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Trump sought the
Reform Party's
presidential nomination in 2000, but withdrew before voting began. He considered running as a
Republican for the
2012 election, but ultimately decided against it. In June 2015, he announced his candidacy for the
2016 election, and quickly emerged as the front-runner among 17 contenders in the
Republican primaries. His final opponents suspended their campaigns in May 2016, and in July he was formally nominated at the
Republican Convention along with
Mike Pence as his running mate.
His campaign received unprecedented media coverage and international attention. Many of his statements in interviews, on social media, and at campaign rallies were
controversial or false.[2][3][4]
Trump was born on June 14, 1946, in
Jamaica, Queens, a neighborhood in New York City. He was the fourth of five children born to
Frederick Christ "Fred" Trump (1905–1999) and
Mary Anne Trump (née MacLeod, 1912–2000).[5][6] His siblings are
Maryanne, Fred Jr., Elizabeth, and Robert. Trump's older brother Fred Jr. died in 1981 from
alcoholism, which Trump says led him to abstain from alcohol and cigarettes.[7]
Ancestry
Trump is of paternal
German ancestry and maternal
Scottish ancestry. His mother and all his grandparents were born in Europe. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from
Kallstadt, Germany, and his father, who became a New York City real estate developer, was born in the
Bronx.[8][9] His mother emigrated to New York from her birthplace of
Tong, Lewis, Scotland.[10] Fred and Mary met in New York and married in 1936, raising their family in
Queens.[10][11]
Trump's family had a two-story
mock Tudor home on Midland Parkway in
Jamaica Estates, where he lived while attending
The Kew-Forest School.[17][18] He left the school at age 13 and was enrolled in the
New York Military Academy (NYMA),[19] in
Cornwall, New York, where he finished eighth grade and high school. Trump was an energetic child; his parents hoped that the discipline at the military school would allow him to channel his energy in a positive manner. In 1983, Fred Trump told an interviewer that Donald "was a pretty rough fellow when he was small".[20]
Trump participated in
marching drills, wore a uniform, and during his senior year attained the rank of captain. He was transferred from a student command position after the alleged hazing of a new freshman in his barracks by one of Trump's subordinates; Trump later described the transfer as "a promotion".[21] In 2015, he told a biographer that NYMA gave him "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military".[22]
Trump was not drafted during the
Vietnam War.[28] While in college from 1964 to 1968, he obtained four student deferments.[29] In 1966, he was deemed fit for service based upon a military medical examination, and in 1968 was briefly classified as fit by a local draft board, but was given a 1-Y
medical deferment in October 1968.[30] In an interview for a 2015 biography, he attributed his medical deferment to
heel spurs.[22] In 1969, he received a high number in the
draft lottery, which would also have likely exempted him from service.[30][31][32]
In 1971 Trump took over the family real estate firm, Elizabeth Trump & Son, which he renamed The Trump Organization.[33][34] He greatly expanded its real estate operations as well as ventures into numerous other business activities. It eventually became the umbrella organization for several hundred individual business ventures and partnerships.[35]
When Trump was elected president in November 2016, the question arose what he would do with his business activities to avoid conflicts of interest while president. At a press conference on January 10, 2017, Trump said he and his daughter Ivanka will resign all roles with The Trump Organization, while his two oldest sons Don Jr. and Eric run the business, together with existing Chief Financial Officer
Allen Weisselberg.[36] Trump himself will retain his financial stake in the business.[37] His attorney Sherri Dillon said that before the January 20 inauguration Trump will put the business assets into a trust, which will hire an ethics advisor and a compliance counsel. She added that the Trump Organization will not pursue any new foreign business deals, while continuing to pursue domestic opportunities.[38]
