run for the Republican nomination His personality and name were unofficial cornerstones of the RNC FROM CEO TO PRESIDENT Donald Trump often spoke of his business experience during the campaign He is not the first business leader to run for the office of president Seven former presidents ran businesses before holding the nation’s highest office Presidents George W Bush and his father George H W Bush were both in the oil business Harry S Truman owned a men’s clothing company Warren Harding operated a newspaper Herbert Hoover ran a mining company and Calvin Coolidge was vice president of a bank in western Massachusetts The Road to Cleveland It had been a long road to the RNC Trump had begun making stops across the country more than a year before to gauge early support He formally announced his candidacy on June 16 2015 while descending the escalator in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City In his remarks he unveiled his campaign slogan Make America Great Again He pronounced himself the outsider candidate He had spent his life making billions of dollars not serving as a career politician in Washington DC This he said made him uniquely qualified to make the big changes Americans were increasingly demanding 6 ESSENTIAL LIVES
Over the past 20 years American politics had become increasingly polarized Fewer Americans identified as moderates Instead they were identifying with one of the two extremes conservative or liberal People in each group felt they had little common ground with those in the other At the same time nearly all Americans had become increasingly frustrated with the government In 2015 only 19 percent of Americans said they trusted the government most or all of the time 2 Given this context it was not surprising that candidates who claimed to be antiestablishment became contenders in the presidential race Trump became the outsider figure in the Republican race Bernie Sanders ran against Hillary Clinton as the outsider candidate for the Democrats Trump and Sanders both appealed to a public that wanted to see a major change in US leaders Throughout the primary season Trump addressed the fears and frustrations of many conservative voters He promised to increase US jobs To prevent terrorism Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States He also promised to build a wall between the United States and Mexico to stop illegal immigration Trump planned to cut taxes and leave Social Security benefits as they are DONALD TRUMP 7
Trump announced Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate two days before the RNC The media and establishment Republicans and Democrats alike criticized Trump’s plans They called them contradictory unconstitutional and racist Trump supporters disagreed Businesswoman Essie Dube summed up the feelings of many Trump supporters when she said Donald Trump may be a little rough around the edges but he says it like it is He says things that other Americans are afraid to say but they feel in their heart 8 ESSENTIAL LIVES
Nominating Trump Trump’s rallying cries became the major themes at the RNC The four-day event took place between July 18 and 21 2016 On the first night the theme was national security and foreign policy Soldiers politicians actors and everyday citizens spoke They shared their experiences of job loss terrorism and war The most noteworthy speech of the night was given by Trump’s wife Melania She praised her husband’s commitment to the United States and his desire to improve the country The next morning the big news story was not about the theme of the RNC’s opening night Instead it centered on the content of Melania’s speech A paragraph had been plagiarized from a speech First Lady Michelle Obama gave in 2008 The story dominated the news for two days Trump took to Twitter to address the controversy Good news is Melania’s speech got more publicity than any in the history of politics especially if you believe that all press is good press 4 The second day of the convention had its share of controversy too On that day delegates planned to vote in the roll call The vote would formally name Trump as the 2016 presidential nominee It did not go smoothly DonalD Trump 9
