President Trump is running for re-election in 2020. He considers former Vice President Joe Biden to be his top rival. In June, he playfully told Vladimir Putin that Russia shouldn't meddle in the next presidential election.
Key facts about Trump:
- Age: 73
- Born: Queens, New York City
- Undergraduate: University of Pennsylvania
- Date filed for re-election: Jan. 20, 2017
- Previous roles: Real-estate developer, TV personality
Trump's policies on key issues:
- Immigration: Issued a travel ban on predominately Muslim countries through the Supreme Court after multiple legal battles. He declared a national emergency to gain federal funding for his border wall and ended the family separation portion of his "zero-tolerance" policy after bipartisan backlash.
- He considered an unconstitutional plan to end birthright citizenship.
- Despite Trump's rhetoric, ICE deported more immigrants per fiscal year under President Obama than during most of Trump's presidency.
- Health care: Promised a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, but not until after the 2020 elections. His administration finalized a rule to require pharmaceutical companies to post drugs' list prices in TV commercials — which incurred lawsuits.
- Education: His administration requires federal student loan servicers "to refuse requests for information from third parties like state attorneys general" or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," Politico reports. He wants to increase federal charter school grants.
- Climate change: He wants the U.S. to leave the Paris Climate Accord, aimed at combating climate change. (The U.S. can't leave until after the 2020 election.) He has a history of climate change skepticism and disagrees with findings on human-caused climate change from his own administration.
- His administration has rolled back 49 environmental policies, per the NYT, including: lowering regulation requirements of major industrial polluters via the Clean Air Act and loosening offshore drilling safety regulations implemented after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Key criticisms of Trump:
- Most Americans in 2017 believed Trump should be subject to congressional investigation for allegations of sexual harassment. Author E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her in the mid-'90s.
- The Mueller report did not conclude that Trump obstructed justice, but it did not exonerate him. 58% of Americans believe Trump lied to the public about what the special counsel investigated.
- The investigation did not establish that Trump campaign members colluded with the Russian government, but that the president's actions may have influenced Russia's actions.
- Trump's U.S.-China trade war exposed roughly 11 million U.S. workers to tariffs by May 2019, after tariffs on Chinese imports rose from 10% to 25%. His administration paid farmers $8.52 billion to offset the impact.
- Trump "participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune he received from his parents," a NYT investigation found.
- Trump made 12,019 false or misleading claims as of Aug. 5, according to WaPo.
1 fun thing about Trump:
- Trump is the first sitting U.S. president to enter North Korea.
Go deeper: What you need to know about the other 2020 candidates
Editor's note: This piece has been updated to clarify that Jan. 20, 2017, was the date Trump filed for re-election.
