Donald John Trump (born 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman. He served as the 45th President of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, and in 1971 his father named him president of his real estate business. Trump changed its name to the Trump Organization and branched into various industries.
Many of his policies and decisions led to controversy, including several protests. Trump won the 2016 presidential election but faced many contentious issues during his tenure.
Following his defeat in the 2020 election, Trump refused to accept the election results and claimed widespread election fraud.
After leaving office, Trump has maintained his influence over the Republican Party and is the potential Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election. In 2023, a civil trial jury found that Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll, and in 2024, a New York state court found Trump liable for financial fraud; Trump is appealing both decisions. He is being prosecuted in New York on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He was convicted in three other jurisdictions: in Florida on 40 felony counts related to misuse of classified documents; and in Washington DC. in, four felony counts of conspiracy and obstruction for efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election; and in Georgia on ten charges of fraud and other felonies in an attempt to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. Trump pleaded innocent to all charges.
Donald Trump’s Personal Life
Donald John Trump was born on June 14, 1946, at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York City. He was the fourth child of Fred Trump and Mary Anne McLeod Trump. Trump grew up in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood of Queens with his older siblings Maryanne, Fred Jr., Elizabeth, and younger brother Robert. He attended the private Kew-Forest School from kindergarten through seventh grade. At 13, he entered the New York Military Academy, a private boarding school. In 1964, he enrolled at Fordham University. Two years later, he transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics in May 1968. In 2015, Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen threatened legal action if Trump’s colleges, high schools, and the College Board released Trump’s academic records.
While in college, Trump received four student draft deferments during the Vietnam War. In 1966, he was deemed fit for military service based on medical examination and in July 1968, a local draft board classified him as eligible for service. In October 1968, he was classified 1-Y, a conditional medical suspension; in 1972, he was classified 4-F due to bone spurs, disqualifying him permanently.
Donald Trump Family
In 1977, Trump married Czech model Ivana Zelnikova. They had three children: Donald Jr. (born 1977), Ivanka (1981), and Eric (1984). Ivana became a US citizen in 1988. The couple divorced in 1990 after Trump’s affair with actress Marla Maples. Trump and Maples married in 1993 and divorced in 1999. They have a daughter, Tiffany (born 1993), raised by Marla in California. In 2005, Trump married Slovenian model Melania Knauss. They have a son, Barron (born 2006). Melania obtained US citizenship in 2006.
Donald Trump’s Net worth
In 1982, Trump made part of his family’s estimated net worth of $200 million (equivalent to $631 million in 2023), as listed by Forbes. Downsizing there took them off the list between 1990 and 1995. Then, in July 2015, after filing mandatory financial disclosure reports with the FEC, he declared a net worth of approximately $10 billion. Records released by the FEC showed assets of at least $1.4 billion and liabilities of $265 million. Forbes estimated that his net worth declined by $1.4 billion between 2015 and 2018. In their 2024 billionaires ranking, Trump’s net worth was estimated at $2.3 billion (1,438th globally).
Jonathan Greenberg reported that in 1984, Trump called him from an official named “John Barron”. He claimed to own more than 90 percent of his father’s business to get a high ranking on the Forbes 400 list. Forbes had greatly overestimated his wealth and he was incorrectly included in its 1982, 1983, and 1984 rankings.
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Trump has said that he started the work with a “small loan of a million dollars” from his father and had to pay it back. When he was eight years old, he got a big opportunity to become a millionaire. He got into big debts by borrowing about $60 million from his father and did not pay them back. Nevertheless, he earned about $413 million from his father’s company. In 2018, he was charged with tax fraud and investigated by the New York State Department of Finance. His investments underperformed the market and his net worth declined to $3.1 billion in 2017.
Claims about Trump’s financial health have been exposed. Trump’s tax returns from 1985 to 1994 show net losses totaling $1.17 billion. This loss is greater than that of most American taxpayers.
In 1990 and 1991, deficits were shown to be more than double those of the nearest taxpayers, with losses of more than $250 million each year. In 1995, their reported losses were $915.7 million (equivalent to $1.83 billion in 2023).
The New York Times tracked Trump’s exploits for more than two decades. In 2020 his reporters discovered that Trump reported losses of hundreds of millions of dollars and, since 2010, touted forgiven loans as taxable income of $287 million.
