, who campaigned strongly among evangelical Christians, was supported by church pastors that coordinated a volunteer campaign to get out the vote. Before the Iowa vote, an email from the Cruz campaign falsely implied that Ben Carson was about to quit the race, encouraging Carson's supporters to vote for Cruz instead. Trump later posted on Twitter, "Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud", and wrote, "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it."

Following his loss in Iowa, Trump rebounded in the New Hampshire primary, coming in first place with 35% of the vote, the biggest victory in a New Hampshire Republican primary since at least 2000. Trump "tapped into a deep well of anxiety among Republicans and independents in New Hampshire, according to exit polling data," running strongest among voters who feared "illegal immigrants, incipient economic turmoil and the threat of a terrorist attack in the United States." Trump commented that in the run-up to the primary, his campaign had "learned a lot about ground games in a week."

This was followed by another wide victory in South Carolina, furthering his lead among the Republican candidates. He won the Nevada caucus on February 24 with a landslide 45.9% of the vote, his biggest victory yet; Marco Rubio placed second with 23.9%.

Historical precedents in American politics

Historians Donald T. Critchlow and Niall Ferguson and political scientist Daniel Klinghard have compared Trump to William Jennings Bryan, a populist who who won the 1896 Democratic nomination "after his demagogic "Cross of Gold" speech in which he denounced the gold standard." Scholars and observers have also compared Trump to figures as varied as Andrew Jackson, Joseph McCarthy, Father Charles Coughlin, Jesse Ventura, Huey Long, Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, and relatively recent presidential aspirants H. Ross Perot and Patrick J. Buchanan.

Campaign finances

As of January 31, 2016, the Trump campaign had received $7.5 in donations from individuals, $250,318 donated directly by Donald Trump himself, and a $17.78-million loan from the candidate. The loaned amount can be repaid to Trump as other donations arrive. According to reports to the FEC, the campaign had $1.9 million on hand as of February 20.

Trump rejected all super PAC's that claimed to support him. He has said: "I am self-funding my campaign and therefore I will not be controlled by the donors, special interests and lobbyists who have corrupted our politics and politicians for far too long. I have disavowed all super PAC's, requested the return of all donations made to said PAC's, and I am calling on all presidential candidates to do the same." Politifact reports that Trump's claims that he is "self-funding" his campaign are "half-true." By the end of 2015, Trump's campaign had raised $19.4 million, with almost $13 million (about 66%) coming in the form of a loan from Trump himself and the remainder (34%) coming from others' contributions.

The announcement came a day after a main super PAC backing Trump closed amid scrutiny about its relationship to the campaign itself. Although Trump attended at least two Make America Great Again Super PAC fundraising events, including one at the home of his daughter Ivanka's in laws, he later said he never gave his endorsement to the super PAC or any of the other eight super PAC's supporting his run. In addition to a $100,000 donation from Ivanka Trump's mother-in-law, the Make America Great Again super PAC accepted $1 million in seed money from casino mogul and longtime Trump business partner Phil Ruffin who, according to FEC filings, gave the money just two weeks after the super PAC was established; the super PAC spent about $500,000 on polling, consulting, and legal expenses before shutting down in the wake of Washington Post coverage. Trump told campaign crowds "I don’t want anybody’s money", and criticized other candidates for "form[ing] all these PAC's. People pour money into the PAC's. I don’t want 'em, don’t support 'em."

Political positions

Main article: Political positions of Donald Trump

Trump has stated that he is a "conservative Republican". From an external perspective, such as that of European observers, he is seen as a right-wing populist similar to Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders or Silvio Berlusconi.

Endorsements

Main article: List of Donald Trump presidential campaign endorsements, 2016

See also: Endorsements for the Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016

See also

• Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016
• Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
• Republican Party presidential debates, 2016

External links

• Official website
• Official YouTube Channel
• Donald Trump Presidential Campaign Announcement, - C-SPAN, June 16, 2015