Donald Trump's 2015/16 presidential campaign

At an election rally on September 3, 2015 in New York, Trump showed a document that affirmed his loyalty to the Republican Party after he had not ruled out running as an independent. One of the campaign mottos can be read on signs of his supporters: The Silent Majority Stands with Trump ("The silent majority stands by Trump")

Opponents and supporters of Trump before a campaign event in Wilmington, North Carolina in August 2016

Donald Trump's presidential campaign 2015/16 the United States presidential election in 2016 generated a large international echo, polarized the followers of different political camps and eventually led on 8 November 2016 to choose from Donald Trump for President of the United States .

With his nomination at the Republican Party Congress in July 2016, Trump was the first candidate from a major US party to have previously held no political office since Dwight D. Eisenhower in the US election campaign in 1952 . He was also the first applicant since the lawyer and businessman Wendell Willkie in the US elections in 1940 who previously held neither a political mandate nor a high military rank.

Trump's campaign slogan was " Make America Great Again " (Eng: "Make America great again"). After his nomination Trump chose the Governor of Indiana and former Congressman Mike Pence to his vice presidential candidate.

Beginnings as an outsider

On June 16, 2015, the American entrepreneur and billionaire Donald Trump announced that he would run in the Republican primary as a candidate for the US presidential election in November 2016 . Trump promised - unlike previous US policy - to take on the world's major economic powers, to effectively limit immigration and to act as a successful businessman outside of Washington's circles of power. He added that he would be "the greatest workplace president" that God has ever created.

Trump at an election rally on August 19, 2015 in New Hampshire, an important pre-election state

Trump caused a sensation at the beginning of his candidacy, but also in the following weeks with some statements. Among other things, during his presidential nomination he said: “When Mexico sends its people , they don't send their best. [...] They bring drugs, they bring crime. They are rapists and some, I suppose, are good people too ”. As a result, a number of business and media partners separated from him; two broadcasters, Univision and NBC , stopped broadcasting the Miss Polls it produced. Republican party friends distanced themselves from him, even the other presidential candidates with the exception of Ted Cruz . A few days later, Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka criticized the alleged misrepresentation of the statements in some media; he talked about illegal migrants and the porous border. Trump himself said: "I [feel] personally attacked by the attempt of the mainstream media to twist my comments about Mexico and its great people". He has successful business relationships with Mexican companies and is close friends with many Mexicans. In addition, he never wanted to criticize the Mexican people, but the US immigration policy. He has enormous respect for the Mexican political leaders, who are much smarter and more persistent than the American ones. Polls among the supporters of the Republicans in mid-July 2015 showed that Trump moved up to second place just behind Jeb Bush or even took the lead. The Cook Political Report attributed this to Trump's great popularity and skillful use of the attention economy; he also hit a political nerve with the issue of immigration. The assessment that Trump, despite his soaring flight before the actual start of the primary election campaign, had almost no chance of being nominated, shared the data journalist Nate Silver .

With his aggressive rhetoric, Trump caused criticism in the establishment of his own party; US Senator John McCain , who helped draft a non-partisan, ultimately unsuccessful immigration reform in 2013, feared that Trump's statements might strengthen the right wing, the “crazies”, while some competitors were marginalized as qualified, deserving politicians would. When Trump then renounced McCain's military heroism because he was captured in the Vietnam War (and was severely tortured there), a storm of indignation broke out in the Republican Party. Political observers expected a turning point in his campaign due to the emerging political and personal outsider position.

Despite the outrage over his comments on McCain, Trump sat at the top of the Republican field of applicants in polls until the end of July. On July 30, 2015, it reached an aggregated almost 20 percentage points and was ahead of Jeb Bush and Scott Walker with 13 and 12 percent, respectively. His supporters were vague in almost all parts of the party. He was able to attract more attention on social media than any candidate from either party.

In the first televised debate between the top ten Republican candidates on August 6, 2015, he filled most of the speaking time. Jeb Bush, Ben Carson , Chris Christie , Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee , John Kasich , Rand Paul , Marco Rubio and Scott Walker also debated . At the beginning, Trump declared that he would also keep an independent candidacy open. When asked about misogynist statements, he said: “A big problem in this country is that it is politically correct . And I don't have time to be politically correct. "Trump lost his closest political advisor, Roger Stone , when he criticized Fox News host Megyn Kelly for her tough questions, saying he had" the blood out of her eyes. " see dripping and from where else ", which was partly taken as a sexist reference to uncontrolled menstruation , even if Trump later stated that he meant the nose. Again, political pundits anticipated a turning point in Trump's campaign as Fox News is considered essential for Republican supporters to shape political opinion. When Trump's support in polls and letters from Fox News viewers continued to grow, his boss Roger Ailes agreed with Trump on mutual verbal disarmament.

In the event that he felt badly treated by the party, Trump considered running as an independent third candidate, which polls suggest would have significantly improved the prospects for prospective Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton . Trump's suggestion of a non-party candidacy raised significant concerns among Republican governing bodies. On September 3, 2015, at the insistence of the party leadership, in the presence of the Chairman of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus , Trump signed a loyalty pledge that he would forego running as an independent and support the Republican applicant. Nevertheless, Trump then repeatedly brought a non-partisan presidential candidacy into the public debate if he was "not treated fairly" by the Republicans.

In view of Trump's high public presence over the summer of 2015 (and beyond), several American media spoke of the “Summer of Trump”.

Until the start of the primaries

Trump continued to lead in the polls. He received approval for his positions on immigration policy, which were published in mid-August 2015, from the right-wing party base, but also from among his fellow candidates. Observers said that his success could no longer be explained by his media presence alone, but by the fact that he set the topics of the election campaign and thus dominated the Republicans' agenda in terms of content. In August, his chances of receiving the Republican nomination in the Pivit forecasting market rose from 1 to 19 percent. The New York Times described Trump's poll success as possibly distorted, since many of his supporters are not sure whether they will even vote.

When Trump's polls decreased somewhat after the second television debate in mid-September and Marco Rubio gained in the polls, Trump began to attack him personally; Rubio responded by attesting Trump to personal insecurity and a political "freak show" that he would not attend. Jeb Bush, who was the favorite for the nomination in the first half of the year and enjoyed the support of many wealthy donors and from parts of the party establishment, attacked Trump by calling him a candidate with "low energy" ("low energy person") and increasingly associated with the negative results of the presidency of his brother George W. Bush , the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the Iraq war . Trump relied on strong anti-establishment sentiment among the party base - like Ben Carson, who was also in the polls in October, who had never held a public office before. When Carson approached Trump's poll results at the end of October, the latter immediately attacked him as a person and because of his beliefs; so he mocked Carson as a "superlow energy person". However, after his polls dropped a few weeks later, Trump called the retired doctor a "nice guy." Earlier, Trump indicated for the first time that he would be eliminated from the election campaign if his poll numbers fell sharply.

In mid-October, the political website Politico stated that Trump was probably planning to remain in the election campaign due to his campaign structure. Since the beginning of August, Trump has been ahead in polls in the first four - very differently structured - primary states of Iowa , New Hampshire , South Carolina and Nevada . He was able to reverse his previously weak popularity ratings and force all competitors to confront him. In the third week of October, reports grew that parts of the party establishment now believed that a victory for outsider Trump, such as Alex Castellanos, was possible . In a poll, more than 40 percent, and thus the clear relative majority of Republican voters, said they assumed that Trump would win the nomination, which almost no one had said six months earlier. According to survey analyzes, Trump's leadership solidified through a large collection of the rather low-skilled blue-collar electorate (workers), while the white-collar voters (employees) would not have chosen any other candidate. In contrast, Stuart Stevens and Mike Murphy, campaign managers of 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, who had long been a candidate for the Republican leadership in 2016, continued to consider a victory for the "ridiculous" "zombie candidate" Trump to be ruled out as soon as the primary voting process seriously start.

According to numerous US media, Trump had the largest audience of all candidates in this election campaign. After the second television debate, Trump's dominance in television coverage was broken, as a long-term analysis by George Washington University found in November 2015; While up to then 40 to 50 percent of the daily reports on all candidates from both parties had dealt with him, after that it was 20 to 30 percent, less than for Clinton, Bush, Carson or Rubio. After Trump, in contrast to his opponents, had waived any advertising on television and radio outside of his regular interviews, his first radio commercials were published in early November 2015. These were initially broadcast in the state of Iowa, where the first primary vote was held in February 2016.

The polls of the previous runner-up Ben Carson moved significantly closer to those of Trump at the beginning of November, so that Carson briefly pushed him out of first place in the aggregation of the RealClearPolitics website after more than 100 days of continuous US leadership on November 4th. In the second week of November, Trump hired Katrina Pierson as the spokeswoman for his campaign. After the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, he intensified his rhetoric against radical Islam and promised in a radio spot to "bomb the Islamic State to the ground" (in the original: "to bomb the hell out of ISIS"). He repeatedly linked the warning of radical Islamic terrorism to a refusal to accept Syrian civil war refugees in the United States and said he would consider closing certain mosques. He also spoke out in favor of permanently preventing Americans who have joined the terrorist organization Islamic State from returning to the United States. As a result, Trump's lead in the pre-election polls increased again significantly, while the gap to Carson again increased significantly after he was criticized for obviously incorrect information on his résumé.

Donald Trump (2015)

By the end of 2015, Trump solidified his leadership in the national and state polls. At the same time, surveys of possible participants in the Republican primaries found that he was given the highest level of competence in most of the central topics. In a CNN poll in December, 57 percent said they considered the real estate entrepreneur to be the most competent of the Republican candidates in the field of economic policy. Trump was clearly ahead of his competitors, who did not go beyond values ​​in the upper single-digit range. Surveys on the areas of counter-terrorism, foreign policy, illegal immigration and leadership skills also showed clear double-digit leads.

