Donald Trump

EARLY LIFE 

He was born Donald John Trump in Queens, New York City on June 14, 1946. 

Donald Trump | by Gage Skidmore 

He is the son of Fred Trump, a real estate developer, and his wife, Mary Anne.

If Donald Trump's German ancestors hadn't changed their last name, his surname would currently be "Trumpf."

Donald Trump's grandmother's maiden name was Christ. Elisabeth Christ was a German-born US businesswoman who founded the Elizabeth Trump & Son real estate.

Donald was enrolled at the age of 13 in the New York Military Academy, a private boarding school, after his parents discovered that he had made frequent trips into Manhattan without their permission. 

Trump in 1964 wearing the uniform of his private boarding school, New York Military Academy

Donald received an economics degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

BUSINESS CAREER 

Trump began his career at his father's real estate company, Elizabeth Trump and Son.

He was appointed president of his family's real estate business in 1971, renamed it The Trump Organization, and expanded it from Queens and Brooklyn into Manhattan. Trump managed the company until his 2017 inauguration. 

He installed goats on his New Jersey golf courses to get them designated as agricultural properties to lower his property taxes.

Trump made much of his money was made in real estate in New York City, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City.

Donald Trump filed a $5 billion lawsuit against author Timothy O'Brien who claimed Trump was a millionaire, not a billionaire. Trump lost.

In 1990, US satirical magazine Spy sent cheques for 13 cents to the world's richest people. Only two cashed them: a Saudi arms dealer and Donald Trump.

When it was revalued at $600 million in 2015, New York City's Trump Tower,  the headquarters of The Trump Organization in Midtown Manhattan, became the most expensive property owned by Donald Trump.

Trump Tower Manhattan

MEDIA CAREER 

Donald Trump was a reality TV star hosting the television show, The Apprentice, from 2003 to 2015.

From 1981, Trump frequently appeared as himself in such hit shows as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Monk and Sex and the City. 

Donald Trump was the inspiration for the character Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future movie trilogy. 

"Bart to the Future,” a Simpsons episode that aired in 2000, was about Donald Trump's presidency causing the financial ruin of the U.S.

Trump won a Golden Raspberry Award as Worst Supporting Actor for playing himself in the 1990 film Ghosts Can't Do It, also starring Bo Derek.

He has a star on Hollywood's Walk Of Fame awarded in 2007 for hosting The Apprentice from 2004-2015.

Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Wikipedia

PRESIDENCY 

From 1987 to 1999, Donald Trump was a registered Democrat. He then switched to Independent in 1999, before re-registering as a Democrat between 2001-2009. 

In June 2015, Trump announced that he would run for President of the United States in the 2016 presidential election. He entered the 2016 presidential race as a Republican and defeated sixteen opponents in the primaries. 

The slogan of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, "Make America Great Again", was also used by Ronald Reagan in his 1980 presidential campaign. 

Trump was elected president in a surprise victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Many years previously Trump had Clinton as "smart, tough and a very nice person" and said she would make a "great president."

He was named Time magazine's Person of the Year 2016.

Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president on January 20, 2017.

Trump is sworn in as president on January 20, 2017 with his wife and children

Donald Trump was the first billionaire president of the United States.

Trump said he would donate his entire $400,000 presidential salary to charity. He donated his first-quarter presidential salary of $78,000 to the US National Parks Service in 2017 only days after announcing $2 billion in cuts to the department that funds it. 

When Donald Trump was elected U.S. president at the age of 70, he surpassed Ronald Reagan's record and became the oldest man to assume the presidency. His record was taken by his successor Joe Biden who was 78 years old when he was sworn-in as the 46th president of the United States. 

Trump became in November 2020 only the fourth elected US president in the past century to lose re-election, after Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush.

Trump was re-elected US president in November 2024 becoming the first ex-President to go back to the role since Grover Cleveland in 1892. He also made history as the oldest man elected to America’s highest office at the age of 78.

