Donald J. Trump is the very definition of the American success story, continually setting the standards of excellence while expanding his interests in real estate, sports, and entertainment. He is the archetypal businessman – a deal maker without peer.

Early Life and Education

Donald John Trump, the son of Fred, a real estate developer, and his wife, Mary, a homemaker and Scottish immigrant, was born on June 14, 1946, at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, New York. The second youngest of five children, he attended private school in Queens before enrolling in the New York Military Academy for 5 years, eighth grade through high school.

He achieved the status of cadet captain. He was also captain of the baseball team, and he played soccer as well. Donald acknowledges that his parents made the right decision in sending him to Military Academy and said that his 5 years there shaped his view of the world. Many of the teachers there at the time were ex-drill sergeants and combat veterans of WW2.

Trump studied for two years at New York City’s Fordham University

then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, where he earned an undergraduate degree in 1968.

In 1984, he won the Entrepreneur of the Year award from The Wharton School.

Both the Phillies and Red Sox sent scouts to check up on Trump when he played first baseman in school. Trump chose not to play professional baseball because he thought he could make more money in real estate.

During the Vietnam War, he received four student deferments and one medical deferment and wasn’t drafted for military service.

Trump is half Scottish, loves Scotland and owns many properties there.

Dr. Harold Bornstein, one of Trump’s longtime doctors has revealed that he takes a prostate related drug named finasteride for his hair. The drug is supposed to stimulate hair growth and is also used to treat male pattern baldness as well.

Business Career

Mr. Trump started his business career in an office he shared with his father in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. He worked with his father for five years, where they were busy making deals together. Mr. Trump has been quoted as saying, “My father was my mentor, and I learned a tremendous amount about every aspect of the construction industry from him.” Likewise, Fred C. Trump often stated that “some of my best deals were made by my son, Donald...everything he touches seems to turn to gold.” Mr. Trump then entered the very different world of Manhattan real estate.

In New York City and around the world, the Trump signature is synonymous with the most prestigious of addresses.  Among them are the world-renowned Fifth Avenue skyscraper, Trump Tower, and the luxury residential buildings, Trump Parc, Trump Palace, Trump Plaza, 610 Park Avenue, The Trump World Tower (the tallest building on the East Side of Manhattan), and Trump Park Avenue.  Mr. Trump was also responsible for the designation and construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center on land controlled by him, known as the West 34th Street Railroad Yards, and the total exterior restoration of the Grand Central Terminal as part of his conversion of the neighboring Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The development is considered one of the most successful restorations in the City and earned Mr. Trump an award from Manhattan’s Community Board Five for the “tasteful and creative recycling of a distinguished hotel.”

The Plaza Hotel (which he renovated and brought back to its original grandeur, as heralded by the New York Times Magazine). The St. Moritz Hotel (now called the Ritz Carlton on Central Park South) and until 2002, the land under the Empire State Building (which allowed the land and lease to be merged together for the first time in over 50 years). Additionally, the former NikeTown store is owned by Mr. Trump, on East 57th Street and adjacent to Tiffany’s. In early 2008, Gucci opened their largest store in the world in Trump Tower.

In the 1980s, Trump opened hotel-casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey; acquired Manhattan’s storied Plaza Hotel and bought the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, which he renovated and turned into a private club. Among other ventures, he briefly owned an airline and a professional football team in the short-lived United States Football League. In 1987, “The Art of the Deal,” Trump’s memoir and business advice book, was published and became a best-seller. In 1989, his net worth was $1.5 billion, according to Forbes, and he made his first appearance on the cover of Time magazine.

In the early 1990s, following an economic downturn and slump in the real estate market, Trump was deeply in debt and several of his casinos filed for bankruptcy. In 1995, he reported a nearly $1 billion loss on his taxes. Trump eventually made a financial comeback, in part with a business model that involved licensing his name for a wide variety of ventures ranging from condominiums to steaks and neckties.

Trump continued to acquire and develop real estate properties, and in 2016, when he became the first billionaire elected to the White House, his empire included office buildings, hotels and golf courses around the world. His various business holdings, before and during his presidency, would become the topic of two Supreme Court cases where potential conflicts of interest were investigated, prompting a request for Trump to release his tax returns.

Trump owns 18 golf courses around the world included in his 500 businesses he owns or controls.

At one point, Trump casinos reportedly employed more than 8,000 people and accounted for nearly one-third of Atlantic Cit’s gambling revenues.

When Trump published his first book, “The Art of the Deal”, he also started The Donald J. Trump Foundation to donate a portion of profits from book sales to charities.

Even before he became President, Trump nicknamed his private Boeing 757 jet Trump Force One. The plane is configured to seat 43 and is fitted with a dining room, bathroom, shower, bedroom. Guest room, and gally. Many fixtures are plated in 24k gold.