2008 Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin during her statement of support for Trump at Iowa State University on January 20, 2016

It was still not possible for any of the established, less conflict-prone candidates to come close to Trump in the polls. Since December 2015, the tea party supporter and US Senator Ted Cruz, who is considered to be radically conservative, has caught up with Trump and temporarily took the lead in Iowa, where the first vote in the nomination process takes place on February 1. In the television debate on January 13, 2016, Trump had a tough argument with Cruz; He questioned Cruz's right to stand as president, since he was born in Canada ( natural born citizen ), and countered his attack on Trump's “New York values” (values ​​of the metropolis that is considered to be left-liberal) with reference to the terrorist attacks on May 11th. September 2001 . After this debate, the first politicians in the Republican establishment spoke out in favor of Trump, including Governor Iowas Terry Branstad and former presidential candidate Bob Dole - apparently with the aim of preventing the even less popular Cruz. In January, for the first time, clear majorities of Trump's victory in the Republican nomination process were expected both in forecasting markets and among political observers. Observers have interpreted the fact that traditional conservative media such as National Review , which opened in January with the title “Conservatives against Trump”, did not get through as a sign of the collapse of the Republican Party or a loss of power by its elites. Trump continued his campaign against these elites - backed by Sarah Palin's recommendation to make him president - by canceling his participation in the Fox News television debate shortly before the start of the January 28 primaries over the moderator he rejected Megyn Kelly canceled and instead held her own fundraising event to support the veterans at the same time. The event raised a total of $ 6 million in donations, of which Trump himself contributed $ 1 million from his personal fortune.

Primaries

Donald Trump campaigning in Las Vegas in February 2016

The primaries of the Republican Party began on 1 February 2016, the caucus in Iowa . Although the polls saw a narrow lead for Trump, he only came in second after the arch-conservative Texas Senator, Ted Cruz . At the first primary in the state of New Hampshire on February 9, the billionaire was able to prevail, however, and surpassed the last polls. On February 20, he also won in South Carolina well ahead of his next two challengers Cruz and Rubio. Meanwhile, Jeb Bush got out of the race after a disappointing result, so that Trump became the clear favorite and his chances in the prediction markets rose over 50 percent. At the Republican Caucus in Nevada on February 23, Trump emerged as the clear winner with 46 percent of the votes and, according to voter surveys - contrary to previous forecasts by observers - also won the most votes of the Hispanics involved in this party-affiliated process with around 45 percent. However, Trump remained by far the most unpopular candidate among all Hispanics nationwide with around 80 percent rejection. A few days before Super Tuesday , Trump received further tailwind from an election recommendation from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie . Christie, who gave up his own candidacy after the New Hampshire election, became the first high-ranking politician in the so-called party establishment to speak out in favor of the billionaire.

In the votes on Super Tuesday, Trump expanded his lead. Trump won in seven states - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia - gaining 237 delegate votes. In total, he was able to collect 319 delegate votes behind him up to this point. On the following Super Saturday primaries were held in four states. While Trump took second place after Ted Cruz in Maine and Kansas, he won in Louisiana and Kentucky. A few days later, the businessman also clearly established himself in Michigan , Louisiana and Hawaii . On March 11, Ben Carson, who had ended his campaign a few days earlier, also announced his support for Trump.

On the second so-called Super Tuesday on March 15, Trump won five out of six primary elections, including in Florida , where the billionaire secured all 99 delegates from the state. His clear victory led to the elimination of Marco Rubio , which reduced the Republican field of applicants to three candidates (Trump, Cruz and Kasich). Only in Ohio did Trump have to admit defeat to the governor of the state John Kasich .

At the end of March, Trump moved away from a promise he had given the Republican National Committee (RNC) in writing in September 2015 to support the winner in the event of a defeat in the primary elections. Cruz and Kasich also withdrew their commitments in the event of a Trump nomination.

After Trump surprisingly clearly lost the Wisconsin primary to Ted Cruz on April 5, he won on April 19 with more than 60% of the vote in his home state of New York . In doing so, he expanded his lead in terms of delegates to such an extent that, since then, it has only been possible for him to get an absolute majority of the delegates before the party congress.

On May 3, 2016, Trump won the primary in Indiana so clearly that it could be assumed that he would in all likelihood gather an absolute majority of the party congress delegates behind him. His main competitor Cruz then ended his candidacy. The chairman of the RNC Reince Priebus then assured Trump of his support. His only remaining contestant was John Kasich , who also gave up his candidacy the following day.

In early May, Trump temporarily gave his former rival and supporter Ben Carson the job of leading the search for a vice presidential candidate . Trump had already announced in advance that he would choose a running mate with political experience.

On May 26, 2016, Trump formally reached the necessary number of 1,239 delegates, which should secure him a nomination for the presidential candidacy by the Republican Party at its party congress in Cleveland in July 2016. At the end of May, Trump caught up with Hillary Clinton, who had long been the clear leader in the polls; In the forecast markets, his chances for November were no longer rated as stable at 1: 3 as before, but at 1: 2. Many observers explained this development with the fact that Trump succeeded in an astonishingly short time in overcoming the skeptical to openly hostile attitude of many Republican supporters and elites and largely rallying behind him, while Hillary Clinton continues to oppose himself in an increasingly hard-led internal party primary Bernie Sanders found. Trump's opponents in the primary campaign, who had expressed themselves with some sharp rejection of Trump (such as Rick Perry, Lindsey Graham or Marco Rubio), spoke out in May almost without exception for Trump, while his main opponent Jeb Bush and his father and brother support him failed. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate from 2012 and thus Trump's direct predecessor as a party candidate, had also given a speech in March 2016 in which he criticized Trump in the strongest possible terms and still did not hold back with criticism; in May, however, Romney stopped considering setting up an independent third-party candidate against Trump and thus against the decision of his own party supporters. On June 2, 2016, the most senior Republican in the state, House Speaker Paul Ryan, declared his support for Trump after almost a month of public hesitation, leading David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report to consider Trump's "hostile takeover" of the Republican Party be "complete" with it.

Donald Trump during the election campaign in Laconia in July 2016

At the end of May, Trump came under pressure when documents from a court case against Trump University, which he initiated, became public (see below). In this facility, Trump had promised to introduce his trade secrets for high fees; the results achieved resulted in some former students bringing charges of fraud. Trump's line of defense was aimed at publicly denying neutrality to the judge because of his Mexican origin, as he was biased because of Trump's plans to build the wall against Mexico. These statements caused a wave of outrage in the media, which many observers viewed as qualitatively different from the previous impetus against Trump's controversial statements: Since Trump is now the official candidate of the Republicans and promised at the beginning of May to appear presidential and moderately integrating from now on, this will be Behavior no longer tolerated. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, called Trump's remark a “textbook definition of racism”, and the US Senator for Arizona, Jeff Flake , publicly considered pushing through an opposing candidate at the nomination party conference despite Trump's absolute majority of delegates because Trump would not win the election be. Two US senators who had competed with Trump for the nomination also distanced themselves; Marco Rubio withdrew his promise to appear in favor of Trump at the nomination party conference, and Lindsey Graham called on the remaining Republicans to withdraw their already public statements of support for Trump. This was done, for example, by the US Senator for Illinois, Mark Kirk , who is facing a difficult re-election . At the same time, Trump's chaotic campaign organization and his difficulties with fundraising came into focus, so that in mid-June 2016 there was general talk in the media that Trump had squandered his campaign lead through his early nomination over Clinton.

Violence at events

During Trump's election campaign appearances, violence between his supporters and opponents occurred to an extent previously unknown in recent US primaries. Initially, there were several rallies of Trump's physical attacks by supporters on opponents, sometimes after verbal disputes. Trump then canceled at short notice an appearance planned for March 11 on the grounds of the University of Illinois in Chicago because of security concerns due to potential riots between supporters and opponents. Nevertheless, there was violence on the premises; a number of Trump opponents entered the venue. Five people were arrested, including a CBS News reporter. Trump blamed his opponents for violating his First Amendment right to free speech , calling them "professional demonstrators" and "thugs". Five other presidential candidates criticized Trump and what they saw as polarizing rhetoric. In the further course of the primary elections, there were repeatedly violent protests against Trump and his events. Trump had to use the back entrance to get to the GOP Convention in Burlingame , as the main driveway was blocked by Trump opponents. Some of them waved Mexican flags . In the Californian city of Costa Mesa , Trump's opponents blocked the street and demolished a police car. 20 people were arrested. In Anaheim , a dispute between Trump opponents and supporters escalated at the end of April; an opponent of Trump sprayed tear gas on his supporters. Five people were injured as a result, including two girls aged eight and eleven. On May 24, 2016, a Trump performance in Albuquerque was disrupted by demonstrators, and some Trump opponents broke into the event hall. Trump supporters were verbally assaulted outside the event building. Police used pepper spray and batons against protesters, who lit fires, threw stones and damaged a police car. On May 2, opponents attacked several Trump supporters in San Jose who were leaving an event. One woman was thrown eggs on the head, one supporter was injured in the ear and some were slapped in the face. There were at least four arrests. The gathering of Trump opponents outside the event hall was declared illegal by the police after the end of Trump's speech. When there were disruptions in the hall, Trump remained calm, unlike at previous events, when he had said of a Black Lives Matter activist: "Maybe they should have stirred him up".

