Was Trump Ever A Democrat

This House Democrat Is Leading The Charge To Bar Donald Trump From Ever Being President Again

As former President Donald Trump prepared to announce his 2024 presidential campaign Tuesday, Rep. David Cicilline was circulating a letter to his fellow Democratic lawmakers calling on them to support legislation that would bar Trump from running, citing his involvement in the January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Lawmakers have until Thursday at noon to sign on as original co-sponsors of the legislation, which states that the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution bars anyone from holding public office if they, “having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States… to support the Constitution of the United States… engaged in insurrection of rebellion against the same.”

Trump “forfeited his right to ever hold federal office again for leading an insurrection against the United States,” the Rhode Island Democrat wrote in the Dear Colleague letter. “This language in our Constitution clearly intended to bar insurrectionists from holding high office in the United States.”

Cicilline noted that hearings held by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol earlier this year demonstrated that Trump “engaged in insurrection on January 6 with the intention of overturning the lawful 2020 election results.”

House Democrats Introduce Bill To Bar Trump From Office Under 14th Amendment

House Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation that would bar former President Donald Trump from holding any federal office in the future, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

The legislation is spearheaded by Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, of Rhode Island, who was a House manager for Trump’s second impeachment, and the bill also has 40 co-sponsors, all Democrats. It cites the provision in the 14th Amendment that says no one who has held government office and who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” shall be able to hold federal office again.

“Donald Trump very clearly engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 with the intention of overturning the lawful and fair results of the 2020 election,” Cicilline argued in a statement. “You don’t get to lead a government you tried to destroy. Even Mitch McConnell admits that Trump bears responsibility, saying on the Senate floor that ‘here’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.'”

“The 14th Amendment makes clear that based on his past behavior, Donald Trump is disqualified from ever holding federal office again and, under Section 5, Congress has the power to pass legislation to implement this prohibition,” Cicilline continued.

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 to 62,984,828 votes .

Trump’s victory was considered a stunning political upset by most observers, as polls had consistently showed Hillary Clinton with a nationwide âthough diminishing âlead, 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.

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Donald Trump: Campaigns And Elections

Upon his inauguration in 2017, Donald Trump became the first person elected president of the United States who had no prior experience in public service. Most prior presidents had been elected to political offices earlier in their careers. Of those without electoral experience, three had been Army generals and one, Herbert Hoover, had been Secretary of Commerce among other appointed government positions.

Donald Trumps pre-presidential political experience, by contrast, consisted largely of gaining and nurturing political influence, rather than exercising leadership. According to his biographers, Trump learned to cultivate political relationships with New York City Democratic officeholders from his father, Fred Trump, who used friendships and campaign contributions to gain preferential treatment from the politicians who influenced the rules, regulations, permitting, and tax policies that affected his real estate interests.

As a young man, Donald Trump did not display consistent party or ideological preferences. Like his father, he supportedand was supported bythe Democratic Party in New York. In the 1980s, he supported Republican Ronald Reagan for president and identified himself as a Republican by 1987. In future years, he would also register or identify as a Democrat, an independent, and a member of the Reform Party.

Election of 2016

Election of 2020

Extremism Is A Democratic Issue Too

All year and especially in the closing days of the campaign Democrats cast themselves as a mainstream alternative to the excesses of the GOP. But despite the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the hundreds of election deniers Republicans put on the ballot, voters on Tuesday did not appear to see it that way.

In preliminary exit polls, about equal proportions of voters said Democrats and Republicans were too extreme. The exits mirrored a poll released just before the election by the center-left group Third Way found voters viewed Republicans and Democrats as similarly far from the center.

It hurt Republicans that abortion ranked high on voters list of concerns, just behind inflation. And some of the most prominent Republican election deniers went down, including Doug Mastriano, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania. Lake might lose in Arizona, which few political observers expected.

But its not as though Democrats were viewed by voters as the reasonable party.

Part of that had to do with crime. All across the map, using grainy, black-and-white images and CCTV footage of crimes in progress, Republicans ran ads yoking Democrats to defund the police, bail reform and rising crime rates.