Real estate
Prior to graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Trump began his real estate career at his father's company,[39] Elizabeth Trump and Son,[40] which focused on middle-class rental housing in the New York City
boroughs of
Brooklyn,
Queens, and
Staten Island. During his
undergraduate study, Donald Trump and his father, Fred Trump, used a $500,000 investment to successfully reopen the foreclosed Swifton Village apartment complex in
Cincinnati, Ohio.[41]
After being promoted to president of the company in the early 1970s (while his father became chairman of the board), he renamed it to The Trump Organization.[42][43] In 1973, he and his father
drew wider attention when the
Justice Department contended that the organization systematically discriminated against African Americans wishing to rent apartments, rather than merely screening out people based on low income as the Trumps stated. An agreement was later signed in which the Trumps made no admission of wrongdoing, and under which qualified minority applicants would be presented by the
Urban League.[44][45]
Early Manhattan developments
Trump's first major real estate deal in Manhattan was the remodeling of the
Grand Hyatt Hotel in 1978, located next to
Grand Central Terminal. The building was remodeled from an older Commodore Hotel, and was largely funded by a $70million construction loan jointly guaranteed by Fred Trump and the
Hyatt hotel chain.[46][47]
In 1978, Trump finished negotiations to develop
Trump Tower, a 58-story, 202-meter (663-foot) skyscraper in
Midtown Manhattan, for which The New York Times attributed his "persistence" and "skills as a negotiator".[48] The building was completed in 1983, and houses both the primary
penthousecondominium residence of Donald Trump and the headquarters of The Trump Organization.[49][50] Trump Tower was the setting of the NBC television show The Apprentice, and includes a fully functional television studio set.[51]
Repairs on the
Wollman Rink in
Central Park, built in 1955, were started in 1980 by a
general contractor unconnected to Trump. Despite an expected 2+1⁄2-year construction schedule, the repairs were not completed by 1986. Trump took over the project, completed it in three months for $750,000 less than the initial budget of $1.95 million, and operated the rink for one year with all profits going to charity in exchange for the rink's
concession rights.[52]
Trump acquired the
Plaza Hotel in Manhattan in 1988 for $400million, and tapped his then-wife Ivana to manage its operation and renovation.[53]
Trump acquired the historical
Mar-a-Lago estate in
Palm Beach, Florida, in 1985 for $5million, plus $3million for the home's furnishings. In addition to using the home as a winter retreat, Trump also turned it into a private club with membership fees of $150,000. At about the same time, he acquired a condominium complex in Palm Beach with
Lee Iacocca that became Trump Plaza of the Palm Beaches.[54]
Atlantic City casinos
Harrah's at Trump Plaza opened in
Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1984. The hotel/casino was built by Trump with financing by
Holiday Corp.[55] and operated by the Harrah's gambling unit of Holiday Corp. The casino's poor results exacerbated disagreements between Trump and Holiday Corp.[56] Trump also acquired a partially completed building in Atlantic City from the
Hilton Corporation for $320million. When completed in 1985, the hotel/casino became
Trump Castle. Trump's wife,
Ivana, managed the property.[57]
Later in 1988, Trump acquired the
Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City in a transaction with
Merv Griffin and
Resorts International.[58] The casino was opened in April 1990, and was built at a total cost of $1.1billion, which at the time made it the most expensive casino ever built.[59][60] Financed with $675million in
junk bonds[61] at a 14% interest rate, the project entered
Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following year.[62] Banks and
bondholders, facing potential losses of hundreds of millions of dollars, opted to
restructure the debt.