Republican Party Congress

Mike Pence , Vice President of the United States

Before taking place from 18 to 21 July 2016 nominating party convention in Cleveland chose Trump the governor of Indiana , Mike Pence , as a candidate for the office of Vice President ( " running mate ") from. Previously, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich , New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and retired General Michael T. Flynn were also mentioned in the media . All three played advisory roles in Trump's campaign and should become part of a Trump administration in the event of an election victory. According to the media, Trump's children Don junior , Ivanka and Eric played a central role in the selection of the runner-up. In the election campaign, Pence was primarily intended to compensate for Trump's lack of political experience; for example, before his time as governor (since 2013) he had been a member of the House of Representatives for twelve years . From this time he also has good relations with important officials and officials of the Republicans. Pence was also intended to offset Trump's extravert demeanor with his calm and matter-of-fact personality, as well as addressing evangelical voters who were skeptical of Trump and who form an important part of the Republican electorate.

With his nomination, Trump was the first candidate for a major political party since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 , who had never held a political office. He was the first applicant since the lawyer and businessman Wendell Willkie in 1940 who previously had neither a political mandate nor a high military rank.

Main election campaign

After the Republican party congress, Trump received a boost in opinion polls and occasionally was able to push himself in front of his opponent Hillary Clinton . She was officially nominated together with her running mate Tim Kaine at the Democratic National Convention the following week . In the days that followed, there was a violent public argument between Trump and Khizr Khan, the father of a US soldier of Muslim faith who fell in the Iraq war in 2004 and who strongly attacked Trump in his speech at the Democratic Party Congress. Trump then attacked the Khan family and suggested that the soldier's mother, who was also present at the convention, was apparently "forbidden to speak". Despite sharp criticism from within himself, Trump stuck to his statements, but described the killed soldier as a "hero". Shortly thereafter, Trump caused a stir again when he attacked Hillary Clinton's position on gun law and her selection of judges for the Supreme Court in an ambiguous comment on the Second Amendment (which guarantees the right to own guns). Verbatim he said of Clinton, "By the way, if she's going to appoint her judges, there's nothing you can do about it, folks. Although, supporters of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, maybe there is ..., I don't know ”(in the original:“ By the way, and if she gets to pick - if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know ”). Trump's statement was then understood as a hidden call to violence against Clinton if she won the election, which Trump denied. He only asked the supporters of the addition to give it their vote. Trump had also voiced the theory that if he were defeated, election fraud could be involved, which political commentators rejected. Trump then fell back significantly behind Clinton in polls.

The crisis came to a head when Trump changed campaign leaders twice within two months. The first campaign leader, Corey Lewandowski , was forced to leave in June 2016 after conflicting with some family members, particularly Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner . He was replaced by the experienced lobbyist Paul Manafort . He tried to give the candidate a profile that should more correspond to the expectations of the party establishment, which Trump did not agree with. Finally, on August 17, 2016, Trump appointed Stephen Bannon , the previous head of the Breitbart News Network , which was classified as right-wing populist to right-wing extremist , as the new chief executive , and promoted Kellyanne Conway , one of his advisors, to campaign manager. Manafort officially retained his position as chairman, but resigned two days later. Bannon's appointment was received with great dismay in leading political circles.

At the end of August, Trump made a visit to Mexico City , to which the Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto had invited him. There he repeated his call for a border wall to be built, but praised the neighboring country for its "able people". Nieto said after the meeting that he had refused to pay for a border wall to Trump. Trump said that although he had not explicitly addressed this, he would insist that Mexico assume the full cost of building the massive border facility. In early September succeeded Trump, who for the first time in appearances in Detroit specifically to the otherwise reliable democratically elected African taught to catch his deficit in the polls again. He also benefited from reports that during her tenure as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, Clinton used the department to do political favors to international donors of her Clinton Foundation . The previous month, she had been reprimanded by the FBI for being grossly negligent in handling classified emails. During her tenure as Secretary of State, Clinton had, contrary to the regulations, sent official mails via her private server. Trump then repeatedly portrayed his opponent as untrustworthy in the highly polarizing election campaign and accused her of being dependent on lobbyists and donors. Clinton portrayed Trump as a mentally unstable man with no political experience who could not be entrusted with the command of the armed forces . Public polls found that a majority of Americans had negative views of both Trump and Clinton. According to most observers, Clinton won the first television duel against Trump on September 26th .

Some newspapers broke with their traditions and spoke out against Trump. On September 24, 2016, the editorial board of the influential New York Times issued an election recommendation for Clinton. In late September, USA Today , one of the most widely read US newspapers, wrote that Trump was a “dangerous demagogue” and “notorious liar” and denied him a qualification for the presidency. The Editorial Board of the Washington Post reached out to potential Trump voters at the end of September and worked out in detail how much damage (“clear and present danger”) he could cause, despite all democratic controls, should he be elected.

On October 8, 2016, the Washington Post published a video from 2005 in which Trump made obscene comments about women. This sparked violent protests (see sexism allegations ). The incumbent US President Obama said: "He is so insecure himself that he feels strong when he humiliates other people." This character trait disqualifies him for the presidency. “He doesn't care about basic values ​​we teach our children along the way.” Trump apologized, but Republican leaders like John McCain, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell publicly turned away from him afterwards.

Trump also sought the support of prominent figures popular with his constituencies: he was supported by 88 retired generals and admirals and prominent professional athletes such as ex-world champion (and Muslim) Mike Tyson and wrestler Hulk Hogan . Trump had promoted their career as an organizer and also appeared after his election as a supporter of the 2024 Olympic bid from Los Angeles.

Donald Trump and Barack Obama in the White House , November 10, 2016

Election victory

Siegel Trumps as President-elect

On election day, November 8, 2016, Trump was able to prevail against Clinton, contrary to most polls and election forecasts. He laid the foundation stone for his victory in the so-called Rust Belt of the Midwest , where he was able to achieve a majority in traditionally democratic states such as Michigan , Wisconsin and Pennsylvania . In addition, he won the votes in the classic swing states such as Florida , Ohio and Iowa . In the latter two his lead was very clear compared to previous results.

On the same evening, Trump gave a victory speech in New York and emphasized that he wanted to be "the president of all Americans". According to the constitution , Trump's swearing-in was on January 20, 2017.

See also : “Election Results” in the 2016 United States Presidential Election article

Explanations for the unexpected victory

One of the explanations for Trump's surprise victory relates to the use of bots to spread pro-Trump messages on social networks . According to studies by the Oxford Internet Institute , Trump's team used five times as many bots as the other side. According to studies by King's College London , 40,000 to 50,000 different advertising messages were distributed daily, the reactions of the addressees ( likes , shares and responses) were evaluated and the messages were then adapted and improved accordingly. In addition, it was determined whether in particularly interesting states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin there were an unusually high number of positive reactions to certain messages, and there organized appearances by the candidate with speeches on the relevant topics such as immigration. The data analysis company Cambridge Analytica was hired for such purposes and received a total of $ 5.9 million for its services from July to December 2016.

Another factor was the systematic dismantling of the rival candidate Clinton, which began in 2015 with the book Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer and was taken to extremes by Trump in the final phase of the election campaign. Schweizer describes the Clinton couple in his book as highly corrupt and accuses them of excessive enrichment in this context. The publication of the book was accompanied by an editorial based on it in the Times . The result was a film of the same name, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in the 2016 election year . The film was produced by the Government Accountability Institute , which Schweizer founded together with the then film producer Stephen Bannon in 2012 and which, according to a statement by Bannon, was intended to unearth “dirt” about politicians and thus “feed” the mainstream media. It was Bannon who, as campaign manager, advised Trump in the closing stages of the election campaign to concentrate on denigrating Clinton as corrupt.

A study by Ohio State University published in April 2018 found that about four percent of those who voted for Obama in 2012 and elected Trump in 2016 had been convinced by fake news that they had changed their election decision , which could have been a decisive factor in Trump's election victory . Other studies had previously come to different conclusions.

Post-election protests and recounts

After the election, protests against the election of Donald Trump broke out in many US cities. Mostly supporters of the Democrats vented their displeasure under the quickly spread slogan "Not My President". Occasionally there were violent riots by demonstrators.

→ Main article : “Recounts” in the 2016 US Presidential Election article

After the suspicion of tampering with voting computers was voiced in New York Magazine at the end of November 2016 , Green candidate Jill Stein requested a recount of votes in the three states of Wisconsin , Pennsylvania and Michigan . Trump had received relatively narrow majorities there. Trump and other Republicans challenged the legality of recounts or requested to stop them in all three states.

The Michigan recount began on December 5, 2016, but was canceled on December 9 by the Michigan Supreme Court . On December 12, the Wisconsin vote recount ended, Clinton reassigned 713 votes, Trump received an additional 844, extending the lead. On the same day, a Pennsylvania federal district court judge rejected a recount.

Reactions to the election victory in the media

Numerous election researchers and the news media were surprised by Donald Trump's election victory. Many media described as “liberal” reported and commented in the run-up to the US election as being critical of Trump and in favor of Clinton, the latter being said to have higher chances of victory. Accusations that Trump had expressed himself racist and sexist had sometimes led to the assessment that Trump was perceived as ineligible. The American journalist Jeff Jarvis , who also teaches at the Graduate School of Journalism , analyzed that Trump's success, despite the criticism, was also due to the airtime he was allowed to direct: Trump was "a product of the US media". Furthermore, the journalists have "lost sight of the citizens" and have to overcome the gap that has developed.

Media-critical industry services such as the media magazine Meedia noted even after Trump's election victory excessive “doomsday rhetoric” in their reporting.

In Germany, numerous commentators are concerned about freedom of expression and freedom of the press during Donald Trump's presidency. Months before the election, the organization Reporters Without Borders feared drastic restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom of expression under Trump. Since numerous media gave little or no chance of a Trump election victory, this aspect was rarely considered. That is different after the election. The Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss said in an interview with the time : "For me personally, as a journalist I see Trump as a threat to press freedom. In a much larger context, he has unleashed a hatred that is now partly showing on the streets, and that is extremely dangerous. ”Trump's repeated public statements that journalists and their media are“ corrupt ”or“ lying ”deal with after the Choice the commentators. The time columnist Tuvia Tenenbom takes a critical view of this and cites the New York Times' working methods as counter-evidence , which also did not report balancedly on Donald Trump.

