Mark Halperin

Mark Evan Halperin (born January 11, 1965) is the senior political analyst for Time magazine, MSNBC, and Bloomberg news. He is the co-author (with John Heilemann) of Game Change and Double Down: Game Change 2012. Both Halperin and Heilemann are co-hosts of MSNBC and Bloomberg's With All Due Respect, a political analysis show.

Mark Halperin serves as a board member on the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.

Personal life

Halperin is the son of Morton Halperin, a foreign policy expert, and Ina Young. He has two brothers, David and Gary. He was born in Bethesda, Maryland, and raised in Bethesda, where he attended Walt Whitman High School. Halperin received his college degree from Harvard University in 1987.

Career

In 1988, Halperin started out as a desk assistant for ABC News and a researcher for World News Tonight. He then worked in the investigative unit of World News Tonight and as a general assignment reporter in Washington. In 1992 he worked full-time as an off-air producer covering Bill Clinton. In 1994 Halperin became a producer with ABC's special events unit in New York and later an editorial producer.

Donald Trump

Donald John Trump, Sr. (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessperson and media personality. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's career, branding efforts, personal life, wealth, and outspoken manner have made him famous throughout the country. Since 2015, he is also a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election.

Trump is a native of New York City and a son of Fred Trump, who inspired him to enter real estate development. After two years at Fordham University and while studying at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Trump worked for his father's firm, Elizabeth Trump & Son. Upon graduating in 1968 he joined the company, and in 1971 was given control, renaming the company "The Trump Organization". Since then he has built hotels, golf courses, and other properties, many of which bear his name. He is a major figure in the American business scene and has received prominent media exposure. The NBC reality show The Apprentice bolstered his fame, and his three marriages were extensively reported in tabloids.

Ted Cruz

Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and the junior United States Senator from Texas. He is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, in the 2016 presidential election.

Cruz graduated from Princeton University in 1992, and from Harvard Law School in 1995. Between 1999 and 2003, Cruz was the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an associate deputy attorney general at the United States Department of Justice, and domestic policy advisor to President George W. Bush on the 2000 George W. Bush presidential campaign. He served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to 2008, appointed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. He was the first Hispanic, and the longest-serving solicitor general, in Texas history. From 2004 to 2009, Cruz was also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation.

Cruz ran for the Senate seat vacated by fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, and in July 2012 defeated Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst during the Republican primary runoff, 57%–43%. Cruz then defeated former state Representative Paul Sadler in the November 2012 general election, winning 56%–41%. He is the first Hispanic American to serve as a U.S. senator representing Texas, and is one of three Senators of Cuban descent. Cruz chairs the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Federal Rights and Agency Activities, and is also the chairman of the United States Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness. In November 2012, he was appointed vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.