Donald Trump
Running for: US President
Shortly after the 2022 midterm election former president Donald Trump announced his third presidential campaign from Florida. Sticking with his previous campaign catchphrase, he said, “Our country was great. Our country is not great anymore.” He is a formidable campaign fundraiser, but not all Republicans are as enchanted with him as they were in the past. Still, he has emerged as the frontrunner, handily winning the New Hampshire Republican primary.
Awaiting response to our 2024 Presidential Primary Survey
Position on Issues
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Candidate's Website, 2023
"President Trump will revoke China’s Most Favored Nation trade status and adopt a 4-year plan to phase out all Chinese imports of essential goods—everything from electronics to steel to pharmaceuticals."
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Like most U.S. presidential candidates, Trump has not said directly whether he would send U.S. military forces to defend Taiwan if China attacks the island. When pressed in a September 2023 interview Trump answered, "I won’t say. I won’t say. Because if I said, I’m giving away — You know, only stupid people are going to give that — I heard the other day, DeSanctimonious said something about he was willing to do this or he was going to do that. I say, 'Well, why is he saying the strategy?' You can’t say that. So when you ask me that question, I would never say that. Because you give away all your options."
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"The drug cartels are waging war on America—and it’s now time for America to wage war on the cartels. ... I will order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces, cyber warfare, and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
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Candidate's Website, 2019
"They say walls don't work. Walls work 100 percent. Whether it's El Paso - I really was smiling, because the other night I was in El Paso - we had a tremendous crowd, and - tremendous crowd. And I asked the people - many of whom were from El Paso, but they came from all over Texas. And I asked them. I said, 'Let me ask you, as a crowd: When the wall went up, was it better?' You were there, some of you. It was not only better; it was like 100 percent better."
Against| Read My Position
Trump has called for a pause on aid to Ukraine due to allegations of corruption in the Biden administration.
He also said, "Joe Biden should not be dragging us further toward World War III by sending cluster munitions to Ukraine — he should be trying to END the war and stop the horrific death and destruction being caused by an incompetent administration."
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"But I will tell you, background checks - I called many senators last night, many congressmen, and Jeff and Pam and everybody in this room. I can tell you, Curtis, they're into doing background checks that they wouldn't be thinking about maybe two weeks ago. We're going to do strong background checks. We're going to work on getting the age up to 21 instead of 18. We're getting rid of the bump stocks. And we're going to be focusing very strongly on mental health, because here's a case of mental health."
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In a 2000 book, Trump voiced support for a ban on military-style "assault weapons." However, since then he has moved away from gun control. At a 2023 NRA conference he said, "I was proud to be the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president you've ever had in the White House."
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"Last Thursday, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) and Colorado Senator Cory Gardner (R) teamed up to announce the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act (STATES). According to Gardner, the bill will 'ensure that each state has the right to determine for itself the best approach to marijuana within its borders. The bill also extends these protections to Washington, D.C, U.S. territories, and federally recognized tribes, and contains common-sense guardrails to ensure that states, territories and tribes regulating marijuana do so safely.'
"President Trump appears to be all in on the bill. Before jetting off to the G-7 summit in Canada, he told reporters, 'I support Senator Gardner. I know exactly what he's doing. We're looking at it. But I probably will end up supporting that, yes.'"
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"'President Trump is 100% opposed to Biden's cruel government mandate forcing a rapid and reckless transition to electric vehicles far beyond what consumers want, what workers can accept, what manufacturers can affordably produce, and what our infrastructure can even sustain,' Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told The Post. 'President Trump never mandated anything. He is for consumer choice and the protection of the American autoworker, and always has been. Joe Biden is for his brutal government dictate that stabs union workers in the back and kills their jobs to send the auto industry to China.'"
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"Drill, baby, drill. Well, we were energy independent. We were soon going to be energy dominant.
"And nobody had ever done what I did. We got oil down to $1.87. Actually, it fell lower than that in some cases. We’d have to save the oil companies – the price was getting.
"So, we were doing incredibly. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country, probably the greatest economy in the history of the world.
