2019 Jersey City shooting

On December 10, 2019, a shooting was perpetrated at a kosher grocery store located in the Greenville section of Jersey City, New Jersey, in the United States. Five people were killed at the store, including the two assailants. Additionally, the assailants wounded one customer and two police officers. A Jersey City Police Department detective was shot and killed by the assailants at a nearby cemetery just before the grocery store attack. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal stated that evidence indicated the attacks were acts of hate and domestic terrorism fueled both by anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs. Shootings: On December 10, 2019, a police detective, who was meeting an informant, came across the assailants at the Bayview Cemetery in Jersey City, New Jersey in what was described as a chance encounter. It is believed that he approached the suspects, who were in a stolen U-Haul van that was linked to a murder three days ago of 34-year-old Jersey City resident Michael Rumberger in nearby Bayonne, New Jersey. The assailants shot and killed the officer. His body was discovered by a bystander and reported at 12:38 p.m. The suspects then fled in the stolen van and drove about one mile to a kosher grocery store, the JC Kosher Supermarket in the Greenville section of Jersey City, and opened fire upon exiting the vehicle. At approximately 12:21 p.m., while wearing tactical gear they entered the store and fatally shot an owner, a worker, and a customer. Two other customers were able to escape. In the ensuing shootout, the assailants exchanged gunfire with the police for over an hour until they were shot and killed. A BearCat armored personnel carrier rammed through the storefront, ending the siege. The van was later found to contain a live pipe bomb that had the capacity to kill or injure people up to 500 yards away. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the scene: the Jersey City Police Department; the Hudson County Sheriff's Office; the New Jersey State Police; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department; the New York City Police Department and departments from other neighboring municipalities; and sheriffs from three counties. Victims: The assailants killed 39-year-old Detective Joseph Seals who had been a police officer since 2006, 33-year-old female store owner Mindy Ferencz, 49-year-old male employee Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, and 24-year-old male rabbinical student customer Moshe Deutsch. Two officers, one male and one female, were wounded in the shootout and were released from the hospital the same day. A wounded man escaped out the back door of the store. He was treated at Jersey City Medical Center, and released on the same day. Assailants: On December 11, the shooters, both of whom were killed by police during the siege, were identified as David Nathaniel Anderson (age 47) and his girlfriend Francine Graham (age 50). Both were African-American. Anderson and Graham were suspects in the murder of Uber driver Michael Rumberger in Bayonne the weekend prior to the attack. Rumberger's blood was found on a bible that belonged to the assailants, and his DNA was on their clothes and one weapon. Anderson and Graham had Googled the meaning of the surname "Rumberger". Anderson and Graham were also suspects in an incident a week before the Jersey City shooting, when on December 3 two shots were fired at a vehicle driven by a person clearly identifiable as being Jewish, on U.S. Route 1/9 near Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey. The vehicle's rear window was shot out. Graham’s phone was in the area at the time of the shooting, and the ballistics matched a gun linked to the two assailants, it was later determined. Anderson had made posts on social media that were anti-police and anti-Semitic. His language was linked to that used by the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, which has no connection to mainstream Judaism, the extremist fringe of which includes numerous hate groups listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Anderson and Graham bought a number of weapons, and trained to use them in Ohio. Before they engaged in the Jersey City attack, they researched another possible attack on a Jewish community center in Bayonne. Motive: Mayor of Jersey City Steven Fulop, referring to the market, tweeted that the shooters "targeted the location they attacked". He later referred to the attack as a hate crime. Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio called the attack a “premeditated violent antisemitic hate crime” and an “act of terror.” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal stated that evidence indicated acts of hate and domestic terrorism fuelled both by anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs. Media reported that a handwritten note, which authorities call "manifesto-style', found inside the van said “I do this because my creator makes me do this and I hate who he hates.” Aftermath: The Jersey City Medical Center, 12 Jersey City Public Schools in the vicinity as well as that of Sacred Heart Church, located across the street, were on lock-down during the incident. That school was taken over by law-enforcement agencies and used during the incident. Between 50-60 children were held in the yeshiva of Khal Adas Greenville next to the market. Public transportation on NJ Transit buses and the Hudson Bergen Light Rail in the area were suspended. The New Jersey Turnpike Newark Bay Extension was temporarily closed. President Donald Trump was briefed about the incident at the White House. He gave his condolences to the victims and their families via a tweet. Governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy expressed his condolences, his thoughts and prayers for police, residents, and school children, and praise for the slain detective in a series of tweets. Cory Booker, junior United States Senator from New Jersey, and Mayor Fulop also expressed their condolences. Mayor Fulop said a trustee of the Jersey City Board of Education, Joan Terrell-Paige, should resign due to a Facebook message she posted after the shooting, in which she said black residents were "threatened, intimidated and harassed" by "brutes of the jewish community". She made reference to accusations of rabbis selling body parts. Terrell-Paige, who is African American, further asked whether the public is "brave enough" to listen to the perpetrators' message. Governor Murphy concurred in asking Terrell-Paige to resign; she said she is unrepentant. The Anti-Defamation League asked Terrell-Paige to resign citing her "lack of remorse". Fulop said that analysis of the assailants' computers showed that they likely intended to do more harm, that the yeshiva was the probable target of the attack, and that they "moved more quickly" with their plans because of their encounter with Detective Seals. In January 2020 Jared Maples, director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, said it was investigating possible funding sources for the attack, but with many lone wolf attacks they "do not need large amounts of funding to conduct their operations, making it difficult to detect and prevent attacks. The most common tactics in domestic extremist attacks include easily obtainable weapons, such as knives, small arms, and vehicles." The market was re-opened by its owner at a nearby location in March 2020.

Murder of the Goldmark family

On Christmas Eve 1985, David Lewis Rice, a follower of a right-wing extremist magazine and group the Duck Club, gained entry to the Seattle home of civil litigation attorney Charles Goldmark using a toy gun and pretending to be a deliveryman. He tied the family up; Charles, wife Annie, and their two children, 12-year-old Derek and 10-year-old Colin and chloroformed them into unconsciousness, beat them with a steam iron, and stabbed them.[3] Rice mistakenly believed the family to be Jewish and Communist. At trial, Rice argued he was not responsible for the crime because he was insane at the time. Rice was convicted in 1986 of aggravated murder for the four deaths and was sentenced to death. The conviction was later overturned on the grounds of an incompetent defense. Rice repeatedly displayed psychotic symptoms throughout his trial, but his attorney failed to emphasize them in his defense. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to the crimes in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. He remains in prison serving out a life sentence. The Goldmark Murders remain one of the most notorious anti-Semitic hate crimes as well as politically motivated killings in recent memory in the United States, even though the victims were not actually Jewish and Communist as the killer mistakenly believed. It also remains a cause célèbre of capital punishment proponents, since Rice avoided death based only on the ineptitude of his attorney's work at trial. Rice is currently incarcerated in Washington State Penitentiary. Charles Goldmark's brother is former Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands and head of the Washington Department of Natural Resources Peter J. Goldmark. Rice was interviewed for the 1987 PBS documentary, Faces of the Enemy.

