Donald Trump

Trump's penchant for is believed to have roots in the New York real estate scene, where Trump established his wealth and where puffery abounds. phrase "truthful hyperbole" to describe his public speaking style.

Support from the far right

According to , the Trump campaign was remarkable for bringing fringe ideas, beliefs, and organizations into the mainstream. He retweeted open racists, and repeatedly refused to condemn David Duke, the or white supremacists, in an interview on CNN's , saying he would first need to "do research" because he knew nothing about Duke or white supremacists. Duke himself enthusiastically supported Trump throughout the 2016 primary and election, and has said he and like-minded people voted for Trump because of his promises to "take our country back".

After repeated questioning by reporters, Trump said he disavowed David Duke and the KKK.'s : "I disavowed him. I disavowed the KKK. Do you want me to do it again for the 12th time? I disavowed him in the past, I disavow him now."[331]

The movement coalesced around Trump's candidacy, and .[335]
Members of the alt-right enthusiastically supported Trump's campaign.[336]
In August 2016, he appointed  – the executive chairman of  – as his campaign CEO; Bannon described Breitbart News as "the platform for the alt-right".[339]

Financial disclosures

As a presidential candidate, Trump disclosed details of his companies, assets, and revenue sources to the extent required by the FEC. His 2015 report listed assets above $1.4 billion and outstanding debts of at least $265 million. The 2016 form showed little change.[134]

Trump has not released , contrary to the practice of every major candidate since 1976 and his promise in 2014 to do so if he ran for office. Trump has told the press his tax rate was none of their business, and that he tries to pay "as little tax as possible".[343]

In October 2016, portions of Trump's state filings for 1995 were leaked to a reporter from The New York Times. They show that Trump declared a loss of $916 million that year, which could have let him avoid taxes for up to 18 years. During the second presidential debate, Trump acknowledged using the deduction, but declined to provide details such as the specific years it was applied.[344]

On March 14, 2017, the first two pages of Trump's 2005 federal income tax returns were leaked to . The document states that Trump had a gross adjusted income of $150 million and paid $38 million in federal taxes. The White House confirmed the authenticity of the documents.

On April 3, 2019, the House made a formal request to the Internal Revenue Service for Trump's personal and business tax returns from 2013 to 2018, setting a deadline of April 10. said the deadline would not be met, and on May 6 Mnuchin said the request would be denied. subpoenaed the Treasury Department and the IRS for the returns and seven days later the subpoenas were defied. A fall 2018 draft IRS legal memo asserted that Trump must provide his tax returns to Congress unless he invokes executive privilege, contradicting the administration's justification for defying the earlier subpoena.

Election to the presidency

On November 8, 2016, Trump received 306 pledged versus 232 for Clinton. The official counts were 304 and 227 respectively, after .. Clinton was ahead nationwide with 65,853,514 votes (48.18%) to 62,984,828 votes (46.09%).[359]

Trump's victory was considered a stunning political upset by most observers, as polls had consistently showed Hillary Clinton with a nationwide – though diminishing – lead, as well as a favorable advantage in most of the competitive states. Trump's support had been modestly underestimated throughout his campaign,
The polls were relatively accurate,

Trump won 30 states, including , , and , which had been considered a of Democratic strongholds since the 1990s. Clinton won 20 states and the . Trump's victory marked the return of a Republican White House combined with both chambers of .

Trump is , even after for , He is also who did not serve in the military or hold elective or appointed government office prior to being elected. previous presidents, 38 had held prior elective office, two had not held elective office but had served in the Cabinet, and three had never held public office but had been commanding generals.[368]

Protests

Some rallies during the primary season were accompanied by protests or violence, including attacks on Trump supporters and vice versa both inside and outside the venues.[374]

In the weeks following Trump's inauguration, massive anti-Trump demonstrations took place, such as the , which gathered 2,600,000 people worldwide, Marches against his began across the country on January 29, 2017, just nine days after his inauguration.[377]

2020 presidential campaign

Trump signaled his intention to run for a second term by filing with the FEC within a few hours of assuming the presidency. Trump marked the official start of the campaign with a rally in , on February 18, 2017, less than a month after taking office. and it had raised a total amount exceeding $67 million by December 2018..[383]

Early actions

as the 45th president of the United States on January 20, 2017. During his first week in office, he signed : interim procedures in anticipation of repealing the (Obamacare), withdrawal from the negotiations, reinstatement of the , unlocking the and construction projects, reinforcing border security, and beginning the planning and design process to construct a .[384]

Upon inauguration, Trump delegated the management of his real estate business to his sons Eric and Don Jr.. She serves as an assistant to the President, in the White House.[387]

On January 31, U.S. Appeals Court judge to fill the seat on the previously held by Justice until his death on February 13, 2016.[388]

Domestic policy

Economy and trade

The economic expansion that began in June 2009 continued through Trump's first three years in office. Throughout his presidency, he has repeatedly and falsely characterized the economy as the best in American history.[389]

In December 2017, Trump signed the , which cut the corporate tax rate to 21 percent, lowered personal tax brackets, increased child tax credit, doubled the exemption to $11.2 million, and limited the state and local tax deduction to $10,000.[390]