In 2005, Mr. Trump launched his Donald J. Trump Signature Collection,

which included tailored clothing, dress shirts, ties, cufflinks, eyewear, leather goods, and belts. His ties, in particular, have had remarkable resonance with buyers in emulating the Trump style. Trump Home was later introduced and includes furniture, mattresses, bedding, lighting, home décor, bath textiles and accessories. His fragrances, Success by Trump, and Empire have met with great success.

Entertainment Career

By January of 2004, Mr. Trump had joined forces with Mark Burnett Productions and NBC to produce and star in the television reality show, The Apprentice in which contestants vied for a management job at one of his companies. The show featured Trump’s catchphrase “You’re fired” and drew big ratings.

This quickly became the number one show on television, making ratings history and receiving rave reviews. The first season finale had the highest ratings on television that year after the Superbowl, with 41.5 million people watching. The business mogul eventually raked in $1 million per episode and became a household name.

Few shows have garnered the worldwide attention that The Apprentice has achieved, including three Emmy nominations. In 2007, a New York Times article quoted NBC’s President, Ben Silverman, as saying The Apprentice “has been the most successful reality series ever on NBC.”  The Celebrity Apprentice has met with great success as well, being one of the highest rated shows on television. The Apprentice series had a landmark fourteen seasons. In 2004, he hosted Saturday Night Live which resulted in their highest ratings of the year, and he again hosted in 2015. Moreover, Mr. Trump is producing additional network and cable television programming via his Los Angeles based production company, Trump Productions LLC. His radio program with Clear Channel Radio, parent company of Premiere Radio Networks, beginning in the summer of 2004, was a wonderful success. 

In addition to starring on “The Apprentice” and making cameo appearances in other TV shows and movies like “Home Alone 2”, “Lost in New York”, and one as father of one of the characters in “The Little Rascals” (1994)”.

Trump owned several beauty pageants from 1996 to 2015, including Miss Universe and Miss USA. In 1999, he founded a modeling agency that continues to operate.

Family

In 1977, Trump married Czech model Ivana Zelnickova, with whom he went on to have three children, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump. The pair divorced in 1992 and the following year Trump wed actress Marla Maples, with whom he has a daughter, Tiffany Trump. After Trump’s second marriage ended in 1999, he tied the knot with Slovenian model Melania Knauss in 2005. His son with Melania Trump, Barron Trump, was born in 2006. Ivana Trump died in 2022.

2016 Presidential Campaign

Before winning the U.S. presidency, Trump never held any elected or appointed government office. He had considered a presidential bid on at least several earlier occasions prior to the 2016 race but ultimately opted not to run. In 2011, Trump began questioning in TV interviews whether then-President Barack Obama was born in the United States. In the following years, he harnessed rumors about Obama’s birthplace to help grow his audience on social media and gain notice in the world of conservative politics.

In June 2015, the real estate developer announced his presidential candidacy in a speech at Trump Tower. He ran his campaign on a pledge to “Make America Great Again,” the slogan emblazoned on the baseball hats he often wore at his public rallies, and spoke out against political correctness, illegal immigration and government lobbyists, while promising to cut taxes, renegotiate trade deals and create millions of jobs for American workers.

Trump's brash, unapologetic style and sometimes-controversial comments garnered widespread media coverage. In May 2016, he cinched the Republican nomination, beating out a field of 16 other candidates, including Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich.

In the general election, Trump ran against Democrat Hillary Clinton,

 the first female presidential candidate from a major political party. The race was divisive, in part due to a number of inflammatory remarks and tweets made by Trump. While some members of the Republican establishment distanced themselves from the candidate, Trump’s supporters admired his outspokenness and business success, along with the fact that he wasn’t a politician. A big campaign promise was to build a fortified border wall with Mexico.

As the election neared, almost all national polls predicted a victory for the Democratic nominee. However, on November 8, 2016, in what was viewed by many people as a stunning upset, Trump and his vice-presidential running mate, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana, defeated Clinton and her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. Trump won reliably red states as well as important swing states including Florida and Ohio and racked up 306 electoral votes to his rival’s 232 votes. Clinton won the popular vote.

Investigation Into Russian Interference in 2016 Election

Former FBI director Robert Mueller was appointed as special counsel to investigate possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign.

 The Mueller Report ultimately failed to find the rumored link between the Trump administration and the interference, concluding: “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities”.

Trump Impeached, Then Acquitted

Trump was impeached on December 18, 2019, on two articles—abuse of power and obstruction of justice. The impeachment charges stemmed mainly from a July 25, 2019 phone call with the newly-elected president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

No Republicans voted in favor of either article of impeachment against Trump. On February 5, 2020, the Senate voted largely along party lines to acquit Trump on both charges.

Trump's 2020 Reelection Campaign and Second Impeachment

In his reelection campaign for 2020 against Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, Trump doubled down on his core issues of bringing back the economy following the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, boosting job growth, an “America First” approach to trade and foreign policy and a hardline stance on immigration.