Lofton v. Secretary of the Department of Children & Family Services

Lofton v. Secretary of the Department of Children & Family Services, is a decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upholding Florida's ban of adoption of children by homosexual persons as enforced by the Florida Department of Children and Families. Federal District Court: The plaintiffs applied for adoptions and their applications were rejected because they were homosexuals. Four of the plaintiffs were legal guardians or foster parents of the children, who were also plaintiffs. They filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, asking it to enjoin enforcement of the law. They also sought class certification for all persons similarly situated. The court considered five questions on whether the law violated: -the right to familial privacy under the Fourteenth Amendment -the right to intimate association -the right to family integrity -the right to sexual privacy -equal protection on the basis of sexual orientation On August 21, 2001 District court judge James Lawrence King rejected class certification and granted summary judgment in favor of defendants. Court of Appeals: The Court noted that "adoption is not a right; it is a statutory privilege" and that adoption is wholly a creature of the state. It then noted that in "formulating its adoption policies and procedures, the State of Florida acts in the protective and provisional role of in loco parentis for those children who, because of various circumstances, have become wards of the state. Thus, adoption law is unlike criminal law, for example, where the paramount substantive concern is not intruding on individuals' liberty interests" and that it is "also distinct from such contexts as government-benefit eligibility schemes or access to a public forum, where equality of treatment is the primary concern." The Court held that "the state's overriding interest is the best interests of the children whom it is seeking to place with adoptive families", and "the state can make classifications for adoption purposes that would be constitutionally suspect in many other arenas". Because adoption is a public act, the plaintiffs-appellants were "asking the state to confer official recognition — and, consequently, the highest level of constitutional insulation from subsequent state interference". The Court noted that "appellants have not cited to us, nor have we found, a single precedent in which the Supreme Court or one of our sister circuits has sustained a constitutional challenge to an adoption scheme or practice by any individual other than a natural parent, and even many challenges by natural parents have failed". The court rejected the family integrity claim. It said that in arguing that there is a fundamental right to family integrity, "appellants argued that parental and familial rights should be extended to individuals such as foster parents and legal guardians and that the touchstone of this liberty interest is not biological ties or official legal recognition, but the emotional bond that develops between and among individuals as a result of shared daily life". The Court concluded that plaintiffs "could not have had justifiable expectation of permanency in their relationships and that even if an expectation of permanency was created, "the resulting liberty interest at most would provide procedural due process protection in the event the state were to attempt to remove the children Doe or Roe" and that "such a procedural right does not translate, however, into a substantive right to be free from state inference. Nor does it create an affirmative right to be accorded official recognition as "parent" and "child." In dealing with sexual privacy claim, the Court first asked if sexual privacy was a fundamental right. Plaintiffs-appellants argued that "the Supreme Court's recent decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down Texas's sodomy statute, identified a hitherto unarticulated fundamental right to private sexual intimacy. They contend that the Florida statute, by disallowing adoption to any individual who chooses to engage in homosexual conduct, impermissibly burdens the exercise of this right." The Court noted that nowhere in Lawrence was it announced that homosexual sodomy was a fundamental right and that Lawrence did not "locate this right directly in the Constitution, but instead treated it as the by-product of several different constitutional principles and liberty interests." It noted that the Supreme Court had "exercise the utmost care whenever it is asked to break new ground" in the field of fundamental rights" It also noted that Lawrence did not use "strict scrutiny, the proper standard when fundamental rights are implicated, but instead invalidated the Texas statute on rational-basis grounds" and that "the asserted liberty interest is not the negative right to engage in private conduct without facing criminal sanctions, but the affirmative right to receive official and public recognition". The Court concluded that "the Lawrence decision cannot be extrapolated to create a right to adopt for homosexual persons". In addressing the equal protection challenge, the Court used the rational basis standard, declining to hold that homosexuals are a suspect class. It noted that "rational-basis review, a paradigm of judicial restraint, does not provide a license for courts to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic of legislative choices." The defendants-appellees had argued that the law "is rationally related to Florida's interest in furthering the best interests of adopted children by placing them in families with married mothers and fathers" and that "disallowing adoption into homosexual households, which are necessarily motherless or fatherless and lack the stability that comes with marriage, is a rational means of furthering Florida's interest in promoting adoption by marital families." Plaintiffs-appellants had argued that "the statute is not rationally related to this interest", being "overinclusive and underinclusive." The Court rejected appellants' arguments, holding that "The Florida legislature could rationally conclude that homosexuals and heterosexual singles are not "similarly situated in relevant respects." It is not irrational to think that heterosexual singles have a markedly greater probability of eventually establishing a married household and, thus, providing their adopted children with a stable, dual-gender parenting environment. Moreover, as the state noted, the legislature could rationally act on the theory that heterosexual singles, even if they never marry, are better positioned than homosexual individuals to provide adopted children with education and guidance relative to their sexual development throughout pubescence and adolescence." The Court rejected a comparison with Romer v. Evans noting that "Florida's statute is not so "sweeping and comprehensive" as to render Florida's rationales for the statute "inexplicable by anything but animus" toward its homosexual residents. Amendment 2 deprived homosexual persons of "protections against exclusion from an almost limitless number of transactions and endeavors that constitute ordinary civic life in a free society." In contrast to this "broad and undifferentiated disability," the Florida classification is limited to the narrow and discrete context of access to the statutory privilege of adoption27 and, more importantly, has a plausible connection with the state's asserted interest. Moreover, not only is the effect of Florida's classification dramatically smaller, but the classification itself is narrower. Whereas Amendment 2's classification encompassed both conduct and status, Florida's adoption prohibition is limited to conduct. Thus, we conclude that Romer's unique factual situation and narrow holding are inapposite to this case." thus, the Court rejected the equal protection claim. Plaintiffs petitioned for en banc rehearing, which was denied. Judge Rosemary Barkett dissented from the denial of rehearing, noting that "[w]hile Florida claims that it has singled out homosexuals because it wishes to limit adoptions to married couples, the statute in this case says absolutely nothing about married couples. In fact, Florida's adoption statute expressly provides for single persons to adopt". The plaintiffs petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. It was denied. Subsequent Developments: Florida's ban on homosexuals adopting children was later challenged in the Florida state courts. In In re Gill and was found unconstitutional under the state Constitution of Florida on September 22, 2010 by a Florida state court of appeals. The state did not appeal the decisions further thereby ending Florida's ban. Comparison with Cook v. Gates: In contrast, the First Circuit held in Cook v. Gates, 528 F.3d 42 (1st Cir. 2008), that heightened scrutiny applied to substantive due process sexual privacy challenges, as opposed to the rational basis review used by the 11th Circuit in Lofton.

Consumption of Tide Pods

Consumption of Tide Pods is the act of ingesting laundry detergent pod Tide Pods. Tide Pods are a line of laundry detergent pods produced under the Procter & Gamble's Tide brand name which, like most detergents, can be deadly if ingested, and which have been labeled as a health risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been numerous media reports discussing how children and those with dementia could endanger their health or life by consuming the pods, mistaking them for candy. Between 2012 and 2013, poison control centers reported over 7,000 cases of young children eating laundry pods, and ingestion of Procter & Gamble laundry pods had resulted in six deaths by 2017. In response to the dangers, Procter & Gamble changed Tide Pod containers to an opaque design, introduced warning labels and added a bitter tasting chemical to the pod contents. The pods have been sold since 2012. In late December 2017, Tide Pods became the center of an Internet meme, which involves a dare to intentionally consume the pods. The meme became especially popular with teenagers, and since then, there has been a sharp increase in poisoning incidents. Responding to the growing number of incidents, Google and Facebook started removing videos that featured the challenge, and Procter & Gamble aired numerous advertisements urging people to avoid eating the pods. Health risks: The health risks posed by the ingestion of Tide Pods—particularly by children—have been noted by several media outlets. In March 2013, Consumer Reports reported that "since early 2012, poison control centers nationwide have received reports of nearly 7,700 pod-related exposures to children age 5 years and younger." In 2012 and 2013, an average of one child was admitted to hospital every day as a result of eating Tide Pods. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tagged them as a health risk in 2012. Consumer Reports noted that "swallowing conventional detergent might result in mild stomach upset, but with highly concentrated detergent pods the ingestion can cause excessive vomiting, lethargy, and gasping, and in some reported cases, victims stopped breathing and required ventilation support." Individuals suffering from dementia have been reported to face health risks related to Tide Pods. Consumer Reports reported that between the Tide pods' introduction in 2012 through early 2017, eight deaths had been reported due to the ingestion of laundry detergent pods, with six of the eight deaths resulting from a pod manufactured by P&G. Due to initial reports of children consuming their laundry detergent pods, Procter & Gamble began distributing Tide Pods in opaque tubs and bags. In 2015, P&G announced it would implement a bitter taste to its Tide Pods as a means to deter people from biting into them. Tide would also include child-safety features in its packaging and issue extensive warnings about locking up the pods in households shared with individuals who have Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, Tide's website includes a page discussing how to safely handle its products, and suggesting consumers drink a glass of water or milk if a product is swallowed and call a poison control center for help. Many media outlets referenced the visual similarity the pods have to candy as a reasoning behind their consumption. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer commented on the appeal of pods, "These pods were supposed to make household chores easier, not tempt our children to swallow harmful chemicals. I saw one on my staffer's desk and I wanted to eat it." Consumer Reports published a story discussing the contents of laundry detergent pods and the consequences of ingesting them, which can include death. The story detailed that pods contain ethanol, hydrogen peroxide, and long-chain polymers, that when ingested can result in caustic burns to the lining of one's mouth, as well as the esophagus, stomach, and other parts of the gastrointestinal tract. The Daily Meal cited one 2014 study that suggested that ingesting the detergent pods may cause a swallowing dysfunction that could require surgery to repair. Internet meme: In early 2018, media publications noted that shortly after the product's introduction, the consumption of Tide Pods became a topic of discussion on the Internet. Ultimately, eating Tide Pods became a meme, with its origins being credited to a 2013 thread on the Straight Dope online and a 2015 article from The Onion. Mashable quoted an instance of a tweet regarding this topic from 2012, "Why does a Tide Pod look so good to eat?" The Straight Dope thread's discussion was more centered on children accidentally eating Tide Pods, rather than the meme's iteration popularized in 2017, which portrays pods as a delicious food. The topic of children eating the pods was a concept based on real incidents of children consuming them. In the following years, eating Tide Pods became a popular joke online. In March 2017, CollegeHumor uploaded a sketch video titled Don't Eat The Laundry Pods. Posts begin to prefer "Tide Pods" to more generic terms such as "laundry pods" with a thread posted on Reddit's "intrusivethoughts" subreddit in July 2017. The thread, titled "Bite into one of those Tide Pods. Do it.", was referenced in another Onion article the following day. Posts on Tumblr contributed to the meme's rise, but in December 2017, the meme's popularity rose significantly due to various viral tweets. Many posts referred to the pods as a "forbidden fruit". Memes involving the Tide Pods included joking about how "delicious" they appear, as well as posting images with the pods on top of food. Vox described the meme as "poking fun at the idea of consuming the pods, while (usually) stopping short of actually doing so." The publication noted that part of the allure of discussing, wondering, and joking about consuming the pods spawns from the product's warning to not eat the pods. In early January 2018, television personality Jimmy Kimmel referenced the meme when discussing a tweet from President Donald Trump: "sounds like somebody's been in the White House laundry room eating Tide Pods again because the President of the United States is starting his own award show for the media." "Tide Pod Challenge": During the first few weeks of 2018, following the meme's surge in popularity, media publications started reporting about teenagers participating in the Tide Pod Challenge. The challenge is an Internet challenge in which an individual consumes Tide Pods. Teenagers were the reported demographic participating in the challenge; they would record themselves chewing and gagging on pods and then daring others to do the same. Some of these videos were posted on YouTube. Some teens cooked the pods prior to eating them. In response to the meme, a spokesperson from Procter & Gamble (P&G) was quoted in BuzzFeed News emphasizing the purpose of their pods and the health risks associated with children: "Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the people who use our products. Our laundry pacs are a highly concentrated detergent meant to clean clothes and they're used safely in millions of households every day. They should only be used to clean clothes and kept up, closed and away from children. We have been consistently proactive in providing consumers with the right usage guidance and tools to enable them to use the product safely." Tide further stated, "They (pods) should not be played with, whatever the circumstance is, even if it is meant as a joke." Ann Marie Buerkle from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission went on Good Morning America and commented on the meme, saying, "teens trying to be funny are now putting themselves in danger by ingesting this poisonous substance." Buerkle added, "This is what started out as a joke on the internet and now it's just gone too far." Following the growth of the meme, YouTube and Facebook started removing videos that depicted people eating Tide Pods. Following the meme's popularization on Twitter and Reddit, many media publications wrote articles discussing the phenomenon, while warning against eating Tide Pods. During the first two weeks of 2018, the number of cases of detergent pod ingestion reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) spiked. On January 17, 2018, The Washington Post stated that the AAPCC reported 37 cases of pod ingestion among teenagers so far that year, half of them intentional. Tide later partnered with American football player Rob Gronkowski, having him issue the message: "What the heck is going on, people? Use Tide Pods for washing. Not eating. Do not eat."

