Over the past six months Donald Trump has dominated the airwaves both in America and across the world due to the many controversial things he has said while campaigning to become the Republican nominee for the US presidential election this year (the Republican party being one of the two major political parties in the United States – the other being the Democrats - and tends to be made up of people who are right-wing). And what has surprised many political commentators is that his statements have resonated with many republican voters and it now looks as if he probably will be the Republican nominee for the election, likely running against Hilary Clinton who will almost certainly be the Democratic nominee. But who exactly is the famous Donald Trump and what are his politics, as far as his presidential campaign tells us?
Well, he was born in 1946 in Queens, New York to Mary Ann Trump and Fred Trump, who was a real estate developer. When he was eighteen years-old he went to Fordham University, before switching to the Wharton School of Business, from which he graduated in 1968. Afterwards he worked at his father’s real estate company (though he had also worked for Fred Trump during his time at university), called Elizabeth Trump and Son, in 1971 becoming the CEO of The Trump Organization. It is reckoned by some that by 1988 his business was worth $1 billion and in 1990 he acquired the Taj Mahal, a very large casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey (which, like many of the constructions built with his money, he put his name on). Then in 2004 he became the host of a reality show called The Apprentice in which budding entrepreneurs would compete every week for a number of weeks to be in with a chance of working for him. However, NBC, the channel which aired the show cut its ties from Donald Trump after he made certain comments about immigrants during his 2016 campaign to become US president.
On his political beliefs, he appears to jump around the political spectrum a lot, however on many issues he tends to fall on the right (and perhaps far-right) of the political spectrum. His campaign says it wants to get rid of president Obama’s healthcare reforms which have given many Americans affordable health insurance, arguing it “has tragically but predictably resulted in runaway costs, websites that don’t work, greater rationing of care, higher premiums, less competition and fewer choices.” He also believes that the Second Amendment in US law, which states that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”, should be upheld and that immigration from America’s southern border with Mexico should be reduced by having Mexico pay for a huge wall to be built between the two countries. Additionally, he wants the American economy to be governed by free market principles and has called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” – regarded as one of his most controversial comments in the presidential race. So, what are your thoughts on the Donald?
Image: By Michael Vadon [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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