Political positions in the election campaign

Trump's political positions used to be clearly left of the Republican mainstream; He campaigned for general health insurance, tax increases and the right to abortion ( Pro-Choice ), spoke out against the Iraq war in 2004 and described the Democrat Bill Clinton as successful, but the Republican George W. Bush as the worst of all US presidents.

Individual positions that he had taken in the election campaign were put into perspective after the election: He himself said of some of his central election promises: "They are no longer so important."

Abortions

In his book The America We Deserve , published for the 2000 presidential election , Trump spoke out in favor of the possibility of abortions (" Pro-Choice "). Years later he confirmed this position in an interview. During his presidential campaign in 2016, however, Trump declared that he would reject abortion (" Pro-Life "). In contrast to many arch-conservative Republicans and supporters of the religious right , however, he wants to allow abortion in three exceptional situations: in the event of a health risk to the mother, rape and incest .

Foreign policy

Trump praised the Russian President Putin for his fortune as head of state ("leader"). Trump believes that a good relationship between him and Putin would also be good for the US. Regarding the annexation of Crimea , Trump said in an interview that what he had heard was that the people in Crimea would rather be with Russia. But he also stated that after his election, Putin would not dare to invade Ukraine.

In the televised debate on February 6, 2016, Trump answered a question from the moderator that he wanted to reintroduce waterboarding and much worse ("a hell of a lot worse") in the fight against terrorism , and he condemned this statement Methods of the Islamic State . On March 4, 2016, Trump stated that he would not instruct the military to break the law and that the United States is bound by treaties. On July 6, 2016, Trump caused a sensation again when he approved the former dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein , in an election campaign in North Dakota that he should take effective action against terrorists. Trump also reiterated his rejection of the Iraq war .

On April 27, he gave a keynote address on foreign policy at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC. As a guideline for his foreign policy, he declared "America First": The interests of the American people and the security of America should take precedence over the needs of other nations. He appointed Senator Jeff Sessions , whom he later nominated as Attorney General , to head his team of foreign policy advisors . Trump described Israel as a friend of the United States, which, as the only real democracy in the Middle East, is a force of justice and peace in the region. The Iran , however, was gaining strength in recent years and had been treated by Obama too well.

In the event of his presidency, Trump announced that he would convene a summit of the NATO allies and a separate summit with the allies from Asia to examine the further strategic approach and to renew old structures that were still based on the foundations of the Cold War . He also defends a passive military foreign policy; the military should only be used when absolutely necessary.

education

Trump would like to leave all competences in the field of education policy in the jurisdiction of the states . In his opinion, national guidelines are too bureaucratic and inefficient. In this context, he complained about the poor performance of the United States in studies compared to other western industrialized countries, despite high educational spending.

Trump advocates school choice , the possibility that a student can choose the school himself. He intends to invest 20 billion US dollars in this regard, so that children from poorer backgrounds in particular can go to better schools. A voucher system is to be initiated for this purpose, which should also lead to a more open market and thus to better schools overall with more competition. Trump also supports charter schools, schools that are financed by public funds but operate largely independently and can, for example, hire teachers themselves or pay performance-related wages.

Immigration and Refugee Policy

Even after the 2012 presidential election , Trump had declared that the defeat of Republican candidate Mitt Romney was linked to his tough position on immigration. In November 2012, Trump described Romney's central point on the agenda of getting illegal immigrants to leave the country of their own free will (“self deportation”) as “crazy” and “manic”.

In mid-August 2015, Trump presented his first political position paper as part of his own presidential election campaign, which deals with immigration and suggests tough measures: According to this, all 11 million illegal immigrants are to be expelled. In addition, the border between the United States and Mexico is insufficiently secured, and therefore a continuous wall should be built, the cost of which Trump wanted to impose on the Mexican government. In addition, the previously applicable birthplace principle of US citizenship law should be abandoned (see anchor child ). In an interview in November 2016, Trump announced that immediately after taking office, he would deport around two to three million illegal immigrants - “criminals, gang members, drug dealers”.

After Trump had initially advocated the admission of additional Syrian refugees in the ongoing refugee crisis , he announced in early October that he wanted to deport all Syrian refugees from the United States (literally: “they're going back”). A little later he called - internationally controversial - the policy of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the European refugee crisis "insane". Since there may be terrorists among the refugees, there will be “riots” in Germany.

Same-sex marriage

Trump was critical of legal equality for homosexual marriages , but said that the decision should be left to the individual states. After the ruling by the Supreme Court on nationwide equality with heterosexual marriage ( Obergefell v. Hodges ), he announced that the decision now had to be accepted and was no longer an election issue. Early September 2015 he called for the administrative officer Kim Davis from Kentucky to no longer deny making out of marriage certificates to homosexual couples. Davis had caused an international stir with her refusal and was temporarily detained for her behavior. Other presidential candidates like Mike Huckabee supported Davis and criticized Trump for his stance.

The chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans Gregory T. Angelo, an association within the Republican Party that advocates for gay rights , described Trump as "one of the best, if not the best, Republican presidential candidates for gay rights" (in the original: "One of the best, if not the best, pro-gay Republican candidates to ever run for the presidency").

Climate protection and energy policy

See also : Denial of man-made global warming

In November 2012, Trump wrote on the Internet platform Twitter that the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make industrial production in the USA less competitive. On the occasion of Pope Francis' visit to the United States in late September 2015, Trump said he did not believe in anthropogenic global warming and did not consider climate change an urgent problem, but a natural phenomenon. He believes that climate protection requirements for American companies are wrong. Trump announced before the election that he would terminate the Paris climate agreement . He wanted to renegotiate these agreements because they were one-sided and bad for the US.

After the election, Trump told the New York Times that he believed in a link between human activity and climate change and that he was asking how strong that link was. He thinks about how expensive climate change is for US companies and competitiveness. He takes a close look at climate protection agreements and is open to them. Shortly before, the Chinese government had responded with criticism of Trump's previous statements and announced that it would continue its own climate protection policy in any case, which experts described as a possible shift in global weight in this policy area in favor of emerging countries.

In terms of energy policy, Trump announced in a speech at a conference of the oil industry in North Dakota in May 2016 a "U-turn" with a relaxation of environmental regulations and a return to fossil fuels. According to the New York Times, this speech was the decisive factor in the support of his nomination by the delegates of this state, which is heavily influenced by the oil industry. In his America First Energy Plan , he names the main goal of making the USA independent of imported energy sources, namely from the OPEC area . To do this, he wants to use previously undeveloped deposits of oil shale, crude oil, natural gas and coal, especially on and off the coast. In this context, he wants to lift all restrictions introduced under Obama, which would have destroyed jobs, and thus create at least half a million new jobs every year and at the same time make energy cheaper. When it comes to renewable energies, Trump particularly rejects wind energy . As early as 2012, he tweeted that wind turbines were an “ecological and aesthetic disaster” after he was defeated in a legal dispute over the construction of a wind farm near a golf course he operated in Scotland. In November 2016 he problematized in an interview that they killed birds, required massive subsidies and were not produced in the USA, but primarily in Germany and China.

Social security and health policy

Like all Republicans in the 2016 election campaign, Trump called for the 2010 healthcare reform (“Obamacare”) introduced under President Obama to be withdrawn . This deteriorates the quality of the health system and leads to inflated prices. In his opinion, it also unilaterally favors the insurance groups. Instead, Trump advocates a so-called free market plan , which aims to reduce costs and improve quality by strengthening competition in the health sector. On February 29, 2016, Trump announced at a campaign rally in Bentonsville, Arkansas that he wanted to overturn Obama's health care reform. In November 2016, the wording was "repealed and replaced".

Trump, on the other hand, strictly rejects cuts in social security , Medicare and Medicaid , which set him apart from most Republican competitors in the 2016 presidential election. However, he advocated making social security programs more efficient and reducing waste. Trump is committed to better care for veterans .

taxes and finances

In terms of tax policy, Trump clearly set himself apart from his Republican competitors at the end of August 2015, all of whom demand a supply-oriented reduction in tax rates for the wealthy and those with high incomes or a flat tax rate (see trickle-down theory ). Trump wants to simplify the tax system, while the rich - including himself - tax more heavily, but relieve the middle class . The income tax is to be capped at 33 percent for high earners. Americans with an annual income of less than 25,000 US dollars are to be partially completely exempt from income tax through the use of allowances . Conservative US media in particular have criticized his proposals in the area of ​​tax policy as populism . He also wants to fight tax evasion more intensively and close tax loopholes.

For companies, Trump wants to lower taxes in order to enable stronger economic growth and create more jobs. He wants to reduce corporate taxes from 35 to 15 percent in order to strengthen the corporations in international competition. Trump also wants to prevent productions from being relocated abroad. In a press release on May 24, 2016, he announced: "American cars will drive the streets, American planes will connect cities, American ships will patrol the seas, American steel will raise new skyscrapers all over the country."

According to Trump's own statements, his tax concept is revenue-neutral. He would like to achieve a balanced federal budget within a few years by increasing efficiency in the public service and in the military, as well as additional income from strong economic growth.

death penalty

At a meeting with police officers, Trump said that as President he would issue an Executive Order that would make the death penalty mandatory for police murders. Whether this is covered by applicable law is debatable. A ruling by the Supreme Court in 1976 rules out the compulsory death penalty for certain offenses.