Pain

when I corrected my back it hurts. I'm 1 of the luckier people with scoliosis but it's still a pain in the rear. even with the amount of diet friendly foods that ease my back pain and pain killers I'm still in agony.

Political career of Donald Trump

Donald Trump has been a presidential candidate three times, in 2000, 2016, and 2020. His second presidential campaign in 2016 was successful; he was elected 45th president of the United States on November 8, 2016 and inaugurated on January 20, 2017. He sought reelection in the 2020 United States presidential election, but lost to Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Political activities up to 2015: Trump's political party affiliation has changed numerous times. He registered as a Republican in Manhattan in 1987, switched to the Reform Party in 1999, the Democratic Party in 2001, and back to the Republican Party in 2009. In 1987, Trump placed full-page advertisements in three major newspapers, proclaiming "America should stop paying to defend countries that can afford to defend themselves." The advertisements also advocated for "reducing the budget deficit, working for peace in Central America, and speeding up nuclear disarmament negotiations with the Soviet Union". DCCC chair Rep. Beryl Anthony Jr. told The New York Times that "the message Trump has been preaching is a Democratic message." Asked whether rumors of a presidential candidacy were true, Trump denied being a candidate, but said, "I believe that if I did run for President, I'd win." According to a Gallup poll in December 1988, Trump was the tenth most admired man in America. 2000 presidential campaign: In 1999, Trump filed an exploratory committee to seek the nomination of the Reform Party for the 2000 presidential election. A July 1999 poll matching him against likely Republican nominee George W. Bush and likely Democratic nominee Al Gore showed Trump with seven percent support. Trump eventually dropped out of the race, but still went on to win the Reform Party primaries in California and Michigan. After his run, he left the party due to the involvement of David Duke, Pat Buchanan, and Lenora Fulani. He also considered running for president in 2004. In 2008, he endorsed Republican John McCain for president. 2012 presidential speculation: Trump publicly speculated about running for president in the 2012 election, and made his first speaking appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February 2011. The speech is credited for helping kick-start his political career within the Republican Party. On May 16, 2011, Trump announced he would not run for president in the 2012 election. In February 2012, Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president. Trump's presidential ambitions were generally not taken seriously at the time. Trump's moves were interpreted by some media as possible promotional tools for his reality show The Apprentice. Before the 2016 election, The New York Times speculated that Trump "accelerated his ferocious efforts to gain stature within the political world" after Obama lampooned him at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in April 2011. In 2011, according to Evan Jones, the headmaster of the New York Military Academy at the time, the then-superintendent Jeffrey Coverdale had demanded Trump's academic records, to hand them over to "prominent, wealthy alumni of the school who were Mr. Trump's friends" at their request. Coverdale said he had refused to hand over Trump's records to trustees of the school, and instead sealed Trump's records on campus. Jones said: "It was the only time in my education career that I ever heard of someone's record being removed," while Coverdale further said: "It's the only time I ever moved an alumnus's records." The incident reportedly happened days after Trump demanded President Barack Obama's academic records. 2013–2015: In 2013, Trump spoke at CPAC again; he railed against illegal immigration, bemoaned Obama's "unprecedented media protection", advised against harming Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and suggested that the government "take" Iraq's oil and use the proceeds to pay a million dollars each to families of dead soldiers. He spent over $1 million that year to research a possible 2016 candidacy. In October 2013, New York Republicans circulated a memo suggesting Trump should run for governor of the state in 2014 against Andrew Cuomo. Trump responded that while New York had problems and its taxes were too high, he was not interested in the governorship. A February 2014 Quinnipiac poll had shown Trump losing to the more popular Cuomo by 37 points in a hypothetical election. 2016 presidential campaign- Republican primaries: On June 16, 2015, Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States at Trump Tower in Manhattan. In the speech, Trump discussed illegal immigration, offshoring of American jobs, the U.S. national debt, and Islamic terrorism, which all remained large priorities during the campaign. He also announced his campaign slogan: "Make America Great Again". Trump said his wealth would make him immune to pressure from campaign donors. He declared that he was funding his own campaign, but according to The Atlantic, "Trump's claims of self-funding have always been dubious at best and actively misleading at worst." In the primaries, Trump was one of seventeen candidates for the 2016 Republican nomination. This was the largest presidential field in American history. Trump's campaign was initially not taken seriously by political analysts, but he quickly rose to the top of opinion polls. On Super Tuesday, Trump received the most votes, and he remained the front-runner throughout the primaries. By March 2016, Trump was poised to win the Republican nomination. After a landslide win in Indiana on May 3, 2016 – which prompted the remaining candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich to suspend their presidential campaigns – RNC chairman Reince Priebus declared Trump the presumptive Republican nominee. General election campaign: After becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, Trump shifted his focus to the general election. Trump began campaigning against Hillary Clinton, who became the presumptive Democratic nominee on June 6, 2016. Clinton had established a significant lead over Trump in national polls throughout most of 2016. In early July, Clinton's lead narrowed in national polling averages following the FBI's re-opening of its investigation into her ongoing email controversy. On July 15, 2016, Trump announced his selection of Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate. Four days later, the two were officially nominated by the Republican Party at the Republican National Convention. The list of convention speakers and attendees included former presidential nominee Bob Dole, but the other prior nominees did not attend. On September 26, 2016, Trump and Clinton faced off in their first presidential debate, which was held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The second presidential debate was held at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. The beginning of that debate was dominated by references to a recently leaked tape of Trump making sexually explicit comments, which Trump countered by referring to alleged sexual misconduct on the part of Bill Clinton. Prior to the debate, Trump had invited four women who had accused Bill Clinton of impropriety to a press conference. The final presidential debate was held on October 19 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Trump's refusal to say whether he would accept the result of the election, regardless of the outcome, drew particular attention, with some saying it undermined democracy. Political positions: Trump's campaign platform emphasized renegotiating U.S.–China relations and free trade agreements such as NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, strongly enforcing immigration laws, and building a new wall along the U.S.–Mexico border. His other campaign positions included pursuing energy independence while opposing climate change regulations such as the Clean Power Plan and the Paris Agreement, modernizing and expediting services for veterans, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, abolishing Common Core education standards, investing in infrastructure, simplifying the tax code while reducing taxes for all economic classes, and imposing tariffs on imports by companies that offshore jobs. During the campaign, he also advocated a largely non-interventionist approach to foreign policy while increasing military spending, extreme vetting or banning immigrants from Muslim-majority countries to pre-empt domestic Islamic terrorism, and aggressive military action against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. During the campaign Trump repeatedly called NATO "obsolete". His political positions have been described as populist, and some of his views cross party lines. For example, his economic campaign plan calls for large reductions in income taxes and deregulation, consistent with Republican Party policies, along with significant infrastructure investment, usually considered a Democratic Party policy. According to political writer Jack Shafer, Trump may be a "fairly conventional American populist when it comes to his policy views", but he attracts free media attention, sometimes by making outrageous comments. Trump has supported or leaned toward varying political positions over time. Politico has described his positions as "eclectic, improvisational and often contradictory", while NBC News counted "141 distinct shifts on 23 major issues" during his campaign. Campaign rhetoric: In his campaign, Trump said he disdained political correctness; he also said the media had intentionally misinterpreted his words, and he made other claims of adverse media bias. In part due to his fame, and due to his willingness to say things other candidates would not, and because a candidate who is gaining ground automatically provides a compelling news story, Trump received an unprecedented amount of free media coverage during his run for the presidency, which elevated his standing in the Republican primaries. Fact-checking organizations have denounced Trump for making a record number of false statements compared to other candidates. At least four major publications – Politico, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times – have pointed out lies or falsehoods in his campaign statements, with the Los Angeles Times saying that "Never in modern presidential politics has a major candidate made false statements as routinely as Trump has". NPR said Trump's campaign statements were often opaque or suggestive. Trump's penchant for hyperbole is believed to have roots in the New York real estate scene, where Trump established his wealth and where puffery abounds. Trump adopted his ghostwriter's phrase "truthful hyperbole" to describe his public speaking style. Support from the far right: According to Michael Barkun, the Trump campaign was remarkable for bringing fringe ideas, beliefs, and organizations into the mainstream. During his presidential campaign, Trump was accused of pandering to white supremacists. He retweeted open racists, and repeatedly refused to condemn David Duke, the Ku Klux Klan or white supremacists, in an interview on CNN's State of the Union, saying he would first need to "do research" because he knew nothing about Duke or white supremacists. Duke himself enthusiastically supported Trump throughout the 2016 primary and election, and has said he and like-minded people voted for Trump because of his promises to "take our country back". After repeated questioning by reporters, Trump said he disavowed David Duke and the KKK. Trump said on MSNBC's Morning Joe: "I disavowed him. I disavowed the KKK. Do you want me to do it again for the 12th time? I disavowed him in the past, I disavow him now." The alt-right movement coalesced around Trump's candidacy, due in part to its opposition to multiculturalism and immigration. Members of the alt-right enthusiastically supported Trump's campaign. In August 2016, he appointed Steve Bannon – the executive chairman of Breitbart News – as his campaign CEO; Bannon described Breitbart News as "the platform for the alt-right". In an interview days after the election, Trump condemned supporters who celebrated his victory with Nazi salutes. Financial disclosures: As a presidential candidate, Trump disclosed details of his companies, assets, and revenue sources to the extent required by the FEC. His 2015 report listed assets above $1.4 billion and outstanding debts of at least $265 million. The 2016 form showed little change. Trump has not released his tax returns, contrary to the practice of every major candidate since 1976 and his promise in 2014 to do so if he ran for office. He said his tax returns were being audited, and his lawyers had advised him against releasing them. Trump has told the press his tax rate was none of their business, and that he tries to pay "as little tax as possible". In October 2016, portions of Trump's state filings for 1995 were leaked to a reporter from The New York Times. They show that Trump declared a loss of $916 million that year, which could have let him avoid taxes for up to 18 years. During the second presidential debate, Trump acknowledged using the deduction, but declined to provide details such as the specific years it was applied. On March 14, 2017, the first two pages of Trump's 2005 federal income tax returns were leaked to MSNBC. The document states that Trump had a gross adjusted income of $150 million and paid $38 million in federal taxes. The White House confirmed the authenticity of the documents. On April 3, 2019, the House Ways and Means Committee made a formal request to the Internal Revenue Service for Trump's personal and business tax returns from 2013 to 2018, setting a deadline of April 10. That day, Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said the deadline would not be met, and the deadline was extended to April 23, which also was not honored, and on May 6 Mnuchin said the request would be denied. On May 10, 2019, committee chairman Richard Neal subpoenaed the Treasury Department and the IRS for the returns and seven days later the subpoenas were defied. A fall 2018 draft IRS legal memo asserted that Trump must provide his tax returns to Congress unless he invokes executive privilege, contradicting the administration's justification for defying the earlier subpoena. Mnuchin asserted the memo actually addressed a different matter. Election to the presidency: On November 8, 2016, Trump received 306 pledged electoral votes versus 232 for Clinton. The official counts were 304 and 227 respectively, after defections on both sides. Trump received nearly 2.9 million fewer popular votes than Clinton, which made him the fifth person to be elected president while losing the popular vote. Clinton was ahead nationwide with 65,853,514 votes (48.18%) to 62,984,828 votes (46.09%). Trump's victory was considered a stunning political upset by most observers, as polls had consistently showed Hillary Clinton with a nationwide – though diminishing – lead, as well as a favorable advantage in most of the competitive states. Trump's support had been modestly underestimated throughout his campaign, and many observers blamed errors in polls, partially attributed to pollsters overestimating Clinton's support among well-educated and nonwhite voters, while underestimating Trump's support among white working-class voters. The polls were relatively accurate, but media outlets and pundits alike showed overconfidence in a Clinton victory despite a large number of undecided voters and a favorable concentration of Trump's core constituencies in competitive states. Trump won 30 states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which had been considered a blue wall of Democratic strongholds since the 1990s. Clinton won 20 states and the District of Columbia. Trump's victory marked the return of a Republican White House combined with control of both chambers of Congress. Trump is the wealthiest president in U.S. history, even after adjusting for inflation, and the oldest person to take office as president. He is also the first president who did not serve in the military or hold elective or appointed government office prior to being elected. Of the 43 previous presidents, 38 had held prior elective office, two had not held elective office but had served in the Cabinet, and three had never held public office but had been commanding generals. In September 2020, Trump was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. A far-right Norwegian politician nominated Trump's name citing his role in the peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Protests: Some rallies during the primary season were accompanied by protests or violence, including attacks on Trump supporters and vice versa both inside and outside the venues. Trump's election victory sparked protests across the United States, in opposition to his policies and his inflammatory statements. Trump initially said on Twitter that these were "professional protesters, incited by the media", and were "unfair", but he later tweeted, "Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country." In the weeks following Trump's inauguration, massive anti-Trump demonstrations took place, such as the Women Marches, which gathered 2,600,000 people worldwide, including 500,000 in Washington alone. Marches against his travel ban began across the country on January 29, 2017, just nine days after his inauguration. 2020 presidential campaign: Trump signaled his intention to run for a second term by filing with the FEC within a few hours of assuming the presidency. This transformed his 2016 election committee into a 2020 reelection one. Trump marked the official start of the campaign with a rally in Melbourne, Florida, on February 18, 2017, less than a month after taking office. By January 2018, Trump's reelection committee had $22 million in hand, and it had raised a total amount exceeding $67 million by December 2018. $23 million was spent in the fourth quarter of 2018, as Trump supported various Republican candidates for the 2018 midterm elections.