The Taj Mahal emerged from bankruptcy on October 5, 1991, with Trump ceding 50 percent ownership in the casino to the bondholders in exchange for lowered interest rates and more time to pay off the debt.[63] He also sold his financially challenged
Trump Shuttle airline and his 282-foot (86 m)
megayacht, the Trump Princess.[61][64][65] The property was repurchased in 1996 and consolidated into
Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which filed for bankruptcy in 2004 with $1.8billion in debt, filing again for bankruptcy five years later with $50million in assets and $500million in debt. The restructuring ultimately left Trump with 10% ownership in the Trump Taj Mahal and other Trump casino properties.[65] Trump served as chairman of the organization, which was renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts, from mid-1995 until early 2009, and served as CEO from mid-2000 to mid-2005.[66]
During the 1990s, Trump's casino ventures faced competition of the Native-American owned Foxwoods casino in Connecticut. In 1993, Trump made controversial comments in his testimony to a Congressional committee, famously stating that the casino owners did not look like real Indians.[67][68] But despite that well-publicized quote which related to the
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, Trump became a key investor who backed the
Paucatuck Eastern Pequots who were seeking state recognition.[69]
Further developments
Trump acquired an old, vacant office building on Wall Street in Manhattan in 1996. After a complete renovation, it became the seventy-story
Trump Building at 40 Wall Street.[70] After his father died in 1999, Trump and his siblings received equal portions of his father's estate valued at $250–300 million.[71]
Trump acquired the former Hotel Delmonico in Manhattan in 2002. It was re-opened with 35 stories of luxury condominiums in 2004 as the
Trump Park Avenue.[75]
Trump has
licensed his name and image for the development of a number of real estate projects including two in Florida that have gone into foreclosure.[76] The Turkish owner of
Trump Towers Istanbul, who pays Trump for the use of his name, was reported in December 2015 to be exploring legal means to dissociate the property after the candidate's call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.[77]
Trump also licensed his name to son-in-law
Jared Kushner's fifty-story Trump Bay Street, a
Jersey City luxury development that has raised $50million of its $200million capitalization largely from wealthy Chinese nationals who, after making an initial down payment of $500,000 in concert with the government's expedited
EB-5 visa program, can usually obtain United States permanent residency for themselves and their families after two years.[78] Trump is a partner with
Kushner Properties only in name licensing and not in the building's financing.[78]
Golf courses
The Trump Organization operates many
golf courses and resorts in the United States and around the world. The number of golf courses that Trump owns or manages is about 18, according to Golfweek.[79] Trump's personal financial disclosure with the
Federal Elections Commission stated that his golf and resort revenue for the year 2015 was roughly $382million.[80][81]
In 2006, Trump bought the Menie Estate in
Balmedie,
Aberdeenshire, Scotland, creating a golf resort against the wishes of some local residents[82] on an area designated as a
Site of Special Scientific Interest.[83][84] A 2011 independent documentary, You've Been Trumped, by British filmmaker
Anthony S. Baxter, chronicled the golf resort's construction and the subsequent struggles between the locals and Trump.[85] Despite Trump's promises of 6,000 jobs, in 2016, by his own admission, the golf course has created only 200 jobs.[86] In June 2015, Trump made an appeal objecting to
an offshore windfarm being built within sight of the golf course,[87] which was
dismissed by five justices at the
UK Supreme Court in December 2015.[88]
In April 2014, Trump purchased the
Turnberry hotel and golf resort in
Ayrshire, Scotland, which hosted
the Open Championship 4 times between 1977 and 2009.[89][90] After extensive renovations and a remodeling of the course by golf architect Martin Ebert, Turnberry was re-opened on June 24, 2016.[91]
Trump has never filed for
personal bankruptcy, but his hotel and casino businesses have been declared
