Trump's populist[20][21] positions in opposition to illegal immigration and various trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership,[22][23][24][25] earned him support especially among voters who were male, white,[26] blue-collar, working class, and those without college degrees.

[81] According to an April 7, 2015, memo released by WikiLeaks, Hillary Clinton's campaign instructed the Democratic National Convention to focus on "Pied Piper candidates" Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson.

[94][140] Trump proposed a broader crackdown on illegal immigration, and, in a July 6 statement, claimed that the Mexican government is "forcing their most unwanted people into the United States"—"in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.

[144] At a July 2015 rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Trump was welcomed by the Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, turning over the lectern for part of his speech to a supporter whose child was killed in Los Angeles in 2008 by a Mexican-born gang member.

He issued a written statement saying, "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," which he repeated at subsequent political rallies.

[171] Following Trump's controversial comments on Muslim immigration, a petition[172] was begun on the British Parliament's e-petition website, calling on the UK government's Home Secretary to bar him from entering the country.

[178] Trump caused further controversy when he recounted an apocryphal story about how U.S. general John J. Pershing shot Muslim rebels with pig's blood-dipped bullets in order to deter them during the Moro Rebellion.

[203][204] Trump "tapped into a deep well of anxiety among Republicans and independents in New Hampshire, according to exit polling data", running strongest among voters who feared "illegal immigrants, incipient economic turmoil and the threat of a terrorist attack in the United States".

[259] In November 2016, after calls for his impeachment as Governor and felony convictions in U.S. federal court for high-ranking members of his staff in the Bridgegate scandal, Christie was dropped by Trump as leader of the transition team, in favor of Mike Pence.

[337] From an external political perspective, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel termed Trump a right-wing populist similar to Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders or Silvio Berlusconi.

[340] Navarro and the international private equity investor Wilbur Ross authored a short economic endorsement plan for the Donald Trump presidential campaign in September 2016 which was published without academic references and criticized in the press.

"[346] According to MIT economist Simon Johnson, the economic plan essay authored by Navarro and Wilbur Ross for Donald Trump during the campaign had projections "based on assumptions so unrealistic that they seem to have come from a different planet.

One of his main missions is to focus on behaviors by other countries that he considers abusive, cheating, illegal, and unfair against the U.S.[352][353][354] The campaign drew heavily on Trump's personal image, enhanced by his previous media exposure.

In his book Think Like a Billionaire he states that he returns to favorites like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, while also appreciating a more diverse catalogue including rap artist Eminem and reggae group Toots and The Maytals.

[372] According to data from the Tyndall Report, which tracks nightly news content, through February 2016, Trump alone accounted for more than a quarter of all 2016 election coverage on the evening newscasts of NBC, CBS and ABC, more than all the Democratic campaigns combined.

[217] At a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, in February 2016, Trump stated that if elected he would "open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money".

[401] On September 15, as Trump was addressing an assembly at Bethel United Methodist Church in Flint, Michigan, the pastor, Faith Green Timmons, interrupted him as he criticized Clinton, asking him not to "give a political speech".

"[495] On November 1, 2016, The Wall Street Journal published an open letter signed by 370 economists, including eight Nobel laureates, who stated that Trump would be a "dangerous, destructive" choice and encouraged voters to vote for another candidate.

[496][497] Peter Navarro of the University of California, Irvine, one of Trump's senior economic advisers, called the letter "an embarrassment to the corporate offshoring wing of the economist profession who continues to insist bad trade deals are good for America."

[536] Trump praised prominent national evangelical leaders of the Christian right, including Tony Perkins and Ralph Reed,[537] and received a blessing and endorsement from Greek Orthodox priest and hedge fund manager Emmanuel Lemelson.

Russell D. Moore, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public-policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is a prominent Trump critic and argued that Christians should vote for a conservative third party.

[548] The Deseret News, a media outlet owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, broke with an 80-year tradition of refraining from presidential endorsements to publish an editorial calling on Trump to step aside.

[625] University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers, analyzing a national survey of likely Republican primary voters from December 2015, found that having an authoritarian personality and a fear of terrorism were the only two variables among those tested that were statistically significant predictors of Trump support.

[628] A geographical study found support for Trump in the Republican primaries was correlated positively with the following factors (in order of statistical strength): (1) proportion of white lacking a high school diploma; (2) ethnicity reported as "American" on the census; (3) living in a mobile home; (4) jobs largely in agriculture, construction, manufacturing or trade; (5) having a history of voting for segregationists such as George Wallace in 1968; and (6) residents born in the United States and being an evangelical Christian.

[680] In March 2016, Politico Magazine analyzed 4.6 hours of Trump stump speeches and press conferences over a five-day period and found "more than five dozen statements deemed mischaracterizations, exaggerations, or simply false.

[778] Following the October 7, 2016, revelation of Trump's 2005 remarks during a filming of an Access Hollywood episode and his denial that he had ever actually engaged in the behaviors he described, multiple women came forward with new stories of sexual misconduct, including unwanted kissing and groping.

[797] His comment touched off a media and political uproar in which he was accused of "threatening to upend a fundamental pillar of American democracy" and "rais[ing] the prospect that millions of his supporters may not accept the results on November 8 if he loses".

The Ohio Democratic Party wrote in a legal filing, "Trump has sought to advance his campaign's goal of 'voter suppression' by using the loudest microphone in the nation to implore his supporters to engage in unlawful intimidation," Other lawsuits used similar language.

[809][811][812] Chinese President Xi Jinping stated to Trump that he placed "great importance on the China-U.S. relationship, and look[s] forward to working with you to uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation.

"[813] The strategic partnership between the European Union and the United States is rooted in our shared values of freedom, human rights, democracy and a belief in the market economy ... Today, it is more important than ever to strengthen transatlantic relations ... when dealing with unprecedented challenges such as Da'esh, the threats to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, climate change and migration ... We should spare no effort to ensure that the ties that bind us remain strong and durable.