His major income came from The Apprentice and businesses in which he was a minority partner. Most of the proceeds to make up for his losses were tax credits, allowing him to avoid or reduce annual income tax payments by up to $750.
In 2010, Trump balanced his business losses by selling properties and borrowing money, including a $100 million mortgage and the liquidation of more than $200 million. He guaranteed a $421 million loan, most of which would be repaid by 2024. In 2021, Trump had $1.3 billion in debt. In 2020, he had to repay $640 million to multiple banks and $450 million to unnamed creditors.
What is the main business of Trump?
Donald Trump Real Estate Business
Starting in 1968, Trump worked at his father’s real estate company, Trump Management. In 1971, he assumed the position of president of the company and began using the Trump Organization as an umbrella brand. Between 1991 and 2009, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for six of his businesses.
Donald Trump Atlantic City Casino
In 1984, Trump opened Harrah’s, a hotel and casino at Trump Plaza with the help of the Holiday Corporation. But it failed, and in 1986, they paid Holiday $70 million. In 1985, Trump purchased the Atlantic City Hilton Hotel and renamed it Trump Castle. In 1991, both casinos filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In 1988, Trump purchased a third Atlantic City venue, the Trump Taj Mahal. He financed it with $675 million in junk bonds and completed it for $1.1 billion, in April 1990. In 1991, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In 1995, Trump founded Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (THCR), which assumed ownership of Trump Plaza. THCR purchased the Taj Mahal and Trump Castle in 1996 and went bankrupt in 2004 and 2009, leaving Trump with 10 percent ownership. He remained the president till 2009.
Trump Manhattan developments
In 1978, Trump renovated the abandoned Commodore Hotel near Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. To do this, he got his father’s $400 million city property tax exemption and a $70 million bank construction loan. The hotel reopened as the Grand Hyatt Hotel in 1980, and that same year, Trump began construction of Trump Tower, a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. It houses the headquarters of the Trump Corporation and Trump’s PAC, which served as his primary residence until 2019.
In 1988, Trump purchased the Plaza Hotel with loans from sixteen banks. The hotel filed for bankruptcy protection in 1992 and the banks took control of it. In 1995, Trump defaulted on bank loans worth more than $3 billion, and the hotel was foreclosed on. This allowed him to avoid personal bankruptcy.
In 1996, Trump acquired and renovated a 71-story building at 40 Wall Street. It was later rebranded as the Trump Building. In the early 1990s, Trump won the right to develop a 70-acre tract in the Lincoln Square neighborhood near the Hudson River. In 1994, Trump sold his majority stake in the project to Asian investors.
Donald Trump Clubs
In 1985, Trump purchased the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. In 1995, he converted it into a private club, where he continued to use a portion of the house as a private residence. Trump declared it his primary residence in 2019, and the city determined in 2021 that he was legally entitled to live there as an employee of the club. In 1999, the Trump Organization began construction and purchasing golf courses.
Trump Side ventures
In September 1983, Trump purchased a team called the New Jersey Generals. After 1985, the Football League ceased to exist. Trump attempted to change his schedule and try to match it with the NFL. He hosted several boxing matches at the Atlantic City Convention Hall. In 1989 and 1990, he competed in the Tour de Trump cycling stage race, an attempt to create an American counterpart to the European races.
Trump purchased shares in various public companies from 1986 to 1988. He intended to take over the company and then sell his shares for a profit. The New York Times reported that he made millions of dollars in stock transactions, but investors later stopped taking his takeover talk seriously.
In 1988, Trump purchased the Eastern Air Lines shuttle with a $380 million loan. He called it the Trump Shuttle. He defaulted on his loans in 1991 and ownership passed to the banks.
In 1992, Trump founded All County Building Supply and Maintenance Corp. with his siblings. This company had no office and was purportedly treated as a company. Trump paid vendors for supplies and services for the rental units, then billed those services and supplies with a 20-50 percent markup and more. The cost overruns were used by Trump to raise the rents of rent-stabilized units to gain state approval.
From 1996 to 2015, Trump owned portions of the Miss Universe pageants, including Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. They moved both competitions to NBC in 2002. In 2007, Trump received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as the creator of Miss Universe. NBC and Univision canceled the contest in June 2015.
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