"We’re energy independent, soon to be energy dominant. We were going to be bigger than Russia and Saudi Arabia put together times two. We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other nation – any other nation."
Against| Read My Position
"We have to lower interest rates. Interest rates are through the roof."
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Trump has not specifically addressed how he would use tariffs going forward, but he supported aggressive tariff increases when serving as president.
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2023
Should the federal government combat inflation by capping price increases by large businesses?
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"I say to the Republicans out there – congressmen, senators – if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re going to have to do a default. And I don’t believe they’re going to do a default because I think the Democrats will absolutely cave because you don’t want to have that happen. But it’s better than what we’re doing right now because we’re spending money like drunken sailors."
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2023
Should the federal government combat inflation by raising taxes to reduce the budget deficit?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2023
Should the federal government combat inflation by repealing or revising the Jones Act to allow more foreign involvement in shipping between U.S. ports?
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At the 2023 CPAC Trump criticized fellow Republicans for their plans to raise the retirement age, saying, "We’re not going back to people that want to destroy our great social security system, even some in our own party, I wonder who that might be, that want to raise the minimum age of social security to 70, 75, or even 80 in some cases."
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Other, 2023
Trump has not specifically addressed means testing in recent years. However, he generally opposes changes to Social Security. in January 2023 he said, "Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security." In March 2023 he said, "We’re not going back to people that want to destroy our great social security system, even some in our own party."
Against| Read My Position
Trump has not specifically addressed the cap on income subject to the Social Security tax. However, he generally opposes tax increases and has criticized Republicans for plans to reform Social Security. In January 2023 he said, "Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security."
Other| Read My Position
In his 2000 book "The America We Deserve", Trump voiced support for private Social Security accounts. However, at the November 2015 Politics and Eggs forum, he said, "My plan is to leave Social Security alone. What we're going to do is get rid of the fraud, abuse and waste."
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On his website Trump said, "Under my policy, the United States government will tell Big Pharma that we will only pay the best price they offer to foreign nations, who have been taking advantage of us for so long— the United States is tired of getting ripped off." As president, Trump issued a similar Executive Order, although the order was challenged in court.
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"Former President Donald Trump said the federal government should play a 'vital role' opposing abortion but again failed to provide specifics on what national restrictions he would support if elected to the White House again."
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Candidate's Facebook Page, 2016
"Let me be clear-I am pro-life. I support that position with exceptions allowed for rape, incest or the life of the mother being at risk. I did not always hold this position, but I had a significant personal experience that brought the precious gift of life into perspective for me. ... If using taxpayer money to facilitate our slide to a culture of death was not enough, the 1973 decision became a landmark decision demonstrating the utter contempt the court had for federalism and the 10th Amendment. Roe v. Wade gave the court an excuse to dismantle the decisions of state legislatures and the votes of the people. This is a pattern that the court has repeated over and over again since that decision. Perhaps Roe v. Wade became yet another incidence of disconnect between the people and their government."
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At a North Carolina rally Trump said, "We will not by the way, have men participating in women's sports."
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Trump's website states: "In connection with totally refocusing schools on succeeding in the world of work, President Trump pledges to close the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. and to send all education work and needs back to the States."
Trump has also called for defunding the Department of Justice and FBI on his social media platform, Truth Social.
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When asked about an age limit for candidates in September 2023 Trump answered, "I'm all for [competency] testing. Frankly I think it would be a good thing. A lot of people say it's not constitutional to do it, but I would be for testing, to test to make sure that everything's just fine."
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"Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that it is 'very unlikely' he would pardon himself if he wins another term in 2024, adding in an exclusive interview with NBC 'Meet the Press' moderator Kristen Welker that he believes he did nothing wrong.
"'I think it’s very unlikely. What, what did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything wrong,' Trump said. 'You mean because I challenge an election, they want to put me in jail?'"
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Candidate's Twitter Feed, 2023
"President Trump supports a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on Congress, a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members, and a ban on members of Congress trading stocks with insider knowledge."