2016 Donald Trump Las Vegas rally incident

At a June 18, 2016 rally for presumptive-nominee Donald Trump's presidential campaign in Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael Steven Sandford attempted to grab the pistol of a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer providing security for the event. Upon arrest and after waiving his Miranda rights, Sandford claimed that he had wished to kill Trump to prevent him from becoming president. Sandford was charged with disorderly conduct and with being an "illegal alien in possession of a firearm" for having previously rented a pistol at a shooting range. On September 13, 2016, he pleaded guilty to both charges. Sandford was sentenced to 12 months and one day's imprisonment, and was released and deported to the United Kingdom after 11 months in custody. Sandford, a British citizen, had a lengthy history of mental disorders, and the incident prompted criticism of mental health care in the United Kingdom. While the incident did not receive sustained media coverage in the United States, it was the subject of a documentary commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corporation during February 2017. Background: Sandford travelled from the United Kingdom to the United States for an extended holiday in early 2015. In June 2016, he acquired a ticket for the Trump campaign event, also reserving a ticket for a rally to be held in Phoenix, Arizona, later the same day. On June 16, 2016, Sandford drove to Las Vegas, where he visited a shooting range for instruction and practice shooting a rented 9mm Glock 17 pistol. This was the first time Sandford had fired a gun; the range safety officer who assisted him described him as "not a good shot". Because Sandford had overstayed his visa, the rental of a firearm to him was illegal. On the evening of June 17, Sandford joined a queue at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino for the following day's rally. At 9:00 am the following morning, the approximately 1,500 rally attendees were allowed into the Mystère Theater. The event was under the protection of the United States Secret Service, and magnetometers were used to detect any weapons brought into the venue. Incident: At 11:35 am, as Trump was speaking, Sandford noticed that Ameel Jacob, a police officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department who was providing security for the event, appeared to have his 9mm Glock 17 pistol unlocked in its holster. Sandford approached Jacob, who was positioned approximately nine meters (30 feet) from the stage where Trump was speaking, and engaged him in conversation, saying that he wanted Trump's autograph. While talking to Jacob, Sandford "reached down to try and pull the officer's gun, but it got stuck in his holster". Sandford was immediately subdued and arrested by Jacob and two other police officers. Sandford was described as appearing "confused" at the time of his arrest. Police officers are widely equipped with retention holsters that prevent their firearm from unlocking until a release mechanism has been engaged. In many cases, there are additional retention devices in use other than the typical leather strap or rotating hood that cover the top of the handgun. After being taken into custody by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Sandford was handed over to the United States Secret Service. After agreeing to waive his Miranda rights, Sandford was interrogated by two special agents, during which time he stated that his intent had been "to kill Trump", that "if he were on the street tomorrow, he would try this again", and he had been planning the attempt "for about a year". Sandford also stated that he had only anticipated being able to fire "one to two" shots and that he had expected to have been killed. Subsequent legal proceedings: Following his arrest, Sandford was held in the Nevada Southern Detention Center. Due to his mental health conditions, Sandford was kept in solitary confinement and repeatedly put under suicide watch. On June 20, 2016, a complaint was filed with the United States District Court for the District of Nevada charging Sandford with committing an act of violence on restricted ground. Sandford appeared in a Nevada District Court on June 20, 2016, where he was charged with committing an act of violence on restricted ground. Sandford's public defender, Heather Fraley, argued that Sandford should be bailed to a halfway house given his lack of a criminal record, but he was denied bail by judge George Foley Jr. on the basis that he presented a flight risk and was a potential danger to the community. On June 29, a federal grand jury indicted Sandford on three felonies: two counts of being an "illegal alien in possession of a firearm" and one count of "impeding and disrupting the orderly conduct of government business and official functions." Each charge carried a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also issued a detainer against Sandford relating to an immigration violation. Sandford was arraigned on the three charges on July 7, 2016, pleading not guilty to each. His trial was set for August 22, 2016. The Sandford family's UK lawyer, Saimo Chahal of Bindmans, requested that the trial be adjourned to enable "psychological evidence and psychiatric evidence" to be submitted in favor of Sandford being repatriated to the UK to receive treatment for mental illness there. Subsequently, at the urging of his family, Sandford signed a plea agreement that reduced his maximum sentence from 20 years to 27 months and protected Sandford from any additional charges arising from the investigation while waiving Sandford's right to appeal. On September 13, 2016, Sandford pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada to charges of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm (this pertaining to the firearm he had on June 16, 2016 rented for practice at a shooting range) and impeding and disrupting the orderly conduct of government business and official functions, saying "I tried to take a gun from a policeman to shoot someone with, and I'm pleading guilty". A third charge of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm was dropped. Sandford apologized for his actions, saying, "I know saying sorry is not enough. I really do feel awful about what I did. I wish there was some way to make things better. I have cost taxpayers so much money. I feel terrible." Sandford reported having no memory of the incident. Sandford was sentenced at a hearing on December 13, 2016, receiving 12 months and one day's imprisonment. He was also fined US$200 and required to undertake a rehabilitation program. The sentencing judge, James C. Mahan, acknowledged Sandford's mental health issues, stating, "I don't think you harbored malice in your heart ... You have a medical problem ... I don't see you as evil or a sociopath". Mahan described the incident as a "goofy, crazy stunt" driven by "voices" Sandford thought he was hearing and instructed Sandford to "stay on your medication". Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 18 months. Sandford served most of his sentence in the Nevada Southern Detention Center. He was repeatedly placed on suicide watch and stated that he was confined to his cell "most of the time". In January 2017, Sandford's mother stated that Sandford was being harassed by "Trump-supporting guards and inmates". In February 2017, Sandford was relocated to a different jail. Sandford became eligible for early release in April 2017; the following month, he was released from prison and deported to the United Kingdom. In advance of Trump's first presidential trip to the UK in July 2018, the UK Crown Prosecution Service sought a Serious Crime Prevention Order against Sandford on the basis that he posed a "serious risk" to Trump, seeking to curtail his activities during the time of the visit. The Order was successfully opposed on behalf of Sandford by Saimo Chahal of Bindmans who evidenced that the legal test could not be met, resulting in the claim being dismissed. Reaction and analysis: Trump briefly acknowledged the scuffle in his campaign speech, saying, "We love you, police. Thank you. Thank you, officers", as Sandford was led out of the arena. When Fox News interviewer Maria Bartiromo asked Trump about Sandford allegedly having overstayed his visa in the United States, Trump said, "Well, that's what's happening. I mean, look, we have no law, we have no order when it comes to many things. I mean, we're just talking about immigration," and speculated that there were "millions" of people in the United States who had overstayed their visas. The incident received little coverage in the American media. Journalists and political commentators attributed this to its "feebly unsophisticated" and "poorly conceived" nature. They also suggested that Trump and his supporters declined to make political capital from the incident, as "a white British non-Muslim man did not fit his narrative of 'threat'." The Oregonian noted the short sentence given to Sandford, suggesting that "U.S. officials apparently do not consider Sandford a threat." Writing in The Independent, Peter Walker was critical of the decision to incarcerate Sandford, opining "The autistic do not respond well to deterrents, and this is why Sandford should never have spent a single day in prison if sentenced in the UK, I've no doubt this punishment would have recommended a hospital order or counselling." The BBC produced a documentary about the incident and various issues concerning mental health and treatment of individuals affected by disorders. Titled The Brit Who Tried to Kill Trump, it aired on BBC Three on the BBC iPlayer, then on BBC One in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2017. The film was critical of mental health care in the UK, stating that "NHS resources are increasingly stretched by government cuts" and "There's also this difficult crossover period around 18 years old when someone passes from youth to adult services and people can get lost in the system.:

