History, politics, memory, and commentary from a Tejano point of view.
Qualifications for a Republican wanting to run for president. – Donald Trump
August 16, 2026
Donald Trump Shows You How to Qualify
Get sued by the U.S. Justice Department for racial discrimination in housing. In 1973, the government accused Trump Management, Donald Trump, and his father of discriminating against Black renters. The case was settled without an admission of guilt.
Use undocumented immigrants to help build Trump Tower. Undocumented Polish laborers worked on the demolition project; years of litigation over pension obligations ended with Trump paying $1.375 million in a 1998 settlement.
Pay a $750,000 federal civil penalty after the government charged you with violating premerger notification requirements involving stock purchases.
Take out full-page newspaper ads calling for the death penalty while five Black and Latino teenagers were accused in the Central Park jogger case. Their convictions were later vacated after another man confessed and DNA evidence supported his confession.
Still refuse to apologize to the Central Park Five after they are exonerated.
Have companies you control file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy six times.
Leave contractors saying they never received everything they were owed. One contractor said Trump’s Taj Mahal refused to pay $1.2 million for paving stones.
Build such a reputation for disputing bills that Reuters finds more than 50 contractor court cases and liens connected to Trump projects, with at least a dozen contractors saying they or others were shortchanged.
Have your casino pay a $477,700 federal penalty for currency-reporting violations. Trump Taj Mahal was fined by FinCEN in 1998.
Launch businesses that include an airline, steaks, vodka, bottled water, a magazine, a mortgage company and online classes — and watch them fail.
Create Trump University and settle fraud lawsuits for $25 million.
Spend years promoting the false claim that Barack Obama might not have been born in the United States. Finally acknowledge in 2016 that Obama was born in America.
Be recorded on the Access Hollywood tape bragging crudely about sexually grabbing women.
Have more than two dozen women publicly accuse you of sexual misconduct. Trump has denied the accusations.
Misuse money from your own charitable foundation. Trump agreed to 19 admissions, acknowledged personal misuse of foundation funds, and was ordered to pay $2 million to charities. The Trump Foundation was dissolved.
Use charity money for a six-foot portrait of yourself and other expenditures later included among Trump’s admissions concerning his foundation.
Have your presidential inaugural committee and company pay $750,000 to settle allegations that nonprofit inaugural money improperly benefited the Trump family business.
Become only the third president in American history to be impeached — for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after pressuring Ukraine to investigate political rival, Joe Biden. Then be acquitted by the Senate.
Become the first president in American history to be impeached twice. The second impeachment charged Trump with incitement of insurrection after the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The Senate again acquitted him.
Refuse to accept losing the 2020 presidential election and continue claiming massive fraud despite being repeatedly told by advisers and officials that the election results were legitimate.
Call Georgia’s Republican secretary of state and ask him to “find” enough votes to reverse your defeat there.
Become involved in an effort to substitute slates of pro-Trump electors in seven states you lost. The federal indictment later charged that the scheme was intended to obstruct certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
Tell supporters on January 6 to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” A mob then stormed the Capitol as Congress met to certify Biden’s victory.
Get federally indicted over your effort to overturn the 2020 election. The prosecution was ultimately dismissed after you won the presidency again because Justice Department policy bars prosecuting a sitting president.
Get indicted in Georgia on racketeering and other charges over efforts to overturn that state’s election result. The case was ultimately dismissed in November 2025 after a replacement prosecutor decided not to pursue it.
Take classified national-security records to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office and get indicted on 40 federal charges. The classified-documents prosecution was dismissed by the trial judge, and the Justice Department later abandoned its appeal as to Trump after his reelection.
Have your company convicted of 17 tax crimes, including conspiracy and falsifying business records. The Trump Organization received the maximum $1.6 million fine; Trump himself was not charged in that case.
Be found liable for years of financial fraud involving inflated property values and financial statements. An appeals court later threw out the enormous monetary penalty but left the fraud finding intact.
Have a federal jury find that you sexually abused E. Jean Carroll and then defamed her. The jury awarded her $5 million, and in June 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court declined Trump’s attempt to overturn it.
Keep attacking Carroll and get hit with another $83.3 million defamation judgment. A federal appeals court upheld that verdict.
Sue Hillary Clinton and others and have a federal judge call the lawsuit completely frivolous and brought in bad faith. Trump and his lawyer were ordered to pay nearly $938,000 in sanctions.
Arrange a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels shortly before a presidential election, then reimburse Michael Cohen through company payments recorded as legal expenses. Trump denies Daniels’ claim that they had sex.
Become the first former American president convicted of felony crimes. A New York jury found Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Get convicted on 34 felonies and receive no jail, probation, or fine. Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge shortly before returning to the White House. The convictions remain on the books while he continues to challenge them.
Become the first person with felony convictions to assume the presidency of the United States.
Spend tens of millions of dollars in political donations on lawyers. Trump’s political fundraising operation reported about $76 million in legal expenses over two years as his legal cases multiplied.
Return to the White House and pardon or grant clemency to more than 1,500 January 6 defendants, including people convicted of violently attacking police officers.
Accept a luxury Boeing 747 worth roughly $400 million from Qatar for use as Air Force One despite ethical, constitutional, and security concerns raised over the gift.
Turn the presidency into a new crypto business opportunity. Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in 2025 income from family-backed crypto ventures, including World Liberty Financial and the Trump meme coin.
Make money from an industry your own administration regulates. Reuters reported that Trump’s family has generated extraordinary profits from crypto while his administration pursued a crypto-friendly regulatory agenda, prompting conflict-of-interest concerns. The White House denies any conflict.
Have a Trump-family crypto company win conditional approval for a national trust-bank charter from the federal government while you are president. Reuters estimated by August 2026 that World Liberty Financial had helped generate more than $1.6 billion in gains for Trump and his family.
