Donald John Trump is a globally renowned individual whose major spotlight was when he served as the 45th President of The United States of America from 2017 to 2021. Besides, he is a celebrated entrepreneur interested in the hotel industry, real estate, and media (Wheeler 10). Trump was born to Fredrick Christ Trump and Mary Mcleod on the 14th of June, 1946, in Queens, New York City. His father was of German descent and was highly successful in the real estate business, while his mother was Scottish. He was the second last born of the five kids in the family.
Trump attended the New York Military Academy from 1959 to 1964, a prestigious boarding academy. He then joined Fordham University in the Bronx from 1964 until 1966 and later attended the Wharton University of Pennsylvania from 1966 to 1968. He finished with a bachelor’s degree in economics. After school, he joined his father’s business, where he was assigned to manage the rental houses. He later became the president of the different businesses and interests owned by his father; soon after, he formed an umbrella body called the Trump Organization.
Donald succeeded in business and became highly popular, particularly following the Manhattan project and the renovations of the Grand Central Terminal. He also built the Trump Tower, a series of skyscrapers comprising retail, commercial, and residential units. His success saw him accumulate wealth and appear in the 1982 Forbes list of rich people, with an approximate wealth of close to $200 million. He expanded the business from New York to Manhattan, New Jersey, and Atlantic City. The ventures, which included casinos, were largely successful in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the Trump businesses suffered because of the recession and heavy reliance on debt amounting to over $5 billion (Wheeler 30). He was forced to forego Trump Airlines and enter into agreements to restructure the loans to survive the economic crisis.
Trump has implored his business acumen to write about nineteen books on politics, business, and finance. He rose to become a media personality through the production of an American television series dubbed “The Apprentice,” which he hosted. He has made appearances in over eight television shows and movies. Trump’s father was a Republican, but Donald has fumbled between political parties. In particular, in 2015, he shifted from the Republican Party and joined the Reform Party. Trump then turned his political interests to the Democratic Party before finally settling in his former Republican Party, which propelled him into the presidency in 2017. In 2000, Trump dropped out of the presidential race while contesting under the Reform Party. In 2012, he tried his luck under the Republican Party against Barack Obama but was defeated. In 2016, he finally beat the Democratic Party candidate, Hillary Clinton, albeit through the electoral college vote. According to Wheeler, 90, Trump garnered 206 electoral college votes against Hillary’s 232, but he had 2.9 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.
At a more personal level, Trump regards himself as a non-denominational Christian. He has been married four times to Ivana Zelnickova (1977), Marla Maples (1993), Melania Knauss (2005), and lately, Melania Trump, who became the next foreign-born first lady of the country (Wheeler, 15). Together with his first wife, they had three children Donald, Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. The second marriage resulted in the birth of Tiffany, and Barron was born out of the third marriage.
Work Cited
Wheeler, Jill C. Donald Trump. Checkerboard Library, An Imprint of Abdo Publishing, 2017.