Donald Trump 2000 presidential campaign

New York real estate magnate Donald Trump announced the creation of a presidential exploratory committee on the October 7, 1999 edition of Larry King Live on CNN. Although Trump had never held elected office, he was well known for his frequent comments on public affairs and business exploits as head of The Trump Organization. He had previously considered a presidential run in 1988 as a Republican, but chose not to run. For 2000, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura persuaded Trump to seek the presidential nomination of the Reform Party, which was fracturing despite achieving ballot access and qualifying for matching funds. This standing has come as a result of businessman Ross Perot's 1996 presidential campaign on the party's ticket. Trump focused his campaign on the issues of fair trade, eliminating the national debt, and achieving universal healthcare as outlined in the campaign companion piece The America We Deserve, released in January 2000. He named media proprietor Oprah Winfrey as his ideal running mate and said he would instantly marry his girlfriend, Melania Knauss, to make her First Lady. Critics questioned the seriousness of Trump's campaign and speculated that it was a tactic to strengthen his brand and sell books. Trump defended his candidacy as a serious endeavor and proclaimed that he had a chance to win the election. Although he never expanded the campaign beyond the exploratory phase, Trump made numerous media appearances as a candidate, travelled to campaign events in Florida, California, and Minnesota, and qualified for two presidential primaries. Veteran campaign strategist and longtime Trump aide Roger Stone was hired as director of the exploratory committee. Internal conflict caused Ventura to exit the Reform Party in February 2000, removing Trump's most vocal proponent. Trump officially ended his campaign on the February 14, 2000 airing of The Today Show on NBC. Although he believed he could still win the Reform Party presidential nomination, he felt the party was too dysfunctional to support his campaign and enable a win in the general election. A poll matching Trump against likely Republican nominee George W. Bush and likely Democratic nominee Al Gore showed Trump with seven percent support. Despite his withdrawal, Trump won both primaries for which he qualified. Paleoconservative commentator Pat Buchanan would go on to win the nomination of the Reform Party. After the election, Trump gained greater fame as the host of The Apprentice on NBC. He also notably considered running as a Republican in the 2012 presidential election against Barack Obama but decided against it, endorsing and supporting eventual nominee Mitt Romney. Four years later, he initiated a full-scale presidential campaign, became the Republican Party's 2016 presidential nominee and was elected to serve one term as the 45th president of the United States. Background: Trump, head of The Trump Organization since 1971, first dabbled in presidential politics in the early summer of 1987. Republican political organizer Mike Dunbar, unimpressed with the candidates for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination, founded the "Draft Trump for President" organization. Believing Trump had the makings of a president, Dunbar pitched Trump the idea of speaking at an event for Republican candidates in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire. According to Dunbar in a later interview, Trump was receptive to this idea. Then a registered Democrat, Trump officially changed his registration to Republican in July 1987. Speculation that he would actually run for president intensified when he purchased $94,801 worth of full-page advertisements in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post with the heading "There's nothing wrong with America's Foreign Defense Policy that a little backbone can't cure." The advertisements reflected Trump's concerns that Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait were taking advantage of American money and protection without providing any benefit to the United States. The next month, as Dunbar had proposed, Trump appeared at a Rotary Club luncheon in New Hampshire. There, he delivered what The New York Times described as an "impassioned speech," in which he expressed concern about the United States being "pushed around" by its allies and proposed that "these countries that are ripping us off pay off the $200 billion deficit." In the audience, college students held placards reading "Trump for President." Nevertheless, Trump proclaimed, "I'm not here because I'm running for President. I'm here because I'm tired of our country being kicked around and I want to get my ideas across." Later, Trump appeared on The Phil Donahue Show on WNBC. After the appearance, he received a letter from former President Richard Nixon in which Nixon explained that his wife Pat, "an expert on politics," had seen Trump on the show and "predicts that whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!" In November 1987, Trump released The Art of the Deal, which became a New York Times bestseller. Months later, during an April 1988 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show on ABC, Trump discussed his displeasure with the United States' status as a "debtor nation" and its seeming inability to compete with Japan. Winfrey asked Trump if he would ever run for president. He replied, "Probably not, but I do get tired of seeing the country get ripped off ... I just don't think I have the inclination to do it." Furthermore, he asserted that if he ever did run, he would win the election. He later appeared at the 1988 Republican National Convention. In an interview on the floor, NBC News reporter Chris Wallace asked whether Trump's visit to his first national convention would induce him to "take the plunge" into a presidential campaign. In response, Trump downplayed his prior exploration into presidential politics, though repeated that he would win if he ever ran, and praised then-presumptive Republican presidential nominee George H. W. Bush. During another convention interview on Larry King Live, Trump said, "I doubt I'll ever be involved in politics beyond what I do right now." Talk of a potential Trump candidacy grew silent for much of the next decade. In 1995, industrialist Ross Perot, who had received 18.9 percent of the vote during his Independent 1992 run for president, formed the Reform Party of the United States of America. Although Perot won the party's 1996 nomination and garnered 8.4 percent of the popular vote, rifts had begun forming within the party. Former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, who unsuccessfully challenged Perot for the 1996 presidential nomination, accused Perot of using the party as a personal vehicle, and broke off with his supporters to form a new party. In 1998, former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota as a member of the Reform Party—the party's most significant victory—but Perot and his followers were not receptive to Ventura and his political allies. The Perot faction adamantly, though unsuccessfully, attempted to prevent the election of Ventura supporter Jack Gargan as party chairman in 1999 when Perot backer Russ Verney chose not to stand for re-election for his term ending January 1, 2000. Opting not to run for president himself in 2000, Ventura searched for candidates. Initially, he courted WWF Board Member and former Connecticut governor Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.. He then turned to Donald Trump. Early stages: In 1999, The New York Times reported that Jesse Ventura first approached Trump about a possible 2000 presidential run while both were in attendance at a wrestling event in Atlantic City. But Trump's ambitions may have formed earlier. The America We Deserve co-writer Dave Shiflett said Trump first thought about running in late 1998, when he looked at his political advantages in money and name recognition, and concluded that he was "at least as competent" as then President Bill Clinton. According to Shiflett, this prompted Trump to ask top aide Roger Stone to find the "most eminent hack writer in America" to put Trump's political ideas into a book. Stone reached out to Shiflett, a contributor to The American Spectator. In spring 1999, Shiflett met with Trump about the project that would later become The America We Deserve. During the initial meeting, Shiflett claims Trump raised concerns about a suitcase bomb destroying Manhattan. In July 1999, the Democratic[18] polling firm Schroth and Associates conducted a poll of 400 Reform Party leaders[19] and found Trump tied for third place for the Reform Party presidential nomination. Both the Reform Party and Trump denied having commissioned the poll. Days later, Newsweek raised speculation when it cited an unnamed "close friend" of Trump who said Trump was "toying" with the idea of a presidential campaign, allegedly in response to rumors of Ventura's courting of Weicker for a run. Trump purportedly held a grudge against Weicker for blocking his plans to build a casino in Bridgeport in 1994. The two had an exchange of insults in which Weicker labeled Trump a "dirt bag" and Trump referred to Weicker as "a fat slob who couldn't get elected dog catcher." In response to the Newsweek report, Trump sent out a press release in which he criticized the two party system, praised the Reform Party, and stated "If the Reform Party nominated me, I would probably run and probably win." However, he added that if the party nominated him, he would ask for "an immediate recount." In an interview, he told The New York Times, "I'm honored and I'm flattered by the speculation, but the fact is I've never had more fun than I'm having right now, building the most spectacular buildings in New York." Chairman Verney denied that the Reform Party had any interest in Trump, explaining that party members had "never spent one second thinking about him." A CNN-Time poll conducted later in July showed Trump with seven percent support nationally in a match up against Republican candidate George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore. Two months later, amid reports that paleoconservative political commentator and adviser Pat Buchanan was about to join the Reform Party to seek the nomination, Trump announced that he would consider running as a sign of respect for Ventura. He labeled the views of Buchanan as "prehistoric", and commented that even though he liked Pat, "I'm on the conservative side, but Buchanan is Attila the Hun." He expected that a primary battle between the two would be "nasty." According to columnist Robert Novak, Bush operatives concerned about a third party run by Buchanan contacted Ventura indirectly about preventing Buchanan's nomination. Novak argued that Trump "seems a bad match with Perot's party, but he may be the GOP's last hope to stop Buchanan." When Weicker decided not to seek the party's nomination due to internal bickering, Ventura reportedly went all in for Trump. The media capitalized on a potential Trump versus Buchanan challenge, and Saturday Night Live satirized it with a skit in which Darrell Hammond portraying Trump and Chris Parnell as Buchanan pitched their candidacies to Ross Perot, played by Cheri Oteri. The segment also featured an appearance by Will Ferrell as Ventura. Trump further increased speculation of a full-scale campaign when his publisher Renaissance Books announced a January 2000 release date for The America We Deserve. The publisher's press release announced a book tour and teased, "Donald Trump for President? Run or not, Donald Trump's ideas will have a major impact on the next presidential election." Trump set January also as the month on which he would decide whether to run. He expressed, "I'm not interested in being the third-party candidate who gets the most votes in the history of the world outside of the Democratic and Republican parties, I would only consider this if I thought I could win." On September 30, Trump wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal titled, "America Needs a President Like Me" in which he argued that he would be "the kind of president America needs in the