Gun Law

After advocating a mediating position in 2000, Trump advocates a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment , which grants US citizens the right to own weapons. Like the majority of Republicans, he rejects the tightening of gun laws, as they are not suitable for preventing acts of violence. Rather, he blames inadequate therapy options and preventive measures for rampage. Trump also stated that violent criminals would specifically choose facilities for their acts in which the carrying of weapons is prohibited (gun free zones) , which is why no one could stop gunmen early by using counter-violence. That is why he speaks out against so-called weapon-free zones.

After the Paris terrorist attacks of November 2015, Trump caused a sensation when he blamed the strict gun laws in France for the high number of victims. "If the people had carried weapons, it would have been different," he said at an election campaign appearance in Texas .

economy

The candidate had announced that on the first day of his presidency he would denounce China as a “currency fraudster ” and impose high punitive tariffs on products from the Far Eastern country.

Trump says he is in favor of the free market , but under the motto "America First" he takes the position that US companies should relocate their foreign production facilities back to the United States; this is to be provoked, among other things, by the imposition of high punitive tariffs for imports and corresponding tax breaks. In addition, allegedly unfavorable trade contracts, such as B. the Trans-Pacific Partnership , to be renegotiated. These positions have been criticized , especially in more liberal and conservative circles such as the Club for Growth, as protectionist and “contempt” of the free market economy .

Trump favored raising the minimum wage to at least 10  US dollars , it would be left to the individual states.

Mary Jo White , the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, announced her resignation at the end of Barack Obama's term of office . That is three years before the planned end of their term of office. In the US, this is seen as a sign that Donald Trump's administration has more room for maneuver.

conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theories played an increasing role in Trump's election campaign . In 2012 he had already adopted the position of the Birther , who doubt that Barack Obama was born in the USA. Thus he would not have the right to exercise the office of President of the United States. In the primary campaign and in the actual election campaign, he commented on the dangers of vaccination and the alleged involvement of Ted Cruz's father in the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy . Cruz was also born in Canada and therefore does not have the right to become president. Trump spread various rumors, including that Antonin Scalia , a US Supreme Court judge who died in 2016 at the age of eighty, and Vince Foster, an associate of Bill Clinton who committed suicide in 1993, had been murdered. Trump also showed that he did not consider such rumors to be absurd in an interview that he granted the paleoconservative Internet journalist and conspiratorial scientist Alex Jones in December 2015 . He tried in vain to elicit his approval of the conspiracy theories on September 11, 2001 , but Trump remained firm: He is convinced that it was not the US government but Islamists who were behind the attacks, even if he immediately gave it an anti-Islamic interpretation: he saw with my own eyes Arabs dance of joy in the face of the collapse of the Twin Towers in New Jersey. According to the Americanist Michael Butter , Trump used these conspiracy theories for a long time with a certain reluctance: he did spread them, but always in the form of a question or as a reproduction of the view of a third party, so he did not openly adopt them. That only changed in October 2016, when it became clear that he could no longer count on the votes of moderate voters. Now Trump openly served the resentment of those who felt culturally or economically left behind, claiming as a fact that his competitor was colluding against the United States. On October 13, for example, in a speech in West Palm Beach , he announced that Hillary Clinton had secretly met with international bankers in order to forge a plot to destroy American sovereignty , the aim of which was to donate these global financial forces would open up new opportunities for enrichment. WikiLeaks has published evidence of this . As a former member of this global elite, he himself is the only one who can create order here.

The Pizzagate conspiracy theory exposed the Democratic candidate to an even more blatant suspicion : According to this, Clinton is a member of a child pornography company that operates from a pizzeria in whose basement she would participate in the sexual abuse of children together with Obama and Lady Gaga . These slanders were spread on the Internet and at times by Alex Jones, who later apologized for it. Trump himself did not endorse these suspicions, but Rolling Stone reported that many of those who disseminated them had contacts with his election campaign or with Russia.

Assessments

perception

Trump's political style was often called post of de facto political style (English: post-truth politics ) described. Markus Feldenkirchen judged Trump in Der Spiegel that he did not do "almost everything that conventional politicians do": he mercilessly names everything that is rotten in the US political system . His simple language alone sets him apart from the established politicians. As a trademark, he does not use teleprompters in his speeches and mocks Barack Obama as the “teleprompter president” who always has to read his speeches. Trump's success is "more complex than the man himself" and reveals a lot about the current state of the United States and its political culture.

The party strategist Ward Baker came to the conclusion in the Süddeutsche Zeitung in December 2015 that the candidate was “so popular because the voters see him as authentic, independent, direct and strong - and because they believe that he will not be bought by interest groups can ".

In an analysis in September 2015, The Economist came to the conclusion that Trump would absorb ideas from the entire political spectrum: in the area of ​​immigration policy, he was right of the Republican mainstream; on the other hand, Trump criticized the activities of hedge funds and lobbyists, praised the state health systems of other countries and represented some protectionist positions in economic policy .

Michael D'Antonio told Weltwoche that Trump was "so busy with his performance that nothing he says about himself can be described as sincere".

Candidate of a "silent majority"

According to the assessment of the political advisor Frank Luntz , Trump's sympathizers are not characterized by their loyalty to conservative principles, but above all by their anger at the current state of US politics. Trump addresses people with a wide variety of values ​​and from all social classes because he “speaks their language” and, as an “anti-politician”, attacks the unpopular political establishment. He positions himself - similar to Richard Nixon in the late 1960s - as a candidate for a "silent majority".

According to survey and voter survey data, a group of around one third within the supporters of Trump overcomes the previous divisions in the republican electorate and is united in a high degree of coherence by religious, social and “racial” intolerance (as of February 2016).

As the Washington Post analyzed in November 2015, Trump had for years courted a right-wing political segment that has now solidified into a counter-establishment ("fringe establishment") and gained a large media presence as a counter-public; Trump left scorched earth with the established.

Parallels to right-wing populist parties in Europe

Trump's rise has repeatedly been linked to the success of right-wing populist parties in Europe. The New York Times, for example, saw Trump's campaign following in the footsteps of political parties such as UKIP , which were mainly attractive to workers and who viewed Christian identity and economic integrity as threatened by immigration. Sections of the population see themselves as abandoned in cultural change and as the losers of modernization because of job migration in the globalized economy , whereas these movements propagate “ welfare chauvinism ”, i.e. the defense of the welfare state only for the locals. This happens in a taboo-violating language and the divisive rhetoric of the “strong” and “weak”, which is shown, among other things, in the admiration for the leadership of Russia by Vladimir Putin and in the despising of political opponents. The simple language, the propagated incorruptibility and the tendency towards conspiracy theories (with Trump, among other things, on the birthers ) would give the supporters the feeling of a fighting community against the established and of personal closeness. As with Silvio Berlusconi , Trump would add the boastful myth of the self-made rise to billionaire, the flaunted macho virility and the virtuoso mastery of the media. The idea that Trump's voters are mainly members of the less educated and poorer working class has been questioned. Analysis of polls conducted by the Economist of Republican primary polls found that better-paid and more educated voters make up as large a proportion of Trump's supporters as voters on the lower end of the income and education spectrum. The Economist parallelized Trump with successful right-wing politicians such as Marine Le Pen in France or Viktor Orbán in Hungary, who promised internal security through radical solutions in the 2015 particularly tense international situation due to Islamist terror and the refugee crisis . Like them, Trump, by distancing himself from overt racism, militaristic rhetoric and neo-Nazism, manages to free himself from the stigma that has hitherto prevented the radical right from achieving political success in the majority society. In Germany, the AfD welcomes Trump's election victory. On the official Twitter channel, the party cheered “We are President!” (Based on the picture headline “ We are Pope! ” When Joseph Ratzinger was elected ). But approval of Trump is not consistently represented at the AfD. Shortly before , party leader Jörg Meuthen had publicly stated that neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump were convincing.

Controversy

Demand for registration and entry ban for Muslims

Poster calling for an anti-Trump demonstration. Mission District , San Francisco, the week after the presidential election.

Donald Trump advocated the establishment of a nationwide central register for Muslims in the USA, which could be registered in various places, "not just in mosques". On December 8, 2015, Trump caused an international stir when he attested a hatred “that large parts of the Muslim population” had for Americans as a result of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino , which is why he demanded a temporary entry ban for all Muslims. He was referring to a poll by the conservative Center for Security Policy , according to which 25% of those questioned agreed that violence against Americans was justified as part of global jihad . In response to a later question, Trump added that this entry ban should not only apply to refugees, tourists and students, but also to citizens with US citizenship if they want to re-enter the USA from abroad. Trump's remarks were harshly criticized by Democrats and Republican party colleagues, notably Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, but also House spokesman Paul Ryan . Trump also met with broad criticism internationally; In the United Kingdom , in just a few days, more than 550,000 people signed a petition calling for the real estate entrepreneur to be banned from entering the country. This was preceded by a statement by Trump that some districts of London had been so radicalized that even the police did not trust them ( no-go area ). Right-wing populist politicians also distanced themselves; Nigel Farage described Trump's statement as "one mistake too many". Marine Le Pen protested against the comparison with Trump, because she defended compatriots regardless of origin or religion, Geert Wilders alone stood behind Trump, whom he wished victory as a "brave leader".

