At this point you have to have been living under a rock to not have heard about Donald Trump. He is a billionaire real estate mogul who is currently the Republican presidential candidate. You either love him or you hate him but you cannot deny that the man has star power. So as we approach elections this November, do you know Donald Trump?

Donald Trump was born in 1946 in Queens, New York and was the fourth child to his parents. His father was a real estate developer in New York specializing in construction for apartments for middle-income families. At the age of 13, he was sent to a military academy where it was said he did very well. He then entered Fordham University and two years later transferred to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1968 with a degree in economics. Donald was always described as sociable, likable and outgoing.

After graduating from college, Donald went on to work for his father’s company which would soon become his own. He convinced his father to use more liberal finance methods when it came to business which allowed the company to grow. His personal life involved three marriages with five children. He has had two successful television programs and in the early 2000s looked into the idea of politics. Due to his poor outcomes in 2000, he withdrew his candidacy. In 2012, he became highly involved in a group of which their main goal was to disprove President Barack Obama’s citizenship. Then in 2015, Donald Trump announced that he was going to run as a Republican presidential candidate.

So that is a quick summary of Donald Trump’s life, but that doesn’t really affect how you are going to vote. So below, I am going to use quotes and various articles to put together his opinions on various topics.

China

He would, as president, formally designate China as a currency manipulator, crack down on what he says is the theft of U.S. intellectual property, and expose its various export subsidy practices. He would also seek to lower the U.S. corporate income tax rate, decrease the national debt, and ramp up the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, all of which he says would bolster Washington’s bargaining position with respect to Beijing. In his announcement of his candidacy, he singled out China as a threat to the U.S. economy.

“If [China doesn’t] come to the table, they're going to have a tax when they put their products into this country. And they're going to behave.” -Donald Trump, September 25, 2015

“On day one of a Trump administration, the U.S. Treasury Department will designate China a currency manipulator.” -Donald Trump, November 8, 2015

Defense

Donald Trump has said he would increase the size, power and reach of the military, but has offered few specifics. He has also criticized the readiness of U.S. nuclear forces. Trump has opposed some recent U.S. military interventions, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, although he has criticized the length of U.S. involvement there. In his 2011 book "Time to Get Tough," Trump listed seven core principles of his foreign policy doctrine, which emphasizes defense:

1. American interests come first.

2. Maximum firepower and military preparedness

3. Only go to war to win.

4. Stay loyal to your friends and suspicious of your enemies.

5. Keep the technological sword razor sharp

6. See the unseen. Prepare for threats before they materialize.

7. Respect and support our present and past warriors.

“[NATO] has to be changed to include terror. It has to be changed from the standpoint of cost because the United States bears far too much of the cost of NATO.” -Donald Trump March, 25, 2016

“Let’s get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghanis we train and we waste billions there...Rebuild the USA.”-Donald Trump January 10, 2013

Immigration

When he announced his candidacy in June 2015, he claimed that Mexico was sending violent criminals, including rapists, into the United States (Mexico denies doing this). He has also called for the deportation of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. First, he pledges to construct a wall across the entire southern U.S. border, which he says the Mexican government should either finance or be subject to a number of penalties. These will include, Trump says, the United States withholding billions of dollars in remittance payments to Mexico; hiking fees and possibly canceling visas issued to Mexicans; and increasing fees at ports of entry to the United States from Mexico. Second, he pledges to ramp up law enforcement, including tripling the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, imposing nationwide e-verify, deporting all criminal non-citizens, defunding so-called sanctuary cities (municipalities that critics say do not fully enforce federal immigration laws), raising penalties for those who overstay their visa, and ending birthright citizenship. Lastly, he says he will restrict legal immigration, including the flow of guest workers and refugees, and legally require U.S. businesses to hire U.S. citizens before others. Trump has said that if elected president he would not only prevent Syrian refugees from coming to the United States, but he would also deport those already in the country. He proposed temporarily banning all Muslims from entering the country after the December 2015 attacks in San Bernardino, California.

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems to us.”-Donald Trump, June 15, 2015

“We're rounding 'em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they're going to be happy because they want to be legalized.” -Donald Trump, September 26, 2015

Climate and Energy

Donald Trump says he does not believe that climate change is a significant environmental challenge, and he doubts that humans are contributing factors. Meanwhile, Trump has called for expanding domestic production of oil and gas, and has said that hydraulic fracturing “will lead to American energy independence.” If elected, he pledges to immediately approve the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that would have delivered hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil daily from Canada to U.S. refineries, but which President Obama vetoed.

“Obama thinks [climate change is] the number one problem of the world today. And I think it’s very low on the list. So I am not a believer.”-Donald Trump, September 21, 2015

These aren’t all of the issues, these are actually very few of them. I hope this has been informational and helped you learned more about a candidate if you didn’t already know. If you choose to support Donald Trump or another candidate remember to vote in the upcoming election and to be civil when debating among peers.