It didnt work everywhere and it didnt work as well as Republicans had anticipated. But the legacy of defund the police is still getting in Democrats way.

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Biden Has A Calendar Problem

With Tuesday looking a lot better for Democrats than expected, its possible well see some rallying around Biden. Presidents who suffered much more punishing midterms went on to win second terms.

So, give Biden his due. But its hard to argue that Democrats over-performed on Tuesday because of Biden rather than in spite of him. His approval rating, hovering around 41 percent, is dismal and has been all year. Hell turn 80 this month, and earlier this year, a majority of Democrats polled said theyd prefer someone else to be the partys nominee.

But one thing Biden did have going for him was the calendar, and the reluctance of Democrats to do anything that might hurt him and, by extension, the party ahead of the midterms.

That imperative is gone now. And though no prominent Democrat is likely to run a serious campaign against Biden, there will be increasing pressure on him, especially from the left, to step aside.

Its already happening. On Wednesday, in an effort described first to POLITICO, a left-wing group that worked in 2020 to persuade progressives to support Biden will start airing digital ads in New Hampshire highlighting Bidens extremely low approval rating and depicting him as a weak incumbent.

We cannot risk losing in 2024, says one ad, part of RootsAction.orgs #DontRunJoe campaign. We shouldnt gamble on Joe Bidens low approval rating.

Criticisms Of Trump’s Voting Record

Trump’s inconsistency when it comes to party affiliationhe’s also been registered with the Independence Party and as an independentwas an issue in the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Many in the large field of presidential hopefuls criticized his affiliation with the Democrats, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

He was a Democrat longer than he was a Republican. He’s given more money to Democrats than he has to Republicans,” Bush said.

It probably didn’t help Trump’s case among conservative voters that he’s spoken very highly of some of Democrats who are typically vilified by conservatives, including former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Oprah Winfrey, and even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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Legal Affairs And Bankruptcies

Fixer Roy Cohn served as Trump’s lawyer and mentor for 13 years in the 1970s and 1980s. According to Trump, Cohn sometimes waived fees due to their friendship. In 1973, Cohn helped Trump countersue the United States government for $100 million over its charges that Trump’s properties had racial discriminatory practices. Trump and Cohn lost that case when the countersuit was dismissed and the government’s case went forward. In 1975, an agreement was struck requiring Trump’s properties to furnish the New York Urban League with a list of all apartment vacancies, every week for two years, among other things. Cohn introduced political consultant Roger Stone to Trump, who enlisted Stone’s services to deal with the federal government.

As of November 2016, Trump and his businesses had been involved in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, according to a running tally by USA Today.

While Trump has not filed for personal bankruptcy, his over-leveraged hotel and casino businesses in Atlantic City and New York filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection six times between 1991 and 2009. They continued to operate while the banks restructured debt and reduced Trump’s shares in the properties.

Early Life And Education

Jordan was born and raised in Champaign County, Ohio, the son of Shirley and John Jordan. He attended and wrestled for Graham High School, graduating in 1982. He won state championships all four years he was in high school and compiled a 1561 winloss record. He then enrolled at the University of WisconsinMadison, where he became a two-time NCAADivision Iwrestling champion. Jordan won the 1985 and 1986 NCAA championship matches in the 134-pound weight class. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1986. He lost the 126137-pound featherweight semifinal match at the 1988 US Olympic wrestling trials, failing to qualify for the Olympic team.

Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach with Ohio State University‘s wrestling program from 1987 to 1995. Ohio State University began an independent investigation in April 2018 into allegations of sexual misconduct against former wrestling team physician Richard Strauss, who served as the team physician during Jordan’s tenure as assistant coach. Strauss died by suicide in 2005.

In June 2018, at least eight former wrestlers said that Jordan had been aware of, but did not respond to, allegations of sexual misconduct by Strauss. Jordan’s locker was adjacent to Strauss’, and while he was assistant wrestling coach, he created and awarded a “King of the Sauna” certificate to the member of the team who spent the most time in the sauna “talking smack”.

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Political Positions Of Donald Trump

The political positions of Donald Trump , the 45th president of the United States, have frequentlychanged. Trump is primarily a populist, protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist.