bankrupt six times between 1991 and 2009 in order to re-negotiate debt with banks and owners of stock and bonds.[92][93] Because the businesses used
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, they were allowed to operate while negotiations proceeded. Trump was quoted by Newsweek in 2011 saying, "I do play with the bankruptcy laws – they're very good for me" as a tool for trimming debt.[94][95]
The six bankruptcies were the result of over-leveraged hotel and casino businesses in Atlantic City and New York:
Trump Taj Mahal (1991),
Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino (1992),
Plaza Hotel (1992),
Trump Castle Hotel and Casino (1992), Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts (2004), and
Trump Entertainment Resorts (2009).[96][97][98] Trump said, "I've used the laws of this country to pare debt ... We'll have the company. We'll throw it into a chapter. We'll negotiate with the banks. We'll make a fantastic deal. You know, it's like on The Apprentice. It's not personal. It's just business."[62]
A 2016 analysis of Trump's business career by The Economist concluded that his "... performance [from 1985 to 2016] has been mediocre compared with the stock market and property in New York", noting both his successes and bankruptcies.[99] A subsequent analysis by The Washington Post concluded that "Trump is a mix of braggadocio, business failures, and real success."[100]
Other ventures
Sports events
In September 1983, Trump purchased the
New Jersey Generals, an
American Football team playing in the
United States Football League (USFL), from oil magnate
J. Walter Duncan. The USFL played its first three seasons during the spring and summer, but Trump convinced the majority of the owners of other USFL teams to move the USFL 1986 schedule to the fall, directly opposite the
National Football League (NFL), arguing that it would eventually force a merger with the NFL, which would supposedly increase their investment significantly.[101]
After the 1985 season, the Generals merged with the
Houston Gamblers, but had continuing financial troubles. The USFL, which was down to just seven active franchises from a high of 18, was soon forced to fold, despite winning an
antitrustlawsuit against the NFL.[102]
Trump remained involved with other sports after the Generals folded, operating golf courses in several countries.[102] He also hosted several boxing matches in Atlantic City at the Trump Plaza, including
Mike Tyson's 1988 fight against
Michael Spinks, and at one time, acted as a financial advisor to
Tyson.[102][103][104]
In 1989 and 1990, Trump lent his name to the
Tour de Trumpcycling stage race, which was an attempt to create an American equivalent of European races such as the
Tour de France or the
Giro d'Italia. The inaugural race was controversial, and Trump withdrew his sponsorship after the second Tour de Trump in 1990, because his other business ventures were experiencing financial woes. The race continued for several more years as the Tour DuPont.[105][106]
Trump submitted a
stalking-horse bid on the
Buffalo Bills when it came up for sale following
Ralph Wilson's death in 2014; he was ultimately outbid, as he expected, and
Kim and
Terrence Pegula won the auction.[107] During his 2016 presidential run, he was critical of the NFL's
updated concussion rules, complaining on the campaign trail that the game has been made "soft" and "weak", saying a concussion is just "a ding on the head". He accused referees of throwing
penalty flags needlessly just to be seen on television "so their wives see them at home."[108]
From 1996 until 2015,[109] Trump owned part or all of the
Miss Universe,
Miss USA, and
Miss Teen USA beauty pageants. The Miss Universe pageant was founded in 1952 by the California clothing company Pacific Mills.[110] Trump was dissatisfied with how
CBS scheduled his pageants, and took both Miss Universe and Miss USA to
NBC in 2002.[111][112]
In 2006, Miss USA winner
Tara Conner tested positive for
cocaine, but Trump let her keep the crown, for the sake of giving her a second chance.[113] That decision by Trump was criticized by
Rosie O'Donnell, which led to a feud in which Trump and O'Donnell exchanged public criticisms.[114] In 2012, Trump won a $5million arbitration award against a contestant who said the show was rigged.[115]
In 2015, NBC and