Trump is a skeptic of multilateral trade deals, as he believes they indirectly incentivize unfair trade practices that then tend to go unpoliced. He favors bilateral trade deals, as they allow one party to pull out if the other party is believed to be behaving unfairly. Trump favors neutral or positive balances of trade over negative balances of trade, also known as a "trade deficit". Trump adopted his current skeptical views toward trade liberalization in the 1980s, and he sharply criticized during the Republican primary campaign in 2015. (TPP) negotiations, and launched a with China by sharply increasing tariffs on 818 categories (worth $50 billion) of Chinese goods imported into the U.S. On several occasions, Trump has said incorrectly that these import tariffs are paid by China into the .[398]

Energy and climate

Trump rejects the . Since his election Trump has made large budget cuts to programs that research renewable energy and has rolled back Obama-era policies directed at curbing climate change., making the U.S. the only nation in the world to not ratify the agreement., Trump skipped the sessions on climate change but said afterward during a press conference that he is an environmentalist.[403]

Trump has rolled back federal regulations aimed at curbing emissions, air pollution, water pollution, and the usage of toxic substances. He relaxed environmental standards for federal infrastructure projects, while expanding permitted areas for drilling and resource extraction. Trump also weakened protections for animals.

Government size and deregulation

Trump's early policies have favored . He has signed 15 disapproval resolutions to allow Congress to repeal executive regulations, the second President to sign any such resolutions after the first CRA resolution was passed in 2001, and the first President to sign more than one such resolution.[408]

On January 30, 2017, Trump signed , which directed administrative agencies to repeal two existing regulations for every new regulation they issue. Agency defenders expressed opposition to Trump's criticisms, saying the bureaucracy exists to protect people against well-organized, well-funded interest groups.[411]

Health care

During his campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to repeal and replace (ACA or "Obamacare"). Shortly after taking office, he urged Congress to repeal and replace it. In May of that year, the voted to repeal it., which increased flexibility "to the maximum extent permitted by law" for the Cabinet to issue waivers, deferrals, and exemptions for the law while attempting to give states more flexibility. Over the course of several months' effort, however, the Senate was unable to pass any version of a repeal bill. was subsequently issued to reduce regulations imposed under Obamacare by increasing competition. in half and drastically reduced funding for advertising and other ways to encourage enrollment. effectively repealed the ACA's in 2019,, medical device tax, and . As president, Trump has falsely claimed he saved the coverage of pre-existing conditions provided by ACA, while his administration declined to challenge a lawsuit that would eliminate it.

Social issues

Trump favored modifying the 2016 Republican platform opposing abortion, to allow for exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and circumstances endangering the health of the mother. justices. but considers the of a "settled" issue. in March 2017, the Trump administration rolled back key components of the Obama administration's workplace protections for LGBT people.[433]

Trump supports a broad interpretation of the and says he is to in general, although his views have shifted over time. but supports legalizing ., as well as the use of and "a hell of a lot worse" methods.

Immigration

Trump's proposed immigration policies were a topic of bitter and contentious debate during the campaign. He promised to build on the to keep out and vowed Mexico would pay for it., for creating "". As president, he frequently described illegal immigration as an "invasion" and conflated immigrants with the gang , though research shows undocumented immigrants have a lower crime rate than native-born Americans.[446]

Travel ban

Following the , Trump made a controversial proposal to ban Muslim foreigners from entering the United States until stronger vetting systems could be implemented.

On January 27, 2017, Trump signed , which suspended admission of refugees for 120 days and denied entry to citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days, citing security concerns. The order was imposed without warning and took effect immediately., the acting , directed Justice Department lawyers not to defend the executive order, which she deemed unenforceable and unconstitutional; were filed against the order, and on February 5 a federal judge in Seattle blocked its implementation nationwide. On March 6, Trump issued , which excluded Iraq, gave specific exemptions for , and removed priorities for Christian minorities. Again federal judges in three states blocked its implementation. ruled that the ban could be enforced on visitors who lack a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States".[463]

The temporary order was replaced by on September 24, 2017, which permanently restricts travel from the originally targeted countries except Iraq and Sudan, and further bans travelers from North Korea and Chad, along with certain Venezuelan officials. and ultimately upheld the travel ban in a June 2019 ruling.[466]

DACA

In September 2017, Attorney General announced that would be repealed after six months. No legislation had been agreed to on DACA by March 2018, when the delay expired. Two injunctions in January and February 2018 allowed renewals of applications and stopped the rolling back of DACA, and in April 2018 a federal judge ordered the acceptance of new applications. of the ruled that DACA is likely unconstitutional, but left the program in place as litigation proceeds.[472]

Family separation at border

In April 2018, Trump enacted a "" immigration policy that temporarily took adults irregularly entering the U.S. into custody for criminal prosecution and forcibly separated children from parents, eliminating the policy of previous administrations, which had made exceptions for families with children. By mid-June, more than 2,300 children had been placed in shelters, including -designated "tender age" shelters for children under thirteen, Trump falsely asserted that his administration was merely following the law.[479]
On June 20, Trump signed an executive order to end family separations at the U.S. border.

2018–2019 federal government shutdown