Donald Trump is a wealthy businessman born in New York in 1946. He owns a fortune estimated at 2.9 billion dollars (though he claims it is ten). An economics graduate, a Republican and a traditionalist, he has three marriages and two divorces behind him. He already stood in the American primaries in 1996, beaten at the time by Bob Dole. Here are his proposals for governing the United States.

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Climate change doesn't exist

Donald Trump's position on the environment is simple: "I don't believe in climate change — it's just a weather issue," he has stated. He also explained that he sees "no ecological risk" linked to the Keystone XL mega-pipeline, and four days after the Fukushima disaster he declared himself "a great supporter of nuclear energy".

On civil rights, in an interview a few years ago on Sirius XM radio, he explained: "I am against gay marriage," adding that "nobody raises the topic with me — they know this stuff isn't for me".

The "Mexican rapists" remark

But it was above all Trump's positions on immigration that stirred up a hornets' nest of controversy. He opened by labelling Mexicans as "criminals" and "rapists". He then unveiled his plan to "make America great again", based on three proposals: the construction of a "great wall that will one day bear my name" on the border with Mexico (at Mexico's expense); a harsh crackdown on the rules (abolition of birthright citizenship, checks on workers, deportation of all undocumented migrants); and the introduction of a requirement for employers to give Americans priority in hiring.

Trump is also a firm believer in the usefulness of arming the population. A member of the NRA, the gun lobby, on more than one occasion he has spoken about the terrorist attack that struck Paris in November 2015, stating in no uncertain terms: "If the kids at the concert that evening had had guns in their pockets, believe me, things would have gone differently."

Torture works

He considers China responsible for America's economic problems (and for this reason proposes a 45 per cent tax on imported goods), believes that against Iran sanctions on the nuclear issue should have been increased, and to counter Isis he is banking entirely on a military solution ("I'll find a new General Patton, the right man"). Not to mention that with terrorists "torture works".

On the TTIP, the proposed free-trade agreement between the US and the EU, without going into the specifics of the matter, he declared that "it is not a viable path". Even more categorical is his "no" to the agreement among Pacific countries: "It's an attack on American business," he explained.

Donald Trump: a wild card in the election

He also considers Barack Obama's healthcare reform ("Obamacare") "a big lie" and promises he will put forward something "much better", which he has already dubbed "Donaldcare".

Trump is giving conservatives sleepless nights: he has declared that even if he were to lose the primaries, he could stand in the election as an independent. And it appears he would eat significantly into Republican votes, thereby clearing the path for the Democrats.