All things Trump
Few took Donald Trump’s campaign seriously when he started running for president, but the brash New York businessman bulldozed his way past every rival for the GOP nomination. On Nov. 8, 2016, he was elected the 45th president of the United States. All things Clinton
● The 45th President
Donald Trump defeats Hillary Clinton and vows in his victory speech that America will 'no longer accept anything but the best.'
● Meet the New Boss
Paul Manafort's resignation as campaign chairman -- coming amid questions about his controversial work for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine -- shifts power on the Trump team to a new helmsman: Stephen Bannon (pictured), the provocative head of Breitbart News.
● Off the Rails
After the GOP convention, Trump's campaign is mired in controversy: He invites Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s email; claims the November election will be rigged; fights with a Gold Star family; hesitates to endorse fellow Republicans; and suggests that "2nd Amendment people" could prevent Clinton from nominating judges. His supporters, though, seem unfazed.
● Who's Winning?
Check where the race stands today in the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times "Daybreak" tracking poll.
● Love Him or Leave Him?
The spectrum of Trump support or lack thereof is wide. Track who is actively campaigning for him or against him and the various positions in between.
● Immigration: Shift in Tone, Policy, Both?
"Don't worry. We're going to build the wall," Trump says Aug. 22, reiterating his oft-repeated promise to erect a massive wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. But he may also be attempting to appeal to a new set of voters by softening his tone on a deportation force to remove 11 million people in the U.S. illegally.
● The Convention
The Republican National Convention was not without discord, and Trump's speech on the final night stuck mainly to the previous themes of his campaign. Read the speech, with annotations by Times staffers.
● And Trump's VP Pick Is ...
Mike Pence, governor of Indiana and former U.S. representative.
● Backdrop of Garbage to Discuss Trade Policy
In a speech that makes waves on Twitter for its unorthodox backdrop, Trump blames globalization for wiping out the U.S. middle class and threatens to punish China and withdraw from NAFTA. It's a reversal from an earlier call for "global unity." And punitive trade measures have a poor track record.
● Where Does He Stand on Guns?
The NRA endorsed Trump in May, but the candidate hasn't been entirely clear about his views. After the Orlando nightclub massacre, Trump hinted that a proposal to limit gun purchases could be on the table. But then the NRA rebuked him after he said that clubgoers in Orlando could have been better off if they were armed.
● What Climate Change?
Trump, who has often dismissed the science on climate change as a hoax that threatens American jobs, says he will withdraw the U.S. from the historic Paris agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and has promised to cut all U.S. spending on United Nations programs on global warming.
● Be True to Your School
What's the deal with Trump University anyway? Two lawsuits contend that students who attended the real estate seminars were duped into paying into a scheme to extract money from people using high-pressure tactics. Trump's lawyers are fighting the release of deposition videos. And the case is the source of the controversy about Trump saying that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's ethnicity should disqualify him from presiding over the case.
● How He'd Govern
President Trump — many people have trouble putting those two words together. But it's no longer a far-fetched notion. What might a Donald Trump presidency look like?
● Ask Him Anything Friendly
Trump takes only softball questions -- is he "getting tired of winning?" was one -- in an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit.
● #NeverTrump
It was always a longshot. An effort to block Trump's nomination at the Republican convention attracted a significant faction of delegates but failed days before the convention began.
● The Entertainer
Trump the entertainer is funny, engaging, insulting, cocky and vulgar, a showman at heart. It looks spontaneous; it's anything but. Exhibit A is a symphony of superlatives as Trump campaigns in New Hampshire. He takes a traditional political speech, cuts it into bits, tosses it into the air and delivers it as if he were picking up the disconnected pieces one by one in whatever order he finds them.
● Personality of 'Impenetrable Granite'
In a 1988 review of "The Art of the Deal," Donald Trump's first book, a Times reviewer said the "interesting and competently written story" "must command a good measure of respect." But also: "It does not say who Trump is without his glittering pet projects — gargantuan though they may be. He comes across as impenetrable granite in personality in much the way he builds his atriums — sleek and exquisite and hard and aloof."
● 'Total and Complete Shutdown'
Trump ignores legal niceties and hallowed tradition as he calls for a religious test for people setting foot in America. His call for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the U.S., is without parallel in recent political history. After the Orlando nightclub massacre in June, he doubles down. He later attempted to redefine the proposal. Most of the earlier iteration, but not all of it, would be impossible to apply, immigration specialists say.