LEGAL AFFAIRS

On September 24, 2019, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would begin an impeachment inquiry into Trump in the wake of a whistleblower complaint alleging abuse of power by the President. The House Judiciary Committee released a report a month later specifying criminal bribery and wire fraud charges as part of the abuse of power charge. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on  December 18, 2019, making him the third president in American history to be impeached. The first was Andrew Johnson in 1868 and the second Bill Clinton in 1998. The Senate acquitted him of both charges on February 5, 2020.

Donald Trump was impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives on January 13, 2021. Trump's impeachment came amid his attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, with the article citing the Trump–Raffensperger phone call and allegations that he incited the storming of the United States Capitol one week prior.  He is the only U.S. president (and the only holder of any federal office) to be impeached twice. 

The Senate acquitted Trump for a second time on February 13, 2021. Seven Republican senators joined all 50 Democrats in finding him guilty of the House’s single charge of “incitement of insurrection.” But the vote fell short of the two-thirds needed to convict Trump.

Donald Trump was arraigned on April 4, 2023  on 34 charges of falsifying business records. The charges stem from an investigation into hush money payments that Trump made to two women who claimed to have had affairs with him. Trump denied the allegations and called the charges "politically motivated." 

The arraignment took place in a Manhattan courtroom, where Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was released on his own recognizance.

Trump was indicted on 37 counts of mishandling classified documents on June 9, 2023. The charges stem from an investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by the Justice Department in 2022 to investigate allegations that Trump had mishandled classified information while he was president. The indictment alleged that Trump took classified documents with him to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, after he left office. The documents included information on US nuclear weapons, potential military vulnerabilities of the US and allies, and plans for US retaliation in the event of an attack.

Trump was convicted on May 30, 2024 on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The conviction makes him the first U.S. president to have been convicted of a felony in any state or federal court. 

MARRIAGES 

Trump married his first wife, Czech model Ivana Zelníčková, on April 7, 1977, at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. 

Ivana and Donald Trump, 1985

They had three children: sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric and daughter Ivanka.

Ivanka Trump was once reported missing as a teenager while in Aspen, Colorado on a family vacation – Law enforcement found her in a hotel room with a boy.

By early 1990, Trump's troubled marriage to Ivana and affair with actress Marla Maples had been reported in the tabloid press. They were divorced in 1992. 

Trump married Marla Maples in 1993. They had one daughter together, Tiffany. The couple were separated in 1997 and later divorced in 1999.

Trump married his third wife the Slovenian-born former model Melania Knauss in 2005. When they wed among the 350 guests were TV personality Simon Cowell, rapper P Diddy and Bill and Hillary Clinton. 

Melania and Donald Trump attending Oscar de la Renta fashion show, 2006. By Boss Tweed 

In 1993, Melania Trump played the first female U.S. president in a commercial for a Slovenian clothing company.

PERSONAL LIFE

Though many speculate that Trump's hair is not real it actually is. He revealed the secret towards his lustrous golden locks is he washes it always and never exposes it to the sun.

According to Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall, when Trump appeared on the show he insisted on doing his own make-up, and wouldn't let anyone touch his hair.

Head shot of a smiling Trump in front of an American flag

A newly described moth species, Neopalpa donaldtrumpi (pictured), was so named because its yellowish head scales reminded a scientist of Donald Trump's hairstyle.

Donald Trump scotch tapes the back of his tie to the front

Trump is not known as a big reader; in August 2015 he named the Bible as his favorite piece of literature. His second favorite book?  The Art of the Deal by… Donald Trump.

Trump has a self-professed fear of germs. He has been, in the past, reluctant to shake hands for that reason and it's not just the hands he doesn't want to touch, it's everything, from doorknobs to elevator buttons. Not only this he completely avoids physical contact with children.

Trump doesn't drink alcohol and the main reason behind this is the fact that his brother Fred was an alcoholic and he lost him due to his addiction in 1982.

A lifelong New Yorker, Trump changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Palm Beach, Florida in September 2019. The first lady, Melania Trump, submitted similar documents. Taxes were likely the primary reason. Florida has no state income tax or inheritance tax.  

Trump was the first US president in more than a century not to have a pet of any kind living with him in the White House. 

Sources Daily Express, Kathmandutribune