Unapologetic and unabashed, Trump stumps to 'save USA'
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Of the 15 Republicans running for US president, the spotlight is currently shining brightest on a loud-mouthed billionaire with household name recognition who has never before sought public office.
Donald Trump is dominating headlines for brash stump statements about making America great again and for claiming that his wealth makes him the best choice because he won’t have to make promises for campaign donations.
Lately, Trump’s campaign has gained momentum as he criss-crosses the country on his private jet. He has zeroed in on a message that attacks illegal immigration and has loudly criticised what he calls the current “lead-from-behind” US foreign policy.
Trump tells prospective voters that if elected he would erect a wall along the US-Mexico border, stand up to foreign rivals like China and Russia and bring back US manufacturing.
Many took notice this week when a USA Today-Suffolk University poll showed him with 17 per cent of respondents saying they supported him to 14 per cent for the former presumptive front-runner, presidential scion Jeb Bush.
“Trump is making daily headlines in advance of the primary season,” one of the researchers told the New York Times.
One of the first of those headlines came as the real estate mogul announced his candidacy on June 16. He boasted that he is “really rich” while saying that Mexicans who illegally enter US were “rapists” and “drug dealers”.
He made more headlines by attacking Obama for the deal announced on Tuesday with Iran to curb its nuclear programme.
“They are laughing at us back in Iran,” Trump told CNN.
“The Persians are always great negotiators.”
The 69-year-old Trump, who relishes negotiations and wrote a book called “The Art of the Deal”, said the US seemed to be dealing from desperation. Had he been in charge, he would have “doubled up the sanctions” to come out with a much better deal.
He has been a vocal critic since Obama was first elected in 2008, jumping on the “birther” movement of people who doubted that Obama was born a US citizen, which would have made him ineligible to be president.
On Wednesday in Las Vegas, Nevada, Trump said that Obama “gets along with nobody” and “the whole world hates us” as a result of his presidency.
In the same speech he said Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton had been “the worst secretary of state in the history of the country”.
The comments fit neatly into Trump’s “make America great again” campaign theme. He strikes a populist nerve with conservatives by saying the country is “going to hell”.
Trump this week said his net worth now exceeds US$10 billion – more than $1 billion higher than his own estimate when he announced his candidacy.
His campaign said on Wednesday he had filed the required personal financial disclosures statement with the Federal Election Commission, which has 30 days to review it before making it public.
The Washington Post pointed out that Trump donated generously to Clinton in the past and was not always a conservative Republican.
He once advocated higher taxes for the wealthy, drug legalisation and a single-payer healthcare system, according to the Post.
Some pundits have suggested Trump is only in the race to cause mayhem in the Republican race and make Clinton look like a safe, more mainstream choice.
Six months before the first votes are cast in the intra-party primary elections, Trump’s ascent has been fuelled by name recognition, in part from The Apprentice, a reality television show that he has hosted since 2004.
A Monmouth University poll released on Monday showed nearly 40 per cent of Republican voters think he is running purely for publicity, which he denies.
“Why would I be doing this?” Trump told CNN. “I take abuse from everybody, and I’m doing this for fun? This isn’t fun – I want to make America great again.”