Sexism allegations

In the first televised debate in the presidential election campaign in August 2015, presenter Megyn Kelly reproached Trump for calling women he dislikes "'fat pigs', 'bitches', 'sluts' and 'disgusting animals'" . Trump evaded the question, but made a suggestion the next day that was widely interpreted as attributing Kelly's critical questions to menstrual problems. This sparked outraged reactions among Republicans as well, and Trump was removed from a major Republican event where he was to be the keynote speaker. In October 2016, the Washington Post published sound and video recordings of Donald Trump from 2005, which were made shortly before shooting for the television program Access Hollywood . In the recording there is among others the following exchange with the NBC presenter Billy Bush , as they see from a bus from the waiting in the parking lot woman to lead him to the set:

Trump: "That's her, the one with the gold. I have to throw in some tic tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm attracted to beautiful people - I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. I just kiss. I don't even wait. And if you are a star they let you do it. You can do everything."	english Yeah, that's her, with the gold. I've got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. I just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Billy Bush: "Anything you want."	english Whatever you want.
Trump: "Grab her by the pussy. You can do everything."	english Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.

The publication of the recordings led to massive criticism, also within the Republican Party, and Trump, contrary to his usual habit, was prompted to apologize. Over fifty of the highest Republican officials and elected officials withdrew their support within a day; some of them called on him to withdraw from the election campaign. His vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence also distanced himself from him.

The First Lady Michelle Obama accused a shameful contempt of women Trump. She argued that bragging rights about sexually assaulting women could not be dismissed as 'everyday dressing room chatter', it was an insult to all decent men.

Investigations against "Trump University" and Trump Foundation

In 2005, the New York attorney general opened an investigation against the newly founded “ Trump University ” “for operating without authorization and for deceiving customers”. Trump reportedly offered management courses that failed to earn diplomas and still raised about $ 40 million by 2011. The attorney general asked for the money back.

About a week after the presidential election, Trump agreed to pay $ 25 million in an out-of-court settlement so that over 6,000 students could be compensated. The students had previously sued Trump in New York and San Diego . Trump attacked federal judge Gonzalo P. Curiel , who admitted the lawsuits, several times in his election campaign and referred to his " Mexican heritage". This met with severe criticism from lawyers and politicians, including from Trump's own party, and some described his statements as racist .

In September 2016, the New York attorney general opened an investigation into Trump's charity, the Trump Foundation, for violating IRS rules and improper use of donations. Independent research found that Trump has not contributed to his foundation since 2008. He spent third-party donations for a life-size portrait of himself ($ 20,000), for a football kit signed by Tim Tebow ($ 12,000) and for an illegal payment ($ 25,000) to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, in 2013, which then closed the investigation against Trump University in Florida.

On December 24, 2016, Trump announced that he would dissolve the Foundation. This should avoid a possible conflict with his role as US president. The prosecution responded immediately by stating that this would not be possible while the investigation was ongoing.

literature

• Arlie Russell Hochschild , 2016: Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right . The New Press, New York, ISBN 978-1-620972250
  • German 2017: Strange in their country. A trip to the heart of the American right. Campus-Verlag, EAN 9783593507668