In October, Trump, contracted the coronavirus. He was hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center for three days where he received multiple treatments, including an experimental antibody. Upon his release, Trump told reporters that he felt “better than I have in a long time.”

In the final days of his campaign, Trump continued to declare himself the “president of law and order,” pushing back on calls for police reform.

Results from Election Day 2020 initially appeared promising for the incumbent Trump. However, since a record number of Americans voted early or by mail-in ballots due to the pandemic, counting of those votes continued for days.

The extra time allowed for key swing states to perhaps manufacture additional Biden votes. A non-statistical normal number of Biden votes appeared days after the election. The late counted votes were more than 95% for Biden, which is suspect of tampering. Voting irregularities were ignored. The voter turnout for Trump exceeded his 2016 count by about 10 million, the most votes ever recorded for a presidential election. Yet the delayed final count for Biden eventually caught up and showed Biden the winner. After the fourth day of vote-counting, the Associated Press and other major media outlets declared Biden the winner. The vote was certified by the Electoral College on December 14, and later by Congress.

On January 6, 2021—the same day members of Congress met to certify the results of the election—Trump addressed a crowd of supporters outside the Capitol. In the speech, he aired grievances about election fraud, reiterated claims about winning the election and vowed to "never concede." Hundreds of thousands of Trump supporters peacefully protested at the capital. A few aggressive protestors possibly planted or encouraged by corrupt influential Democrats stormed the Capitol; five people died.

Donald Trump had offered additional security including thousands of National guard to Nancy Pelosi in charge of the Capital security and was ignored. Rather than beefing up security, barricades were actually removed

prior to January 6^th. It appears that the democratic strategy was to make the likely election protest as violent as possible in order to denigrate Donald Trump.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for alleged "incitement of insurrection". The Senate acquitted then-former President Trump in his second impeachment trial.

Other accomplishments

Involved in numerous civic and charitable organizations, he is a member of the Board of Directors for the Police Athletic League.

Mr. Trump also served as a Chairman of the Donald J. Trump Foundation as well as Co-Chairman of the New York Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund.

Mr. Trump is a founding member of both the Committee to Complete Construction of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and The Wharton School Real Estate Center.

Mr. Trump was also a committee member of the Celebration of Nations commemorating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations and UNICEF.  He was also designated “The Developer of the Year” by the Construction Management Association of America and Master Builder by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreational & Historic Preservation.

In the August 21-28 2006 issue of BusinessWeek magazine, Mr. Trump was voted, by their readers, as “the world’s most competitive businessperson” and voted by the staff and writers of BusinessWeek as one of the Top 10 most competitive businesspeople in the world. The ongoing business success of the Trump Organization was recognized by the Crain’s New York Business List 2012, with a ranking of Number 1 for the largest privately held company in New York. Also renowned for his celebrity status, Forbes ranks Mr. Trump number 14 in the world on their top 100 celebrity list in 2012.  Mr. Trump is one of only two people (the other being Hillary Clinton) named to ABC’s Barbara Walter’s Special, “The Most Fascinating People” two times, most recently on her 2011 show.           

Mr. Trump is one of the highest paid speakers in the world, often drawing tens of thousands of people. In September of 2011, Mr. Trump gave a two city speech in Australia, for over 3 million dollars. In October of 2012, Mr. Trump spoke in London, England, at the National Achievers Congress. In January of 2007, Mr. Trump received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2008, “You’re fired!” was listed as the #3 greatest TV catchphrase of all time, led only by “Here’s Johnnny”  and “One small step for man…”

In April of  Also in April of 2013, Mr. Trump spoke at the annual Lincoln Dinner in Michigan, which was the largest Lincoln Dinner in their 124 year history and the largest Lincoln event in our country’s history where a U.S. President was not the speaker.  The highly respected writer, Joe Queenan, after hearing Mr. Trump speak at a Learning Annex event in 2006, notes that the $30 million he was paid for his appearances may have been an underpayment.

On the Larry King Show in June 2008, Barbara Corcoran, a well respected real estate expert, said “How can I possibly compete with Donald Trump? Thanks to him I sold more property in Manhattan. He single handedly turned the whole image of Manhattan around in the 1980’s when nobody wanted to live in New York.” Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, added, “Donald is the smartest man in real estate—no one else even comes close.” In an article in the New York Times in November of 2013, Arthur Zeckendorf, a NYC developer of ultra luxury condominiums, was asked who most influenced him in the industry: “I think Donald Trump. He basically started the high-end condo business. I certainly followed him, admired him.” When asked specifically what he learned: “That building great condos is an art, and you really have to make the product the best out there.”

On June 16, 2015, Mr. Trump officially announced his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States. On January 20, 2017, Mr. Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States and turned over the management of The Trump Organization to his eldest sons, Donald Jr and Eric.