● Unlikely Supporters
Mesmerized by Trump the unconventional, Trump the unpredictable: Ventura musician Jon Gindick is a Democrat who plays and teaches blues harmonica. He likes Trump, who breaks the mold and kicks the pieces around gleefully. Columnist Steve Lopez explores Trump’s appeal in unlikely places.
● Violence: 'We're a Little Rough'
Trump has often appeared to condone or accept violence by supporters. And racially charged mayhem that erupted at a planned Trump rally in Chicago does nothing to temper his rhetoric. Later, an unrepentant Trump blames opponents for the near-riot and says the upheaval will help his candidacy.
● Trump Steaks
At one of Trump’s more unusual election night events, slabs of steak and bottles of Trump wine are served up as a sarcastic response to attacks on his business ventures by Mitt Romney and other critics.
● Healthcare: 'Beautiful'
As Trump vows to repeal Obamacare, he says he’ll replace it wih a “beautiful,” “terrific” and “unbelievable” healthcare plan. His sketch of what it would look like highlights standard GOP proposals, some of which would have scant impact on the cost or quality of care.
● Horse Race
Trump takes a giant step toward clinching the GOP nomination on March 1, rolling up big Super Tuesday victories in the Northeast and across the South.
● Marriage No. 1
"Trumpmania has become a way of life," The Times wrote in February 1990, reporting on the New York tabloid and talk show fascination with the divorce of Donald and Ivana Trump. The divorce was finalized that December; the financial questions were resolved in a $14-million settlement in March 1991.
● Immigration: Ambassador Shake-up
Following complaints by many Mexicans that the government has been anemic in responding to what they see as outrageous remarks by Trump, Mexico replaced its low-profile ambassador to the U.S.
● Litany of Insults
Jeb Bush was "low energy," "weak," soft" and "sad." Cruz was "Lyin' Ted." Rubio was "Little Marco." Clinton is "Crooked Hillary." The list goes on. And on. And on ...
● Economy: A Reaction to Globalization
It’s true, as Trump says, that trade has cost U.S. jobs and held down wages. He’s also correct that low-skilled immigrants have depressed salaries in at least certain jobs. Where he’s wrong, economists say, is in exaggerating the downside of trade and immigration and ignoring the benefits.
● Trump vs. Fox News
Trump blows up at Fox News and boycotts its Iowa debate in a spat with the network’s chief executive Roger Ailes and Trump and Kelly reconcile.
● Who Is Trump?
Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946, in Queens, N.Y., and went to the University of Pennsylvania. He is a real estate developer and the author of several books.
● Trump vs. Unions
At his hotel just off the Las Vegas Strip, Trump has played hardball with a union that recently started representing more than 500 workers there. Why is he picking a fight with labor in a union town like Las Vegas? And why now – in the heart of a campaign in a key presidential battleground state?
● Survey Says ...
Trump likes to boast of his high poll ratings, but not all are good. Polls show the primaries have taken a punishing toll on his image among general-election voters. Trump risks being the most unpopular major party presidential nominee in the history of U.S. opinion surveys.
● When Bluster Mixes With Inexperience
Trump’s blustery confidence can cause big trouble: His stumble on abortion in Wisconsin offered a bracing reminder of what can happen when it mixes with a lack of experience in politics.
● The Lewandowski Question
Florida police charged Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski with battery in March, accusing him of grabbing a reporter’s arm and bruising her as she tried to interview the candidate. Trump stood by Lewandowski, until June, and prosecutors would later drop the case.
● Going Negative, Bigly
It’s a smorgasbord full of scorn for John Kasich as Trump battles the governor of Ohio on Kasich’s home turf. Kasich is a baby, weak, a loser, not very bright. Kasich helped tank the economy as a Lehman Bros. executive. Kasich voted for lousy trade deals that have punished Ohio’s workers. No put-down is off limits.
● Trump the Candidate
In Michigan, Trump assaults politicians as corrupt, trade negotiators as stupid, and jobs as a faint mirage unless he is elected. Michigan’s troubles – a huge loss in manufacturing jobs, above all – make it receptive to Trump’s message that business acumen is necessary in the next president.