Web links

Commons : Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Web presence of the election campaign (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reid J. Epstein, Heather Haddon: Donald Trump Enters 2016 Presidential Race. Reality-TV Personality and Real-estate Developer is 12th Candidate to Join Republican Race. In: The Wall Street Journal . June 16, 2015 (English).
2. ↑ Annie Karni, Adam B. Lerner: Trump says he's running for president, really. In: Politico . June 16, 2015 (English).
3. ^ Election campaign of the dull cheeks. In: Spiegel Online. July 9, 2015.
4. ^ "Donald Trump Announces Presidential Bid By Trashing Mexico, Mexicans" , accessed January 13, 2017.
5. ↑ Hudson Hongo: A Comprehensive List of Everyone Trying to Sever Ties With Donald Trump. In: Gawker. July 7, 2015 (English).
6. ^ Armando Tinoco: Everyone Hates Donald Trump. 18 People, Companies Who've Dumped Him Over Racist Comments. In: Latin Times . July 2, 2015 (English).
7. ↑ Nicolas Richter : The Donald Trump Phenomenon. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . 4th July 2015.
8. ↑ It's getting lonely for Donald Trump. In: Spiegel Online. 4th July 2015.
9. ^ "Trump stands by immigration remarks, blames media" , accessed January 13, 2017.
10. ↑ Dante Chinni: Trump Surge Leaves All but Jeb Bush in Donald's Dust. In: The Wall Street Journal . July 18, 2015 (English).
11. ↑ Amy Walter: The Long, Trump Summer. ( Memento from July 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: Cook Political Report . July 15, 2015 (English).
12. ↑ John Sides: Why Is Trump Surging? Blame the media. In: The Washington Post . July 20, 2015 (English).
13. ^ Nate Silver : Donald Trump's Six Stages Of Doom. In: FiveThirtyEight. August 6, 2015 (English).
14. ^ Andrew Prokop: Donald Trump is Surging in the Polls. Here's Why He Won't Win. In: Vox. July 2, 2015 (English).
15. ↑ Ryan Lizza: John McCain Has a Few Things to Say About Donald Trump. In: The New Yorker . July 16, 2015 (English).
16. ^ Niall Stanage: Trump Crowds Out GOP's Second Tier. In: The Hill. July 16, 2015 (English).
17. ↑ Stephen F. Hayes: Trump GOP Candidacy Blows Up. ( Memento of November 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: The Weekly Standard . July 19, 2015 (English).
18. ↑ Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Carrie Dann: A Showdown in Kentucky Could Be the Last of the Obama Wars. First read. In: NBC News , July 30, 2015.
19. ↑ Harry Enten: Two Good Reasons Not To Take The Donald Trump 'Surge' Seriously. In: FiveThirtyEight. July 16, 2015 (English).
20. ↑ Ben Schreckinger, Cate Martel: The Mystery of the Trump Coalition. In: Politico . July 17, 2015 (English).
21. ↑ Natalie Andrews: Donald Trump Winning Facebook by a Landslide. In: The Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2015.
22. ↑ Nicolas Richter : How Donald Trump Ruined the Republicans. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . 7th August 2015.
23. ↑ Lisa Nienhaus: The Trump Show. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . 7th August 2015.
24. ↑ Andreas Ross: Against gravity. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . August 9, 2015.
25. ^ Nate Silver : Donald Trump Won't Win A War Against Fox News. In: FiveThirtyEight. August 7, 2015 (English).
26. ^ Gabriel Sherman: Donald Trump and Roger Ailes Make Up - for Now. In: New York . August 10, 2015 (English).
27. ^ Brian Snyder: Fox News: Republican Trump Should Apologize After Latest Twitter Outburst. In: Reuters . August 25, 2015 (English).
28. ↑ Kevin Cirilli, Bob Cusack: Exclusive: Trump Threatens Third-party Run. In: The Hill. July 23, 2015 (English); Harry Enten: Trump Would Lose Badly In A Third-Party Bid, But He Could Take The Republican Down, Too. In: FiveThirtyEight. July 24, 2015 (English); Stephen Shepard: Insiders: Trump Independent Bid Would Ruin GOP Chances. In: Politico . December 11, 2015 (English).
29. ↑ Laura Meckler: Donald Trump: Open to Independent Bid if GOP Doesn't Treat Him 'Fairly'. In: The Wall Street Journal . November 22, 2015
30. ↑ Trump threatens to run independently. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . December 10, 2015.
31. ↑ Amy Walter: The Long, Trump Summer. ( Memento from July 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: Cook Political Report . July 15, 2015 (English); No, the Summer of Donald Trump Isn't Over Yet. In: Bloomberg.com . September 22, 2015 (English).
32. ^ The Editorial Board: GOP Candidates Follow Trump to the Bottom on Immigration. In: The New York Times . August 20, 2015
33. ↑ Josh Marshall: Act Two of the Trump Epic. In: TalkingPointsMemo. August 19, 2015 (English); Ken Goldstein: Is Donald Trump Just a Summer Fling? In: Bloomberg.com . August 27, 2015 (English).
34. ↑ Deena Zaru: Pivit Prediction: Odds of Trump Winning GOP Nomination Surge. In: CNN . August 24, 2015 (English).
35. ^ Nate Cohn: There's Evidence That Trump's Polling Support Is Overstated. In: The New York Times. August 26, 2015 (English).
36. ↑ Tal Kopan: Marco Rubio: Count Me Out of Donald Trump 'Freak Show'. In: CNN . September 28, 2015 (English).
37. ^ Marc Caputo: The Strategy Behind Rubio's Trump Feud. In: Politico . September 24, 2015 (English).
38. ↑ Ezra Klein: Trump Has Figured Out Jeb Bush's Greatest Weakness as a Candidate, and It's Not His Energy Level. In: Vox.com. October 18, 2015 (English).
39. ^ Rich Lowry: The Anti-Establishment Front-Runner. In: Politico. October 21, 2015 (English).
40. ^ Chuck Todd, Mark Murray: Trump Plots His Exit Strategy. In: MSNBC . October 5, 2015 (English); Maggie Haberman: From Donald Trump, Hints of a Campaign Exit Strategy. In: The New York Times. October 9, 2015 (English).
41. ↑ Ben Schreckinger: Donald Trump's Building a Long-Term Operation. In: Politico . October 16, 2015 (English).
42. ↑ Jonathan Easley: How Trump Won Summer of 2015. In: The Hill. August 31, 2015 (English).
43. ↑ Byron York: Panicked Establishment Gets Ready for War Against Trump. In: The Washington Examiner . October 19, 2015 (English).
44. ↑ Taegan Goddard: Trump Can Win the GOP nomination. In: The Political Wire. October 18, 2015 (English).
45. ↑ Philip Bump: Is it Time to Concede that Donald Trump Is Likely to Win the GOP Nomination? In: The Washington Post . October 21, 2015 (English).
46. ↑ Ronald Brownstein: Donald Trump's Lead Explained in Two Sentences. In: National Journal. October 19, 2015 (English).
47. ↑ Taegan Goddard: Why Donald Trump Won't Win. In: The Political Wire. October 18, 2015 (English); Sasha Issenberg: Mike Murphy of Right to Rise Explains His Theory That Jeb Bush Is Still the Candidate to Beat. In: Bloomberg . October 20, 2015 (English).
48. ↑ Trump Gets Biggest Crowd of Any 2016 Candidate So Far. In: New York Post . August 22, 2015 (English).
49. ↑ Kalev Leetaru: Is Donald Trump Finally Losing his Media Mojo? In: The Washington Post . November 6, 2015 (English).
50. ↑ 2016 Iowa Caucus. In: 2016 Election Central. accessed on November 7, 2015.
51. ↑ Nick Corsanti: Donald Trump's Radio Ads, Like His Stump Speech, Promise 'Great' Things. In: The New York Times . November 5, 2015 (English).
52. ↑ Philip Bump: Donald Trump Led the Polls for 107 Straight Days. Until Today. In: The Washington Post . November 4, 2015 (English).
53. ↑ politico.com: Trump's new face
54. ↑ Jenna Johnson: Donald Trump Promises to 'Bomb the Hell Out of ISIS' in New Radio Ad. In: The Washington Post . November 18, 2015 (English).
55. ↑ Jeremy Diamond: Trump Would 'Certainly Implement' National Database for US Muslims. In: CNN . November 20, 2015 (English).
56. ^ Niall Stanage: Trump Rises in Wake of Paris Attacks. In: The Hill. November 19, 2015
57. ↑ CNN Poll, December 18, 2015 , CNN (English)
58. ↑ Nate Silver : One Big Reason To Be Less Skeptical Of Trump. In: FiveThirtyEight. January 21, 2016 (English).
59. ↑ Matt Coulter: PredictWise Market Update: Trump triumph Cruz crashes. ( Memento from January 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Race 4 2016. January 26, 2016 (English); Mike Allen: Playbook. In: Politico . January 27, 2016 (English).
60. ↑ Glenn Beck , Steven F. Hayward , Mark Helprin , William Kristol , Edwin Meese, and others. a .: Conservatives against Trump. In: The National Review. January 21, 2016 (English).
61. ^ Nate Silver : The Republican Party May Be Failing. In: FiveThirtyEight. January 25, 2016 (English).
62. ↑ Johannes Kuhn: "He is the best": Sarah Palin supports Donald Trump. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . 20th January 2016.
63. ^ Margaret Hartmann, Jaime Fuller: Why Is Trump Boycotting the Fox News Debate? In: New York . January 27, 2016
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73. ↑ "Super Saturday - Cruz wins Kansas" , cnn.com, March 6, 2016 (English)
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84. ↑ Exemplary Clare Malone: Conventional Wisdom: Rubio Flip-Flops Onto The Trump Bandwagon. In: FiveThirtyEight. May 31, 2016 (English).
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86. ↑ Monica Langley: Behind Mitt Romney's Increasingly Lonely Challenge to Donald Trump. In: The Wall Street Journal . May 28, 2016 (English); Eric Bradner, Jim Acosta: Mitt Romney ends recruiting efforts for an independent candidate. In: CNN.com. May 19, 2016 (English).
87. ↑ Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Carrie Dann: First Read: Trump's Takeover of the GOP Is Now Complete. In: NBC News , June 3, 2016.
88. ^ Bill Chappell: 'Trump University' Documents Put On Display Aggressive Sales Techniques. In: National Public Radio . May 31, 2016 (English).
89. ^ Scott Bixby: Donald Trump says judge in university court case biased by 'Mexican heritage'. In: The Guardian . June 3, 2016 (English).
90. ↑ John Bat: GOP Sen. Jeff Flake: Trump can't win. In: CBS News . June 7, 2016 (English).
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93. ↑ Lynn Sweet: Sweet: Sen. Mark Kirk withdraws support for Trump. In: Chicago Sun Times. June 7, 2016 (English).
94. ^ Ashley Parker, Maggie Haberman: Donald Trump's Campaign Stumbles as It Tries to Go Big. In: The New York Times . May 27, 2016 (English).
95. ↑ Benji Sarlin, Katy Tur, Ali Vitali: Donald Trump does not have a campaign. In: MSNBC . June 6, 2016 (English).
96. ^ Reid J. Epstein, Rebecca Ballhaus, Beth Reinhard: Donald Trump Is Getting a Late Start on Fundraising. In: The Wall Street Journal . June 7, 2016 (English).
97. ↑ Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Carrie Dann: First Read: Trump Starts the General After Squandering a Head Start. In: NBC News . June 8, 2016 (English).
98. ↑ Donald Trump rallies are turning violent. In: CNN Money. March 10, 2016 (English).
99. ↑ Justin Moyer, Jenny Starrs, Sarah Larimer: Trump supporter charged after sucker-punching protester at North Carolina rally. In: The Washington Post . March 10, 2016 (English).
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101. ^ Trump supporters, protesters clash after Chicago rally postponed. In: CNN.com. March 12, 2016 (English).
102. ^ ^{A b} Presidential Candidates React To Violence At Donald Trump's Chicago Rally. In: National Public Radio . March 12, 2016 (English).
103. ^ Campaign violence and Donald Trump: Hardly surprising, entirely predictable. In: The Los Angeles Times . March 11, 2016 (English).
104. ↑ Update: Five arrested in anti-Trump protest at GOP convention in Burlingame. In: San Francisco Examiner . May 2, 2016 (English).
105. ↑ About 20 demonstrators arrested outside of Trump rally in California. In: Reuters . April 29, 2016 (English).
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107. ^ Trump protesters smash door, break through barriers. In: CNN.com. May 24, 2016 (English).
108. ^ Protesters attack Trump supporters outside San Jose rally. In: USA Today . June 2, 2016 (English).
109. ↑ Trump wants Pence as vice , Tagesschau, July 15, 2016 (English)
110. ↑ Trump's own goal , Tagesspiegel, August 7, 2016.
111. ↑ Trump Fantasies About Shooting Clinton , Süddeutsche, August 10, 2016.
112. ^ Joshua Green: Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency. Penguin Press, New York 2017, pp. 3–5.
113. ↑ Jeremy Diamond: Trump campaign shake-up . CNN , August 17, 2016.
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123. ↑ The Editorial Board: USA TODAY's Editorial Board: Trump is unfit for the presidency In: usatoday.com September 30, 2016
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126. ↑ Excerpts from the original text: “It tells you that he's insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down. Not a character trait that I would advise for somebody in the Oval Office ”. Trump “doesn't care much about the basic values ​​that we try to impart to our kids”. ( cnn.com ), "Demeaning to women, degrading women, but also minorities, immigrants, people of other faiths, mocking the disabled, insulting our troops, insulting our veterans." ( time.com/ )
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128. ↑ James Fallows: Donald Trump and the Generals. In: theatlantic.com. October 10, 2016, accessed December 25, 2016 . 
