In today's media-driven and sound byte society, there's a lot of information about Donald Trump floating around. Let's be honest, he has controlled headlines so far in 2016. His every word and action are chronicled, and at this point, he seems like more of a caricature than an actual person.

This article seeks to expose the fallacies behind the man known as "The Donald". Enjoy.

First, we can address the widely held belief by his supporters that he is an amazing businessman, and a "dealmaker". Let me start by saying that I recognize the fact that Donald Trump is a very wealthy man. There is no denying that. http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/31/news/companies/donald-trump-bankruptcy/But do his supporters know that his business ventures have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy more than any other major U.S. company in the last 30 years? I think that may be surprising to some. To be clear, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy lets a business stay open while shedding debt. But Mr. Trump has declared bankruptcy 4 times on at least 5 different properties. In all of these cases, he either let go of a large majority of his shares, or he gave up majority control for the business.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/26/politics/donald-trump-small-loan-town-hall/A sound byte that became popular over Twitter and Facebook also spoke to Donald Trump's business acumen. In an interview, Mr. Trump spoke about receiving a "small loan of a million dollars" from his father. Never mind the fact that a million dollars are an insane amount of money for most people, but accounting for inflation, that small loan of a million dollars could be worth as much as $6.8 million dollars in 2016. Mr. Trump also got an inheritance from his father's net worth. For reference, his father, Fred Trump, was worth more than $200 million at one point.

We also all know that Mr. Trump made his fortune in real estate, correct? I don't think it's a much of a stretch to say that starting out as a real estate developer in a city (New York City) where your father has already created a real estate empire and given you a huge loan gives you a sizable leg up on the competition.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-businesses-that-no-longer-exist-2014-10Finally, we can do a quick run-through of his non-real estate ventures: Trump Mortgage (folded when the housing market crashed), Trump Steaks (only served at his properties), Trump Vodka (lost the Trump trademark but is also still served exclusively at his properties), Trump: The Game (discontinued after a year), Trump Ice (also still served at his properties), GoTrump.com (shut down after a year), the New Jersey Generals of the USFL (folded after a year, along with the entire league in large part due to Mr. Trump), Trump Airlines (sold off as part of his first bankruptcy), and finally Trump University, which ironically is in the news right now. Trump University has no accreditation and was advertised as an opportunity for Mr. Trump to give industry secrets to students.Trump University closed, and Mr. Trump has been sued at least twice, one of which he still has not settled. Mr. Trump also claimed Trump University had an A from the Better Business Bureau, which has since been proven false, as for the majority of its' existence, it had a D rating.

This might seem like a large amount of evidence proving that Mr. Trump is not who he says he is, but wait, there's more! http://fortune.com/2016/03/02/donald-trump-tax-returns-income/There is also some controversy over how much Mr. Trump is actually worth. Mr. Trump has claimed that his net worth is more than $10 billion, but Forbes has estimated his wealth at $4.5 billion while "Bloomberg News" estimated his wealth at $2.9 billion. While these are all huge sums of money, there's also a huge difference between $2.9 billion and $10 billion. What's the real figure? This is where it gets suspicious. Mr. Trump once valued his "brand" as worth $3 billion. While brand does have value, there is no mathematical way to determine what a brand is worth. Not to mention that in a 2006 lawsuit, Mr. Trump said that his net worth depends on how he's feeling. I don't know about you, but I don't count a person's feelings as indicative of their net worth.

All of this would be so much easier if we could just take a look at Donald Trump's tax returns. The problem is, he has not released those tax returns. And until he does, no one knows the truth about how much he is actually worth. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee for President, has talked in depth about how he believes that Mr. Trump is hiding something by not releasing his tax returns and that there is potentially a bombshell. Would anyone really put it past a potential nominee for President of the United States to wait until the last possible second to release a bombshell about their personal life? I wouldn't.

Now that we have dispelled the notion that he is an amazing businessman who can do no wrong, I think it's worth it to take a look at his political positions since he is running for President of the United States.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34789502First, his hot-button issue, immigration. Mr. Trump has talked about deporting all of the illegal immigrants in the country, of which there are approximately 11.3 million. But a 2015 study estimated it would take 20 years to find and deport all of those immigrants, and that's not counting the ones that come in while the ones already here are being located. A president can only stay in office for two terms so that work would have to continue after Mr. Trump is already gone, which is not likely. The Center for American Progress also estimated it would cost roughly $114 billion to deport those immigrants, and that's only the basics. It really cost somewhere between $400 and $600 billion dollars.

Illegal immigrants also make up roughly 6.4% of the country's labor force, working jobs many Americans don't want. This could potentially shrink the U.S. economy by 6%, which is over a trillion dollars. As you can see, this is logistically asinine, and a totally ridiculous plan. It will not work in any sense of the word. It's a simple argument to make the xenophobic and undereducated vote for him.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/03/mexico-president-trump-wall/472686/There's also the fact that Mr. Trump thinks he is going to make Mexico pay for a wall between our two countries. Mr. Trump estimated the cost of the wall at $8 billion, but after accounting for materials and labor, the wall would more likely cost over $10 billion. Both Mexico's current president and the two presidents previous to him have all said that Mexico will not be paying for a wall. Call me crazy, but I don't think they're going to pay for a wall.

Mr. Trump's positions on other issues, like abortion, gun rights, and healthcare have changed drastically over the years. Mr. Trump used to support traditional liberal policies such as being pro-choice regarding abortion and supporting gun control, as well as single-payer healthcare. He is now the opposite, except for healthcare, where no one really knows what his position is except that "It will be great!". While I do believe people's opinions can change over time, considering that as recently as 2008 he was donating money to Hillary Clinton, I'm not so sure in his heart that he is really a Republican.

Part of me believes that he is taking advantage of the political climate and people's anger and lack of education to win votes. In fact, not part of me believes that, but all of me. I don't believe Donald Trump is actually a Republican, and I don't believe that he is who he says he is.