● Marriage No. 3
Trump married his third wife, Melania Knauss, in South Florida in January 2005. From a wire report in The Times: "According to media reports, Trump made several business deals to offset the cost of his wedding. The New York Times said he paid half price for a $1.5-million engagement ring from diamond sellers Graff in return for the publicity."
● Republicans vs. Trump
It’s Hail Mary pass time for the increasingly desperate Republicans who are fighting to stop Trump. Mitt Romney says GOP voters should back any of three candidates still running against Trump to block him from clinching the nomination before the GOP convention in July. Party delegates, Romney hopes, will override voters’ will and nominate someone else.
● Trump the Unorthodox
Trump’s campaign in Nevada put a raw version of the New York developer on display, showing more clearly than ever how the GOP front-runner is turning the Republican Party asunder.
● Resort From a Hole in the Ground
Shortly before the 2008 economic crisis, Trump marketed his luxury oceanfront vacation resort in Mexico as “the next Cabo.” But after three years, it was nothing but a gigantic hole in the ground and a heap of dirt. In 2013 he settled a lawsuit with investors who lost millions of dollars. The resort was never built.
● Trump vs. the Pope
A fight with Pope Francis? In a moment of high political drama in a campaign that has had many, Trump and the pope exchange sharp words over immigration.
● Going Under, by the Boardwalk
In Atlantic City, Trump loses control of his casinos after a series of bankruptcies and battles with lenders. He sells himself as a brilliant businessman and dealmaker who would cut the national debt. But Trump’s aggressive high-interest borrowing left him unable to pay what he owed in the bedraggled New Jersey beach resort. His exit was far from smooth or graceful.
● It Ain't Random
Trump’s raw, in-your-face style of politics can come off as random ranting. But the bluster and put-downs are meticulously calculated. Trump's history as a Manhattan developer beguiling mayors and governors for tax breaks schooled him in the real-world give-and-take of politics at a level where enormous amounts of money and power are at stake.
● Iowans for Trump
Take a ride in a tow truck with Iowa repo man Bruce Goacher to see how Trump has built a big following of white blue-collar men. The worlds of Goacher, who once slaughtered hogs for Oscar Mayer, and the Manhattan billionaire could hardly be farther apart. Yet they see eye to eye.
● 'You're Fired'
A parade of companies has borrowed Donald Trump's own trademark to tell him "you're fired" after the aspiring presidential candidate called some Mexican immigrants "rapists" and "killers." And it's costing him. Trump's immediate bottom line is reeling, and the fallout could dent his brand for years to come
● Outsider Extraordinaire
For all his headline-inciting flamboyance, Trump is just the latest in a long line of political upstarts and Washington outsiders — left, right, center — who have tilted at the nation’s capital and its governing class, tapping a hostility that, from the country’s founding, has simmered barely below the surface. Will he leave a meaningful legacy after his campaign ends?
● Nevadans for Trump
A buffoon. A joke. A bigoted racist. A maverick. A truth-teller. Not your typical say-anything-to-get-elected politician. What few of the Nevadans asked about Trump see is the next president. Even the handful who suggest Trump could win the White House base that opinion on the theory that, well, you never know.
● Trump vs. Scotland
On the chilly wind-whipped dunes and grasslands of the Scottish coast, Trump wanted to create what he said would be the world’s best golf course. But in 2007, some of the locals in Balmedie complained that the New York real estate mogul was bullying his way across the foundations of of Scottish environmental law.
● Reality Star
Trump hosted the TV show "The Apprentice" from 2004 to 2015.
● Who Is Trump?
Trump is married to Melania Trump. He has five children: Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany and Barron.
● Marriage No. 2
A Washington Post gossip columnist's account of Donald Trump's marriage to Marla Maples in December 1993 described the Plaza Hotel as "a fairyland," and noted that a Metropolitan Opera singer performed "Somewhere" before the vows: "This is the plaintive, heartbreaking music from 'West Side Story' where the underclass Tony and Maria enact Romeo and Juliet. (It seemed a tad misplaced in the splendor of the Trump empire.)" Maples and Trump divorced in 1999.
● Trump vs. NBC Universal
After Trump made disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants in June 2015, NBC Universal cut its ties with the presidential candidate. Trump then sold his interest in the Miss Universe pageant and related competitions, which had agreements to air on Univision, owned by NBC. Trump and the broadcasting conglomorate settled a lawsuit over the dust-up in February.