129. ↑ Marlow Stern: Mike Tyson: Why I'm a Muslim for Donald Trump. January 21, 2016, accessed December 25, 2016 . 
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133. ↑ Statesmanlike and conciliatory - Trump's speech , Tagesschau, November 9, 2016 (English)
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135. ^ Trump campaign: Cambridge Analytica had contact with Wikileaks . derStandard.de , October 26, 2017.
136. ↑ Jane Mayer: The reclusive hedge-fund tycoon behind the Trump presidency. In: The New Yorker , March 27, 2017 (English).
137. ^ Joshua Green: Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency. Penguin Press, New York 2017. pp. 8f.
138. ↑ Taegan Goddard: Study Finds Fake News Swayed Voters. In: Political Wire , April 3, 2018. For the other studies, see Arpan Bhattacharyya: Fake News Did Not Affect the Election, Stanford-NYU Study Finds. In: Big Think , February 2, 2017; Benedict Carey: 'Fake News': Wide Reach but Little Impact, Study Suggests. In: The New York Times , January 2, 2018.
139. ↑ Thousands of people demonstrate against Trump. In: Spiegel Online , November 10, 2016.
140. ↑ Expert: Trump, Clinton and Obama are now asked from: Focus from November 11, 2016 (accessed on November 19, 2016)
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150. ↑ Reporters Without Borders calls on Trump respect freedom of the press of: time from November 9, 2016 (accessed on 19 November 2016)
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152. ↑ pöbeln, complain, bully from: Mirror of November 14, 2016 (accessed on 19 November 2016)
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155. ^ Dan Balz: Trump's Attack on McCain Marks a Turning Point For Him - And the GOP. In: The Washington Post . July 19, 2015 (English).
156. ↑ Steve Eder: In Fact | Donald Trump Opposed Iraq War - but After It Started. In: The New York Times . September 16, 2015 (English). In February 2016, two radio interviews in 2002 and 2003 caused a sensation, in which Trump made positive comments about the Iraq war; Andrew Kaczynski: Trump One Day Into Iraq Invasion: “It Looks Like A Tremendous Success”. In: BuzzFeed . February 19, 2016 (English).
157. ^ Carl Cannon: Why Donald Trump Didn't Run as a Democrat. In: RealClearPolitics. July 21, 2015.
158. ^ President Wendehals , Tagesanzeiger, November 24, 2016
159. ↑ Donald Trump Probably Just Disappointed A Lot Of Conservatives On Abortion. In: The Huffington Post . December 2, 2015 (English).
160. ↑ Jeremy Diamond: Donald Trump lavishes praise on 'leader' Putin. In: CNN . 5th March 2016.
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163. ↑ Trump: Crimea's People Prefer Russia, But If He's Elected Putin Is 'Not Going Into Ukraine' , abcnews, July 31, 2016.
164. ↑ Donald Trump: I'd Bring Back 'A Hell of a Lot Worse than Waterboarding'. In: The Guardian . February 7, 2016 (English).
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166. ^ Dan Lamothe, Jose A. DelReal: Trump backs down from waterboarding comments, says he won't ask troops to violate law. In: The Washington Post . March 4, 2016 (English).
167. ^ AHVV Verlags GmbH .: Against terrorists: Trump praises Saddam Hussein for efficient killing. Retrieved July 6, 2016 . 
168. ↑ CNN politics, Donald Trump's foreign policy: 'America first' , April 28, 2016.
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170. ^ Minutes of the speech on the Trump website ( Memento from April 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
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172. ^ "Transcript: Donald Trump's Foreign Policy Speech," viewed May 21, 2016.
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174. ^ "Here's where Donald Trump stands on education," accessed November 30, 2016.
175. ↑ Rachel Weiner: Trump: Mitt Romney's 'Maniacal' Self-deportation Policy Cost him Minorities. In: The Washington Post . November 26, 2012 (English).
176. ^ Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again. ( Memento from September 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: DonaldJTrump.com. (English).
177. ↑ President-elect Trump says how many immigrants he'll deport. CBS News , November 13, 2016.
178. ^ Eugene Scott, Sara Murray: Donald Trump Changes Tone on Syrian Refugees. In: CNN . September 10, 2015 (English).
179. ↑ Elias Isquith: “If I Win, They're Going Back”. Why Donald Trump's Threat to Refugees is the Key to his Campaign. In: Salon.com . October 1, 2015 (English).
180. ↑ Arne Delfs: Merkel Dodges Trump's 'Insane' Comment on German Refugee Influx. In: Bloomberg . October 12, 2015 (English).
181. ↑ Trump declares Merkel crazy. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 12, 2015.
182. ↑ Donald Trump on Kentucky clerk: Same-sex Marriage the 'Law of the Land'. In: CNN . September 7th (English).
183. ↑ The LGBT pick for the GOP nomination: Donald Trump? , Reuters, December 16, 2015 (English)
184. ^ ^{A b} Edward Wong: Trump Has Called Climate Change a Chinese Hoax. Beijing Says It Is Anything But. In: The New York Times . November 18, 2016 (English).
185. ↑ Climate change: Trump criticizes Pope Francis. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . September 25, 2015.
186. ↑ ^{a b c d} jul: To-do list of the new president: What Trump promised. In: Spiegel Online . November 9, 2016, accessed December 25, 2016 . 
187. ↑ Trump tells New York Times there is 'some connectivity' between humans and climate change. In: Business Insider. November 22, 2016 (English).
188. ↑ kry / Reuters: Trump's plans for energy policy: "We will save the coal". In: Spiegel Online . May 26, 2016. Retrieved December 25, 2016 . 
189. ^ Ashley Parker, Coral Davenport: Donald Trump's Energy Plan: More Fossil Fuels and Fewer Rules . New York Times, May 26, 2016.
190. ^ To America First Energy Plan ( Memento November 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on donaldjtrump.com, accessed on Nov. 27, 2016.
191. ↑ Franz Hubík: Donald Trump hates wind turbines . Handelsblatt, Nov. 26, 2016.
192. ↑ Franz Hubik: Trump rages against German wind power . Handelsblatt, Nov. 26, 2016.
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195. ^ Veterans Administration Reforms That Will Make America Great Again. ( Memento from October 31, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: DonaldJTrump.com. (English).
196. ^ David Knowles: Donald Trump Says He Wants to Raise Taxes on Himself. In: Bloomberg . August 27, 2015 (English).
197. ↑ Jim Tankersley: Republicans Are Going to Hate What Donald Trump Wants to Do to Rich People. In: The Washington Post . August 27, 2015 (English).
198. ↑ Steve Benen: Trump Breaks with GOP Orthodoxy on Taxes. In: MSNBC . August 27, 2015 (English).
199. ↑ Trump Says Tax Code is Letting Hedge Funds 'Get Away With Murder'. In: Reuters . 23 August 2015 (English).
200. ^ Tax Reform. ( Memento of January 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: DonaldJTrump.com. (English).
201. ↑ Donald Trump's Racially Charged Advocacy of the Death Penalty In: The Atlantic . December 18, 2015 (English).
202. ↑ Jeremy Diamond: Trump: Death penalty for cop killers. In: CNN . December 11, 2015.
203. ^ Donald Trump on Gun Control. 2000 Reform Primary Challenger for President. In: OnTheIssues.org. accessed on December 13, 2015.
204. ^ Protecting Our Second Amendment Rights Will Make America Great Again. ( Memento of January 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: DonaldJTrump.com. accessed on December 13, 2015.
205. ↑ Charlotte Alter: Donald Trump Says Gun-Free Zones Are 'Target Practice for Sickos'. In: Time . October 28, 2015 (English).
206. ↑ "Had the people carried weapons, it would have been different" In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung November 15, 2015.
207. ↑ badische-zeitung.de , Wirtschaft , December 27, 2016: China and USA are heading for a trade war (December 27, 2016)
208. ↑ Hannes Breustedt: Tech giants in their sights: Donald Trump against Amazon, Apple and Co. In: heise online . Retrieved May 25, 2016 . 
209. ^ Donald Trump on Free Trade. In: OnTheIssues. Last updated on December 8, 2015.
210. ^ Charles Lane: Donald Trump's Contempt for the Free Market. In: The Washington Post . October 21, 2015 (English); Seth McLaughlin: Donald Trump Not a 'Free Market Conservative,' Critics Say. In: The Washington Times . November 25, 2015 (English).
211. ^ Greg Richter: Club for Growth: Trump's iPhone Promise Defies Constitution, Free Markets. In: NewsMax. January 19, 2016 (English).
212. ↑ Michael Hurd: Donald Trump's Nationalism Against Free Market Capitalism. In: Capitalism Magazine. January 22, 2016 (English); Donald Boudreaux: Anyone But Trump. In: The American Spectator . January 26, 2016 (English).
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214. ↑ Head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission resigns In: Der Spiegel . November 15, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016
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217. ↑ Michael Butter : "Nothing is what it seems". About conspiracy theories . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2018, pp. 135 and 212 ff.
218. ^ "The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure. We've seen this first hand in the WikiLeaks documents, in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of US sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors. " Transcript of the speech on quemadoinstitute.org, accessed May 20, 2018; Michael Butter : "Nothing is what it seems". About conspiracy theories . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2018, pp. 214–217.
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220. ↑ Amanda Robb: Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal. rollingstone.com, November 16, 2017.
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223. ^ Markus Feldenkirchen : American Psycho . In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 , 2015, p. 92-99 ( Online - Nov. 7, 2016 ).
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227. ^ McKay Coppins: How Donald Trump Courted the Right-wing Fringe to Conquer the GOP. In: The Washington Post . November 27, 2015 (English).
228. ↑ Peter Beinart : It's Not Just Trump. In: The Atlantic . December 9, 2015 (English).
229. ^ Matthew Yglesias: If you Want to Understand Donald Trump, Look to the Success of the European Far-right. In: Vox.com. August 25, 2015 (English).
230. ↑ Ishan Taroor: Donald Trump and the Shadow of Europe's Far-right. In: The Washington Post . August 28, 2015 (English).
231. ^ HA Hellyer: Why Europeans Understand the Danger Donald Trump Poses Better Than Anyone Else. In: Slate . December 10, 2015 (English).
232. ↑ See in detail Maggie Haberman: Even as He Rises, Donald Trump Entertains Conspiracy Theories. In: The New York Times . February 29, 2016 (English).
233. ↑ Thomas B. Edsall: Euro-Trump. In: The New York Times . November 18, 2015 (English).
234. ^ Uptown Trump , The Economist, April 23, 2016
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245. ↑ Video Fox Special Megyn Kelly full interview with Donald Trump , video on YouTube, May 18, 2016.
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254. ↑ "It's enough" . Spiegel Online, October 13, 2016.
255. ↑ Michelle versus Donald . faz.net, October 14, 2016.
256. ↑ Michelle Obama denies Trump the decency . Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 14, 2016.
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258. ↑ The Donald trumped in federal court here. His Trump University claims attacked by ex-students , Don Bauder, San Diego Reader, March 1, 2014
259. ↑ Why Is Donald Trump So Angry at Judge Gonzalo Curiel? , Matt Ford, The Atlantic, June 3, 2016
260. ↑ Trump blames legal woes on 'Spanish' judge , Robert King, Fox News, February 27, 2016
261. ↑ Legal Experts Worry After Trump Attacks Judge for Alleged Bias, Judge's Brother Calls Trump a 'Blowhard' , Shushannah Walshe, Meghan Keneally, ABC News , June 3, 2016
262. ↑ UPDATE: Ryan: Trump made 'textbook definition of a racist comment' , Erica Werner, Mary Clare Jalonick, The Northwest Indiana Times, June 7, 2016
263. ↑ spo./AFP: Trump announces resolution on its own foundation. In: FAZ.net . December 25, 2016. Retrieved December 25, 2016 .  with reference to www.washingtonpost.com: David A. Fahrenthold: Trump used $ 258,000 from his charity to settle legal problems. In: washingtonpost.com. September 20, 2016, accessed December 25, 2016 . 
264. ^ New York attorney general investigating Trump's foundation . In: CBS News , September 14, 2016.
265. ↑ Kevin Sack, Steve Eder: New Records Shed Light on Donald Trump's $ 25,000 Gift to Florida Official . In: The New York Times , September 14, 2016.
266. ↑ sun / Reuters: Investigation into charity law: Trump announces dissolution of his controversial foundation. In: Spiegel Online . December 25, 2016. Retrieved December 25, 2016 . 
267. ↑ FAZ.net , January 20, 2017, Michael Hochgeschwender : betrayed and sold
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