new millennium." He cited the "repugnant" comments of Buchanan and Ventura's personal encouragement as factors contributing to his decision. In an October 6 interview on Dateline NBC, Trump affirmed that he was "very serious" about his run. Announcement: On October 7, Trump announced on Larry King Live that he planned to form an exploratory committee to explore a Reform Party presidential bid. It was reported on the same day that the committee had been formed. Trump planned to use the committee, not to raise money—he would personally fund his campaign—but to advise him on political matters in preparation for a run. In the interview with Larry King, Trump was optimistic about his chances indicating a "very strong possibility" of victory. He referenced a non-scientific National Enquirer poll of 100 individuals, showing him in first place against his Democratic and Republican counterparts. When pressed, Trump identified Oprah Winfrey as his ideal choice for a running mate, describing her as "somebody that is very special," and that if she agreed to run, "she'd be fantastic ... she's popular, she's brilliant, she's a wonderful woman." Oprah's spokesperson later responded "Oprah is not running ... at this point in time." Trump labeled Rudy Giuliani the greatest Mayor of New York and spoke admirably of Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, saying that Reagan had a demeanor that contributed to a phenomenal spirit in the nation. Trump argued that President Bill Clinton could have been a great president, but destroyed his legacy with the Lewinsky scandal. As for the Reform Party, Trump offered praise for both Perot and Ventura, and attacked potential primary opponent Buchanan as someone "enamored" with Adolf Hitler, based on Buchanan's thesis that Hitler presented no military threat to the United States ahead of World War II. On the issues, Trump labeled himself "very conservative," but described his views on healthcare as "quite liberal" and "getting much more liberal", explaining "I believe in universal health care. I believe in whatever it takes to make people well and better. ... It's an entitlement to this country if we're going to have a great country." He expressed opposition to NAFTA, gun control, and said he would like to see alcohol corporations sued in the same manner as tobacco corporations. For his first presidential term, he proclaimed, "I want to do the right job: straighten out Social Security, get the trade deficits in order, and lower taxes." As for the lack of a first lady, Trump said he could solve the issue "in 24 hours" by marrying his 29-year-old girlfriend, model Melania Knauss. In a later interview, Knauss said she would marry Trump under such notice. In the role, she said, "I would be very traditional. Like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy. I would support him." Trump described Knauss as "a woman of great style and elegance ... very poised and gracious and able to get along with everyone." After the announcement, Trump and Knauss had dinner with Ventura and were joined by actor Woody Harrelson. Ventura later commented that Trump's chances of success depended on his impression of the Reform Party. Onlookers questioned Trump's motive in running. Democratic pollster Harrison Hickman expressed doubts about the authenticity of Trump's campaign, saying "It's all marketing of his name." Matt Bai of Newsweek commented "Most serious-minded people think Trump's flirtation with the Reform Party's presidential nomination is just a publicity stunt." Ex-wife Ivana Trump doubted he would actually run. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch commented that people would likely not flock to Trump's campaign, suggesting that Trump was merchandising his brand. Trump disagreed with the critics, arguing that even though his sales had increased as a result of media coverage, he was serious about the campaign. Roger Stone was hired as director of the exploratory committee. Primary campaign- October 1999: Trump's announcement made way for the anticipated Buchanan–Trump primary contest with Buchanan himself moving closer to mounting a Reform Party bid. Buchanan announced he would decide whether to join the race by late October. A Schroth and Associates poll of 500 people who voted for Perot in 1996, showed Buchanan with a slight edge over Trump, 32 percent to 29 percent. Although Ventura wished to prevent a Buchanan nomination, he did not publicly endorse Trump. Some of Ventura's advisers were skeptical of Trump's campaign and wanted Ventura to leave the party if a Buchanan nomination appeared imminent. Ventura's place in the party had become a subject of controversy. Chairman Verney asked Ventura to leave the party in early October after Ventura commented in a Playboy interview that "organized religion is a sham and a crutch." Perot also decided not to make an endorsement during the primary campaign, despite Buchanan's plea that Perot publicly support his entrance into the race. Before Trump could venture out on the campaign trail, he had to tend to some personal matters. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Marla Maples, Trump's second ex-wife, threatened to reveal what Trump "is really like" if he chose to run for president in the general election. In response, Trump withheld $1.5 million in alimony he owed Maples, claiming she was in violation of the confidentiality agreement in the couple's divorce decree. After a Manhattan judge refused to hear the matter, a brief conference was held, wherein the judge's law secretary advised Trump to pay the alimony and advised Maples that further incidents would be cause for the judge to reconsider hearing the matter. Trump's attorneys were satisfied that the meeting would cause Maples to rethink making any public statements on her marriage to Trump. On October 24, Trump appeared on Meet the Press, where he announced that he would officially join the Reform Party. During the interview, Trump questioned why a politician was better suited to be president than him, commenting "I understand this stuff." He said that the Republican Party has become "too crazy right." Notably, he identified Buchanan as a "Hitler-lover" and mused, "I guess he's an anti-Semite . . . He doesn't like the blacks, he doesn't like the gays. It's just incredible that anybody could embrace this guy." As for his reputation as a womanizer, Trump said he would not run if he believed it would be an impediment. The next day, Trump formally joined the Reform Party, changing his voter registration from Republican to Independence Party, the New York affiliate of the Reform Party. On the same day, Buchanan announced that he too would leave the Republican Party to join with the Reform Party and attempt to obtain its presidential nomination. Buchanan said he refused to engage in a "name-calling" contest with Trump but made a thinly veiled attack against Trump's wealth, arguing, "I don't believe the Reform Party nomination can be bought, and I don't believe the Presidency can be bought." On Face the Nation, Pat Choate, the Reform Party's 1996 vice presidential nominee, said Trump would "make a good candidate," but argued that Buchanan could challenge Trump "on the merits" and that Trump and the media were misrepresenting Buchanan's views through "hate politics." Other party members expressed reservations about Trump's comments and personal life. Verney wondered "what the compelling reason is for him to seek the presidency." Trump acknowledged himself as "certainly controversial" but labeled himself as "a great businessman," who would "make the greatest treaties that this country's seen in a long time." On Fox News Sunday, he criticized U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and said that as president he himself would fill the position and negotiate trade deals with other countries. He identified France, Japan, Germany, and Saudi Arabia as nations taking advantage of badly negotiated trade deals with the United States. November 1999: In an effort speculated to implore the media to view the campaign more seriously, Trump rolled out a tax proposal that became the subject of attention. In a series of telephone interviews in early November, Trump proposed a one-time 14.25 percent "net worth tax" that would apply to individuals and trusts with assets greater than $10 million. The plan was meant to raise $5.7 trillion in revenue to wipe out the national debt, estimated at the time to be $5.66 trillion. The plan exempted one's homestead from the calculation. Trump estimated that the tax would only apply to one percent of the population and that the remaining 99 percent would receive a federal income tax cut as well as an elimination of the estate tax. He projected a 35 to 40 percent increase in economic activity as a result and eliminate $200 billion in federal interest payments, half of which would be used to fund middle class tax cuts and the rest to allocate for Social Security. The original plan provided only one year for taxpayers to pay the new tax, but that was later increased to 10 years. Economists predicted that enactment of the plan would "risk capital flight" and "prick" the stock market bubble. Bruce Bartlett of the National Center for Policy Analysis wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the proposed rate would fall short of its goal and that at any rate, would introduce "devastating" disruption to the economic system. Tax attorney Robert L. Sommers, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, argued that many wealthy people lacked sufficient cash on hand to pay the tax and that doing so would lead to the mass liquidation of assets, "roiling the stock and real estate markets." Trump defended his plan, rejecting the speculation that it would be "a shock to the system." Roger Stone noted that Trump had been thinking about the plan for a while and that he felt so strong about it that he was willing to pay $725 million of his own money in taxes under it. CBS News speculated that the plan meant to appeal to middle and lower class Americans. Trump's tax plan differed significantly from the plan put forward by Reform Party rival Buchanan, who had called for a 16 percent flat tax on earnings over $35,000. Despite the discussion of substantive issues, the campaign's seriousness continued to come under attack. Ed Koch elevated his criticisms of the campaign, calling it "fraudulent" and arguing that Trump is the "greatest con artist in the world when it comes to trumpeting his own name . . . . My gut tells me that he knows nothing about policy." Former White House adviser Dick Morris said "I think he's mainly selling books." Republican strategist Ed Rollins questioned whether Trump could "say the right things" or "be willing to let somebody put an organization together." A New York Daily News/WNBC-TV poll showed that 74% of New Yorkers believed the campaign was being used only for Trump "to promote himself." Roger Stone commented that the perception problem would "solve itself" once the campaign would reveal the number of petition signatures it collected. By mid-November, the campaign started receiving advice from political consultant Douglas Friedline, who ran Ventura's successful 1998 gubernatorial campaign. Upon Friedline's advice, Trump assembled communications and campaign staff, and began planning events in strategic states. As a further step in organization, Trump set up a campaign website at the domain www.donaldjtrump2000.com and used Ventura's webmaster, Phil Madsen, to create an online community of supporters. On his first campaign stop, Trump traveled to Miami, Florida and spoke before the Cuban American National Foundation. The foundation invited Trump after he wrote a Miami Herald article denouncing Cuban President Fidel Castro and favoring the U.S. embargo against Cuba several months earlier. During the visit, Trump was met with supporters touting "Trump 2000" posters and shouting "Viva Donald Trump!" There, he delivered his first foreign policy speech, capped with the line, "I'd have, personally, two words for Castro: 'Adios, amigo!'" Covering the event, columnist Maureen Dowd wrote that the fascination with Trump was the "apotheosis of our Gilded Age," where "money, celebrity, polling, and