Who Is Donald Trump?
Donald Trump is the 45th and current President of the United States; he took office on January 20, 2017. Previously, he was a real estate mogul and a former reality TV star. In 1980, he opened the Grand Hyatt New York, which made him the city's best-known developer. In 2004, Trump began starring in the hit NBC reality series The Apprentice. Trump turned his attention to politics, and in 2015 he announced his candidacy for president of the United States on the Republican ticket. Trump became the official Republican candidate for president on July 19, 2016, and upset Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton on November 8, 2016, to become the 45th president of the United States. Four years later, Trump lost his bid for reelection to former vice president Joe Biden.
Current President of United States us Biden
Early Life and Education
Donald John Trump was born on June 14, 1946, in Queens, New York. He was an energetic, assertive child. In the 1950s, the Trumps’ wealth increased with the postwar real estate boom. Trump was raised Presbyterian by his mother, and he identifies as a mainline Protestant.
At age 13, Trump’s parents sent him to the New York Military Academy, hoping the discipline of the school would channel his energy in a positive manner. He did well at the academy, both socially and academically, rising to become a star athlete and student leader by the time he graduated in 1964.
Trump entered Fordham University in 1964. He transferred to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania two years later and graduated in 1968 with a degree in economics.
During his years at college, Trump worked at his father’s real estate business during the summer. He also secured education deferments for the draft for the Vietnam War and ultimately a 1-Y medical deferment after he graduated.
Parents and Siblings :-
Father :-
Trump’s father, Frederick Trump, was a builder and real estate developer who specialized in constructing and operating middle-income apartments in Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn.
Mother :-
Trump’s mother, Mary MacLeod, immigrated from Tong, Scotland, in 1929 at the age of 17. She and Fred Trump married in 1936. The couple settled in Jamaica, Queens, a neighborhood that was, at the time, filled with Western European immigrants. As the family’s wealth increased, Mary became a New York socialite and philanthropist.
Fred died in 1999, and Mary passed away the following year.
Siblings
Trump is the fourth of five children.
Maryanne Trump Barry was a senior judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, but took an inactive stats soon after her brother became president.
Fred Trump Jr. worked briefly with his father and then became a pilot. He struggled with alcohol and died in 1981 at the age of 43, prompting Donald to announce that he never drinks alcohol or take drugs. "He had a profound impact on my life, because you never know where you're going to end up," Trump said.
Elizabeth Trump Grau is a retired banker who is married to film producer James Grau.
Robert Trump was Donald’s younger brother who spent much of his career working for the family company. He died in 2020, aged 71.
Donald Trump and father, Fred Trump, at the opening of Wollman Rink in 1987.
Photo: Dennis Caruso/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
Wives
Melania Trump:-
Trump is currently married to former Slovenian model Melania Trump (née Knauss), who is more than 23 years his junior. In January 2005, the couple married in a highly-publicized and lavish wedding. Among the many celebrity guests at the wedding were Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton.
Ivana Trump :-
In 1977, Trump married his first wife Ivana Trump, (née Zelnickova Winklmayr), a New York fashion model who had been an alternate on the 1972 Czech Olympic Ski Team. She was named vice president in charge of design in the Trump Organization and played a major role in supervising the renovation of the Commodore and the Plaza Hotel.
The couple had three children together: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka and Eric. They went through a highly publicized divorce that was finalized in 1992.
Children :-
Trump has five children. He and his first wife, Ivana Trump, had three children together: Donald Trump Jr., born in 1977; Ivanka Trump, born in 1981, and Eric Trump, born in 1984. Trump and his second wife, Marla Maples, had daughter Tiffany Trump in 1993. And current wife Melania Trump gave birth to Trump’s youngest child, Barron William Trump, in March 2006.
Trump's sons — Donald Jr. and Eric— work as executive vice presidents for The Trump Organization. They took over the family business while their father serves as president.
Trump's daughter Ivanka was also an executive vice president of The Trump Organization. She left the business and her own fashion label to join her father's administration and become an unpaid assistant to the president. Her husband, Jared Kushner, is also a senior adviser to President Trump.
Ivana Trump, Eric Trump, Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump as they sit at a table at the Mar-a-Lago in 1998
Business :-
Trump’s Real Estate and Businesses
Trump followed his father into a career in real estate development, bringing his grander ambitions to the family business. Trump’s business ventures include The Trump Organization, Trump Tower, casinos in Atlantic City and television franchises like The Apprentice and Miss Universe. Trump has business deals with the Javits Center and the Grand Hyatt New York, as well as other real estate ventures in New York City, Florida and Los Angeles.
Federal income disclosure forms Trump filed in 2017 list Trump's golf courses, including Trump National Doral and Mar-a-Lago in Florida, as earning about half of his income. Other financial ventures include aircraft, merchandise and royalties from his two books, The Art of the Deal and Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.
The Art of the Deal :-
In 1987, Trump published the book The Art of the Deal, co-authored with Tony Schwartz. In the book, Trump describes how he successfully makes business deals.
“I DON’T do it for the money. I’ve got enough, much more than I’ll ever need. I do it to do it. Deals are my art form,” Trump wrote.
The book made the New York Times best-seller list, although the number of copies sold has been debated; sales have been estimated at between 1 to 4 million copies to-date. Schwartz later became an outspoken critic of the book and of Trump, saying he felt remorseful for helping make the president “more appealing than he is.”
Wealth :-
Over the years, Trump’s net worth have been a subject of public debate. Because Trump has not publicly released his tax returns, it’s not possible to definitively determine his wealth in the past or today. However, Trump valued his businesses at least $1.37 billion on his 2017 federal financial disclosure form, published by the Office of Government Ethics. Trump’s 2018 disclosure form put his revenue for the year at a minimum of $434 million from all sources.