Deeply Partisan And Personal Divides

Trumps status as a political outsider, his outspoken nature and his willingness to upend past customs and expectations of presidential behavior made him a constant focus of public attention, as well as a source of deep partisan divisions.

Even before he took office, Trump divided Republicans and Democrats more than any incoming chief executive in the prior three decades.1 The gap only grew more pronounced after he became president. An average of 86% of Republicans approved of Trumps handling of the job over the course of his tenure, compared with an average of just 6% of Democrats the widest partisan gap in approval for any president in the modern era of polling.2 Trumps overall approval rating never exceeded 50% and fell to a low of just 29% in his final weeks in office, shortly after a mob of his supporters attacked the Capitol.

Republicans and Democrats werent just divided over Trumps handling of the job. They also interpreted many aspects of his character and personality in fundamentally opposite ways. In a 2019 survey, at least three-quarters of Republicans said the presidents words sometimes or often made them feel hopeful, entertained, informed, happy and proud. Even larger shares of Democrats said his words sometimes or often made them feel concerned, exhausted, angry, insulted and confused.

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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.

Trump first floated the idea of running for president in 1987, placing 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.” In 1988, he approached Lee Atwater asking to be put into consideration as Republican nominee George H. W. Bush‘s running mate. Bush found the request “strange and unbelievable.” According to a Gallup poll in December 1988, Trump was the tenth most admired man in America.

Political Career Of Donald Trump

On June 18, 2019, Trump announced that he would seek re-election in the 2020 presidential election. The election on November 3 was not called for either candidate for several days on November 7, the Associated Press â along with major TV networks including CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, and Fox News â called the race for Joe Biden. Trump refused to concede, despite the final election results not being close, and the administration did not begin cooperating with president-elect Biden’s transition team until November 23. With one week remaining in his presidency, Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for incitement of insurrection for his actions during the January 6 coup and attack on the United States Capitol, but was acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate because the 57â43 vote in favor of convicting him fell short of the 2/3 supermajority required for conviction. Trump continues to push the false idea that he is still the true president of the United States, which has led to ongoing controversy within the Republican party.

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Trump Is Damaged Goods

Trump is still the dominant figure in the Republican Party, and hell be the favorite to win the GOP nomination for president if, as expected, he runs again.

But Trumps place in the party is far weaker after Tuesday. Truth is, if not for the former presidents interventions, the night could have been a lot better for the GOP.

Just look at how the most Trump-y candidates fared in states where more traditionalist Republicans were on the same ballot.

In Georgia, Herschel Walker was locked in a neck-and-neck contest with Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Gov. Brian Kemp, whose resistance to overturning the 2020 results infuriated Trump, easily defeated his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams.

In New Hampshire, Republican Don Bolduc lost to Sen. Maggie Hassan in a race that didnt even look close, while Gov. Chris Sununu, who once referred to Trump as , cruised to reelection. Trumps preferred candidate in Ohio, J.D. Vance, did better, beating Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan by a comfortable margin in that states U.S. Senate race. But he came nowhere close to the margin that incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine, a more traditionalist Republican, put up.

In Arizona, it was still early, with only about half of the expected vote in. But Kari Lake was running behind Katie Hobbs. Even if she comes back to win, it will be a closer race than political professionals of both parties had predicted had a more traditionalist Republican, Karrin Taylor Robson, made it through.

Politics And Policies During Presidency

As president, Trump has pursued sizable income tax cuts, deregulation, increased military spending, rollbacks of federal health-care protections, and the appointment of conservative judges consistent with conservative ” rel=”nofollow”> Republican Party) policies. However, his anti-globalization policies of trade protectionism cross party lines. In foreign affairs he has described himself as a nationalist. Trump has said that he is “totally flexible on very, very many issues.”

Trump’s signature issue is immigration, especially illegal immigration, and in particular building or expanding a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

In his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised significant infrastructure investment and protection for entitlements for the elderly, typically considered liberal ” rel=”nofollow”> Democratic Party) policies. In October 2016, Trump’s campaign posted fourteen categories of policy proposals on his website, which have been since removed. During October 2016, Trump outlined a series of steps for his first 100 days in office.

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