crass behavior" warp politics and the television show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire dominates the culture. Following this theme, Saturday Night Live performed a sketch in which Darrell Hammond reprised his role as Trump, holding a press conference announcing Millionaire winner John Carpenter as his running mate. Soon thereafter, the actual Trump floated possible running mates and members of his presidential cabinet during a November 28 episode of Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer. He identified Senator John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate, as a possible Secretary of Defense. Trump said he would consider Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and mentioned retired General Colin Powell as a possible Secretary of State. He praised General Electric CEO Jack Welch, and discussed him as either Secretary of Treasury or running mate. He again mentioned Oprah Winfrey as a possible running mate. During the interview, Trump expressed his willingness to spend $100 million to self-finance a full-scale campaign. The Reform Party scheduled a debate of the candidates seeking the presidential nomination on December 3 in Portland, Oregon. When a reporter asked a Trump aide whether Trump would appear, the aide was unaware of the debate. Ultimately, Buchanan attended but Trump did not. I think the only difference between me and the other candidates is that I'm more honest and my women are more beautiful. - Donald Trump December 1999: As the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations collapsed amid protests at a summit in Seattle, Trump appeared on the December 5 airing of ABC's This Week. He said that the WTO was not "necessarily fair" to the United States, and argued that "our best, and our smartest, and our brightest" were not being used to negotiate the deal. He renewed his attack on the negotiation skills of Barshefsky, saying that both she and Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley did not know how to negotiate. Next, Trump embarked on a two-day campaign stop in California, which the media covered extensively. During the stop, Trump held a press conference, appearing with his campaign entourage that included his girlfriend Melania, Roger Stone, and bodyguard Matt Calamari. Aides made hand sanitizer readily available for reporters, presumably due to Trump's alleged germaphobia. The Associated Press (AP) noted that Trump "made little attempt to appear statesman-like" at the press conference with responses that seemed "tailored more to entertain his listeners than establish his credibility." In Burbank, Trump appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno where he attacked Buchanan as "having a love affair with Adolf Hitler" and discussed his upcoming book, The America We Deserve. The Weekly Standard reported that though the release date was only a month away, the book had yet to be written. After the Tonight Show appearance, Trump attended a meeting of one hundred Southern California Reform Party members, to whom he delivered a speech and answered questions. Crowds cheered Trump when he discussed his opposition to NAFTA, but some were offended when he questioned the existence of a Reform Party platform and, after receiving a copy, left it on the podium when he exited. On the final day, Trump visited the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance and walked through an exhibit of The Holocaust. He delivered a speech and held another press conference at the museum atrium, where he denounced Buchanan's views on Nazis. Afterwards, Trump boarded his jet for Long Beach. During an on-jet interview, Trump placed his odds of waging a full-scale campaign at "50/50," but "edging closer," believing there to be a "fervor" among the public about his campaign. The AP evaluated the California response as more "warm" than fervent, but described Trump's treatment as that of a "high profile dignitary." At Trump's final event, he spoke at a Tony Robbins motivational conference. Robbins and Trump had made an agreement that would pay Trump $1 million for showing up at ten of Robbins' events. Trump planned to make campaign stops to coincide with Robbins' shows, speculating that he "could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it." At the event, Trump received what the AP called a "moderately enthusiastic applause" after asking the 21,000 people in attendance whether he should run for president. He received a large ovation when he proclaimed, "people want to hear straight talk. We're tired of being bullied by these moron politicians." Overall, The Weekly Standard praised Trump for his candor on the campaign trail. In discussing his campaign strategy with The Los Angeles Times, Trump proclaimed, "the only strategy is, I'll be on television a lot." Responding to a poll of probable Reform Party voters that showed him with only 14% support, fourth place behind Ventura (20%), Perot (25%), and Buchanan (30%), Trump pointed to the spike in ratings each television network received whenever he appeared on air. He admitted, "whether or not TV ratings can transfer into votes is an interesting question." The Times characterized Trump's campaign as "Political Science 101 on how far politics is devolving into pure entertainment." Nevertheless, Trump contemporaneously delved into the politics of third party campaigns when he wrote a letter to Commission on Presidential Debates asking the body to review its standard for third party candidate inclusion in the general election debates. His letter included a veiled threat of litigation if the body enacted a standard preventing his participation. At this time, Trump announced that he would make his decision on whether to wage a full-scale campaign by early February. In addition, he retained two signature collection agencies in order to secure ballot access. As 1999 drew to a close, the conflict within the Reform Party escalated. To the chagrin of the Perot faction, chairman-elect Jack Gargan pushed through a motion to move headquarters from Perot's home in Dallas to Florida. Shortly thereafter, the Perot faction incorporated the Reform Leadership Council as an entity separate from the main party to preserve the vision of Perot. They also moved the National Convention from Ventura's home in Minneapolis to Long Beach. The Ventura faction filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the Perot faction and threatened to bolt the party, prompting chairman Verney to instruct, "don't let the door hit them when they leave." As the conflict unfolded, Ventura publicly expressed that he could never support Buchanan as the party's nominee, describing him as "very shallow." Ventura said that in a head-to-head against Buchanan, he favored Trump. Ventura and Trump planned a campaign event together in Minnesota to begin the new year. January 2000: Trump officially released his book The America We Deserve on January 1. Dave Shiflett received credit as co-writer. To promote the book, Trump held a January 5 press conference at Trump Tower, which aired on C-SPAN. He signed books and answered questions from reporters, once asserting, "I may be too honest to be a politician." Trump's book, consisting of 286 pages, covers Trump's political positions and policy proposals, including strict anti-crime measures, increased pressure on China, fair trade, border control, increased military spending, support for public capital punishment, and the implementation of single-payer health care. It advocates eliminating soft money contributions to political parties and full disclosure of campaign donations to political candidates, but calls for the removal of limits on the amount of donations, arguing, "if you want to give your life savings to Al Gore, that should be between you, Al Gore and your psychiatrist." In addition, it raises concerns about terrorism, proposing the creation of a national lottery to raise funds for anti-terrorism programs, and offers a choice to North Korea to disarm or face military strikes. The America We Deserve also includes praise for former boxer Muhammad Ali, Teamsters leader James P. Hoffa, as well as Trump's future political opponents Florida governor Jeb Bush and New York governor George Pataki, among others. It cites friendships with baseball player Sammy Sosa and entertainer Sean Combs as making Trump more understanding of racial diversity. Trump later backpedaled his book's praise of Combs after Combs was charged with violating gun laws following a shooting at a New York nightclub. Trump said he did not "know Combs really well." The book condemns Congressman Jerrold Nadler as a "hack" for opposing Trump's development of waterfront real estate in Manhattan, and describes Senator Bob Smith as "the dumbest guy in the U.S. Senate" after he grilled Trump's sister Maryanne Trump Barry on abortion when she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1999 upon her nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. It criticizes Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley as a "phony" for his Senate sponsorship of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that purportedly hurt Trump financially. It also notes the hypocrisy of both an unnamed Senator and an unnamed conservative columnist who each engaged in extramarital affairs at Trump's hotels and resorts while they attacked President Clinton for the Lewinsky scandal. In a scathing review, New York Magazine described the book as inadvertently satirical. Booklist pondered whether Trump was "the only man ever to run for president in order to promote a book." Dave Saltonstall of the New York Daily News, labeled it as autobiographical and reported that it contains "enough details to paint a fairly comprehensive picture of what a Trump presidency might look like." On January 7, Trump appeared in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, where he spoke before the Chamber of Commerce, attended a Reform Party fundraiser, and held a joint press conference with Ventura. At the fundraiser, Trump identified North Korea as the nation's greatest foreign policy threat, blasted Japan for "ripping us off" for the last 25 years, and ripped Russia as being "totally mixed up" for placing "people nobody ever even heard of" in charge of missiles. At the press conference, Trump claimed he had yet to decide whether to run officially and so had not asked for Ventura's endorsement. Ventura said that if Trump decided to run, he would give his "full consideration." Trump asserted it would be "disaster for the Reform Party" if Pat Buchanan received the presidential nomination. Describing himself and Ventura as self-made and not part of the "lucky sperm club," Trump made an indirect jab at both the Republican front-runner George W. Bush, the son of former President Bush, and Democratic front-runner Al Gore, son of the late Senator Albert Gore, Sr. Trump and Ventura released a written statement opposing the Commission on Presidential Debates' decision to limit debate participation to candidates polling above 15 percent in the general election and urging the Federal Election Commission to take action. Trump ended his relationship with Melania Knauss in January 2000, removing a key figure of the campaign entourage. According to the New York Daily News, an associate of Trump said the move was meant to appease Reform Party leaders. Roger Stone denied the suggestion. In addressing the matter, Trump complimented Knauss and commented, "she will be missed." Shortly thereafter, in an attempt to bring the two Reform Party factions together, Trump invited party leaders to the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Addressing the 170 party members, who attended the event (including former chairman Russ Verney), Trump proclaimed "I'm very proud to be in the party of Ross Perot and Jesse Ventura." Verney appreciated the gesture and in shifting from his once-chilly reception to the Trump candidacy, he welcomed Trump into the race. After opening the event to questions, one attendee asked Trump whether he would appear at the Florida Reform Party's state convention. Trump said he would consider it "very seriously." Concerning Buchanan, Trump repeated he could not