Univision both ended their business relationships with the Miss Universe Organization after Trump's controversial 2015 presidential campaign remarks about Mexican illegal immigrants.[116][117] Trump subsequently filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision, alleging a breach of contract and defamation.[118][119]
On September 11, 2015, Trump announced that he had become the sole owner of the Miss Universe Organization by purchasing NBC's stake and that he had "settled" his lawsuits against the network,[120] though it was unclear whether Trump had yet filed lawsuits against NBC.[121] He sold his own interests in the pageant shortly afterwards to
WME/
IMG.[109] The $500million lawsuit against Univision was settled in February 2016, but terms of the settlement were not disclosed.[122]
Trump Model Management
In 1999, Trump founded a modeling company, Trump Model Management, which operates in the
SoHo neighborhood of
Lower Manhattan.[123] Together with another Trump company, Trump Management Group LLC, Trump Model Management has brought nearly 250 foreign fashion models into the United States to work in the
fashion industry since 2000.[124] In 2014, the company, along with its president Corrine Nicolas and other managers, were sued by one of the agency's former models, Alexia Palmer, alleging racketeering, breach of contract, mail fraud, and violating immigrant wage laws.[125] Palmer alleged that Trump Model Management promised to withhold only 20% of her net pay as agency expenses, but after charging her for "obscure expenses", ended up taking 80%.[126] The case was dismissed from
U.S. federal court in March 2016, in part because Palmer's immigration status, via H1-B visa sponsored by Trump, required labor complaints to be filed through a separate process.[126][127]
Trump University LLC was an American
for-profit education company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until at least 2010.[128] After multiple lawsuits, it is now defunct. It was founded by Trump and his associates, Michael Sexton and Jonathan Spitalny, and offered courses, charging between $1,500 and $35,000 per course.[129][130] In 2005 the operation was notified by New York State authorities that its use of the word "university" violated state law, and after a second such notification in 2010, the name of the company was changed to the "Trump Entrepreneurial Institute".[131] Trump was also found personally liable for failing to obtain a business license for the operation.[132]
In 2013 the state of New York filed a $40million civil suit claiming that Trump University made false claims and defrauded consumers.[131][133] In addition, two class-action civil lawsuits were filed in federal court relating to Trump University; they named Trump personally as well as his companies.[134] During the
presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized judge
Gonzalo P. Curiel who oversaw those two cases, alleging bias because of his Mexican heritage.[135][136][137] On June 7, 2016, Trump clarified that his concerns about Curiel's impartiality were not based upon ethnicity alone, but also upon rulings in the case.[138][139]
The Low v. Trump case was set for trial in San Diego beginning November 28, 2016.[140] Shortly after Trump won the presidency, the parties agreed to a settlement of all three pending cases. In the settlement, Trump did not admit to any wrongdoing but agreed to pay a total of $25million.[141][142] The settlement was agreed to just an hour before a hearing regarding Trump's latest request to delay the trial until after the inauguration. Jason Forge, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said he "definitely detected a change of tone and change of approach" from the Trump representatives after the election.[143]
Trump has marketed his name on a large number of building projects as well as commercial products and services, achieving mixed success doing so for himself, his partners, and investors in the projects.[144][145][nb 1] In 2011, Forbes' financial experts estimated the value of the Trump
brand at $200 million. Trump disputed this valuation, saying his brand was worth about $3 billion.[164]
Many developers pay Trump to market their properties and to be the public face for their projects.[165] For that reason, Trump does not own some buildings that display his name.[165] According to Forbes, this portion of Trump's empire, actually run by his children, is by far his most valuable, having a $562million valuation, with 33 licensing projects under development including seven
Trump International Hotel and Tower "condo hotels".