support Buchanan as the party's nominee. Despite the retreat, the intra-party dispute over the location of the convention continued. Citing scheduling conflicts, Trump did not attend the Florida Reform Party's state convention. Reports suggested that Trump insiders believed Buchanan had packed the convention with supporters and would embarrass Trump by winning all the state's delegates. There were also growing indications Trump was considering withdrawing from the race, commenting that he was "deeply concerned" about the conflict within the party. In another attempt to unite the party's factions, Trump wrote letters to Ventura and Perot, requesting the two make peace. Trump believed the instability of the party would hinder his chances of presidential success. Stone commented that "the Reform party is melting down before our very eyes." On the final day of January, Trump was removed from the New York primary ballot after a judge determined that Trump's supporters had failed to obtain the required 5,000 signatures from registered Reform Party members. This marked a victory for Buchanan's supporters, including leftist activist Lenora Fulani, who had hoped to prevent Trump from appearing on the ballot in his home state. February 2000: Despite Trump's efforts, the conflict within the Reform Party escalated. A special Reform Party meeting was planned for Nashville at which the Perot faction was expected to vacate the national chairmanship of Ventura-ally Jack Gargan. Both Trump and Ventura expressed disgust with the national party. Ventura desired to disassociate the Minnesota Reform Party from the national party. An unnamed official within the party told the AP that Ventura and Trump discussed a scenario where Ventura would run as the presidential nominee of the disaffiliated party with Trump as his running mate. The chairman of the Minnesota Reform Party denied Ventura would be part of any presidential ticket. After privately notifying Trump of his intentions and seeking his blessing, Ventura held a press conference on February 12 and officially left the national Reform Party, remaining a member of his state party, which he urged to disaffiliate and return to its original name, the Independence Party of Minnesota. He voiced dissatisfaction with the presidential contest, explaining that Pat Buchanan was running "virtually unopposed" and receiving support from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke; something with which Ventura could not associate. Ventura invited Trump to run for the presidential nomination of the Independence Party, which Ventura believed could become a national entity. At the party's next meeting, it disaffiliated. Trump considered Ventura's invitation but had concerns, particularly the question of whether other state parties would affiliate with the new party. Minnesota political scientist Steve Schier doubted the party could become a national entity, arguing that it was far too small to make an impact on the national level. Ventura's move came just ahead of the Nashville meeting where, with the rationale of failing to "faithfully perform and execute the duties of his office," Gargan was removed by a 109 to 31 committee vote. The chaotic meeting, dominated by Perot-faction members, featured shoving matches and physical squabbles as the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department intervened to restore order. Gargan charged that the meeting was illegal due to insufficient notice, though a quorum was present. Withdrawal: On February 14, Trump withdrew from the race. In a press release, he cited infighting in the Reform Party as not "conducive to victory," concluding he could not win the election as the party's nominee and so, as pledged, would not continue his campaign. He expressed concerns about the direction of the party, particularly its membership, referring to David Duke, Pat Buchanan, and Lenora Fulani as a Klansman, a Neo-Nazi, and a Communist, respectively. However, he lauded party members Russ Verney, Jack Gargan, and others as "wonderful people" he was honored to meet. Trump lamented the exit of Jesse Ventura from the party, arguing "without Jesse, the Reform Party is just an extremist shell and cannot be a force or even a factor in 2000." Trump declined to seek the nomination of Ventura's new Independence Party, finding it "healthy" but too young to win. He expressly kept open the possibility of running for president in 2004. Trump publicly announced his withdrawal on The Today Show in an interview with Matt Lauer. He explained that though he still could have won the Reform Party nomination, he believed he would only win 20 percent in the general election, which he did not want. He claimed the party was on the verge of "self-destructing" and referred to it as a "total mess." In response, Pat Choate, who became the new Reform Party chairman after the unseating of Gargan, disputed Trump's claim about the party and said Trump's campaign was meant only "to smear Pat Buchanan." He declared Trump "unwelcome" to seek the party's 2004 presidential nomination. Choate later remarked that he believed Trump's campaign was a "Republican dirty trick" orchestrated by Roger Stone "to disgust people and drive them away from the Reform Party." Stone argued that John McCain "running on Trump's message" and surging in the polls signaled an end to the Trump campaign. Several days after withdrawing, Trump reflected on his campaign in an editorial published in The New York Times titled "What I Saw at the Revolution." Disputing the claim that he ran for the publicity, Trump countered that he felt the nation was ready for a non-establishment "businessman president" who offered "straight talk." He cited three reasons for dropping out: (1) the criteria of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which would have made it "impossible" for him to qualify for general election debates; (2) the rise of the presidential campaign of John McCain, whose similar message would have made a contrast difficult; and (3) the exit of Ventura from the Reform Party. Trump called his run the "greatest civics lesson that a private citizen can have," but said it was "enormous fun" and a "great life experience," though it "doesn't compare with completing one of the great skyscrapers of Manhattan." So the Reform Party now includes a Klansman—Mr. Duke, a Neo-Nazi—Mr. Buchanan, and a Communist—Ms. Fulani. This is not company I wish to keep. - Donald Trump Results: During the campaign, Trump qualified for the Michigan and California Reform Party presidential primaries. Both of these elections were held after Trump exited the race. On February 22, Trump won the Michigan Primary with 2,164 votes defeating uncommitted with 948 votes. Trump won the California primary on March 7 with 15,311 votes (44.28%) defeating perennial candidate George D. Weber who received 9,390 votes (27.16%), former Director of Advanced Space Programs Development Robert M. Bowman who received 4,879 (14.11%), former Congressman John B. Anderson who received 3,158 (9.13%), and political activist Charles E. Collins who received 1,837 (5.31%). Pat Buchanan was not listed on either ballot. A slate of Trump supporters petitioned to list Trump on the New York Independence Party presidential primary ballot but were denied on a technicality. Pat Buchanan eventually won the Reform Party presidential nomination at a chaotic National Convention in Long Beach in August 2000. Buchanan had lost the support of the Perot faction, which accused Buchanan of fraud and held a counter-convention, nominating Buchanan's only major opponent physicist John Hagelin of the Natural Law Party. According to Russ Verney, the Perot faction lost faith in Buchanan when he emphasized pro-life and anti-homosexual issue positions after promising to respect the party's neutral stance on social issues. After the filing of a complaint over the party's matching funds, the FEC ruled against the Perot faction and invalided the Hagelin selection. The decision was affirmed on appeal. On Election Day, Buchanan appeared on the ballot in all 50 states and received 448,895 votes, 0.42% of the popular vote. George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in a close contest that required a recount and Supreme Court intervention. The Bush campaign recruited Roger Stone to oversee the recount. Aftermath: After the election, Trump returned to his real estate business, rekindled his relationship with Melania Knauss, whom he married in 2005, and hosted NBC's The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice for 14 seasons from 2004 to 2015, acquiring the catchphrase, "You're fired!". In addition, he continued an involvement in politics. He changed his voter registration from the New York Independence Party (Reform Party affiliate) to the Democratic Party in August 2001 as the Reform Party continued its decline. By 2004, the party had lost ballot access in all but seven states, which it gave to Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader. Trump was critical of the George W. Bush administration's handling of the Iraq War and publicly endorsed Bush's impeachment. He considered challenging Bush in the 2004 Republican presidential primaries, but ultimately decided against it. Jesse Ventura, who chose not to run for re-election as Governor of Minnesota in 2002, also considered a 2004 presidential run and publicly asked for and received Trump's support at WrestleMania XX. However, Ventura did not run. In 2009 after Barack Obama took office, Trump changed his voter registration from Democrat back to Republican. He seriously considered running for president as a Republican in 2012 and led in an April 2011 Rasmussen Reports survey. While considering a run, Trump emphasized China's currency manipulation and criticized the trade policies of the Obama administration. Additionally, he questioned the legitimacy of Obama's citizenship and birth certificate. He decided not to run in May 2011, but proclaimed "I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and, ultimately, the general election." After reports that a group in Texas was attempting to create the "Make America Great Again Party" with the intention of running Trump as a candidate, Trump briefly considered a 2012 Independent bid and changed his voter registration from Republican to "I do not wish to enroll in a party." Trump said he would run if the Republicans selected the "wrong candidate." Ultimately, he again decided against running. Trump re-registered as a Republican in 2012 and publicly endorsed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for president. After much speculation, Trump officially decided to run for president as a Republican for the 2016 election, using the motto "Make America Great Again." In his announcement speech in June 2015, Trump took a tough stance against illegal immigration and promised to build a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border if elected president. After announcing, Trump became the front-runner for the nomination, taking the lead in nearly every national poll, ahead of his rivals for the Republican nomination including Jeb Bush, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Trump styled himself as the candidate of anti-establishment Republicans and received praise from former rival Pat Buchanan, who compared Trump's run to Buchanan's 1992 and 1996 campaigns. His attacks on the Republican establishment included a slight against the war hero status of John McCain, whom Trump complimented during his 2000 campaign. Republican voters favored the purported honesty of Trump's message and his abrasive approach, which eschewed political correctness. Roger Stone, who headed Trump's 2000 presidential committee, served as an adviser for the 2016 campaign until a much publicized split in August 2015. The campaign generated major media attention and attracted large crowds to campaign events. Trump won multiple Republican primaries, receiving more votes than any previous Republican candidate, and earned the party's presidential nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention. In the general election, Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to be elected the 45th President of the United States.