Pursuant to
FEC regulations, Trump published a 92-page financial disclosure form listing all his assets, liabilities, income sources and hundreds of business positions.[80] According to a July 2015 campaign press release, Trump's income for the year 2014 was $362million.[166] However, Trump has repeatedly
declined to publicly release any of his full tax returns, citing a pending IRS audit, despite such an audit not prohibiting him from releasing his current or past tax returns.[167][168] In doing so, Trump broke nearly 45 years of precedent of candidates for the general election releasing their tax returns to the American public.[169]
In October 2016, it was revealed that Trump had claimed a loss of $916million on his 1995 tax returns. As
net operating losses from one year can be applied to offset income from future years, this loss allowed him to reduce or eliminate his taxable income during the eighteen-year carry forward period.[170] Trump acknowledged using the deduction but declined to provide details such as the specific years it was applied.[171] When questioned during a presidential debate about such practices, he stated that avoiding paying income tax through such methods "makes me smart".[172]
The New York Times found that some accountants considered Trump's tax deduction methods in the early 1990s "legally dubious".[173] Independent tax experts stated that "Whatever loophole existed was not 'exploited' here, but stretched beyond any recognition" and that it involved "sleight of hand", further speculating that Trump's casino bankruptcies were probably related to Trump's 1995 reported loss.[174]
Net worth
Trump was listed on the initial Forbes List of wealthy individuals in 1982 as having an estimated $200million fortune, including a share of his father's estimated $200million net worth.[175] He was absent from the list from 1990 to 1995 following losses which reportedly obliged him to borrow from his siblings' trusts in 1993.[175] Trump told campaign audiences he began his career with "a small loan of one million dollars" from his father, which he paid back with interest.[176]
On June 16, 2015, when announcing his candidacy, Trump released a one-page financial summary stating a net worth of $8,737,540,000.[178] "I'm really rich", he said.[179]Forbes believed his suggestion of $9billion was "a whopper", figuring it was actually $4.1 billion.[180] The summary statement includes $3.3 billion worth of "real estate licensing deals, brand and branded developments", putting a figure on Trump's estimate of his own brand value.[181] The July 2015 FEC disclosure reports assets worth above $1.4 billion and debts above $265million. According to Bloomberg, Trump "only reported revenue for [his] golf properties in his campaign filings even though the disclosure form asks for income", whereas independent filings showed his European golf properties to be unprofitable.[182]
After Trump made controversial remarks about illegal immigrants in 2015, he lost business contracts with
NBCUniversal,
Univision,
Macy's,
Serta,
PVH Corporation, and Perfumania, which Forbes estimated negatively impacted his net worth by $125million.[183] The value of the Trump brand may have fallen further during his presidential campaign, as some consumers boycotted Trump-branded products and services to protest his candidacy.[184] Bookings and foot traffic at Trump-branded properties fell off sharply in 2016,[185][186] and the release of the
Access Hollywood tape recordings in October 2016 exacerbated this.[187] After winning the election, however, his subjective brand value rebounded sharply.[188]
In their 2016 annual billionaires' rankings, Forbes estimated Trump's net worth at $4.5 billion (113th in the United States, 324th in the world)[1] and Bloomberg at $3billion,[182] making him one of the
richest politicians in American history. Trump himself stated that his net worth was over $10billion,[166] with the discrepancy essentially stemming from the uncertain value of appraised property and of his
personal brand.[182][189]
In 2003, Trump became the
executive producer and host of the NBC
reality showThe Apprentice, in which a group of competitors battled for a high-level management job in one of Trump's commercial enterprises. Contestants were successively "
fired" and eliminated from the game. In 2004, Trump filed a trademark application for the
catchphrase "You're fired!"[196]
For the first year of the show, Trump earned $50,000 per episode (roughly $700,000 for the first season), but following the show's initial success, he was paid $1 million per episode.[197] In a July 2015 press release, Trump's campaign manager said that NBCUniversal had paid him $213,606,575 for his 14 seasons hosting the show,[166] although the network did not verify the statement.[198] In 2007, Trump received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to television on The Apprentice.[145][199] In October 2016, the star was targeted by vandals.[200]
Along with British TV producer
Mark Burnett, Trump was hired as host of The Celebrity Apprentice, in which celebrities compete to win money for their charities. While Trump and Burnett co-produced the show, Trump stayed in the forefront, deciding winners and "firing" losers. International versions of
The Apprentice franchise were co-produced by Burnett and Trump.
On February 16, 2015, NBC announced that they would be renewing The Apprentice for a 15th season.[201] On February 27, Trump stated that he was "not ready" to sign on for another season because of the possibility of a presidential run.[202] Despite this, on March 18, NBC announced they were going ahead with production.[203] On June 29, after widespread negative reaction stemming from Trump's campaign announcement speech, NBC released a statement saying, "Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump."[204]
After Trump's election campaign and presidential win led to his departure from the program, actor and former
California GovernorArnold Schwarzenegger replaced Trump as host for the fifteenth season.[205] Trump is still credited as an executive producer.[206]
Professional wrestling
Trump is a
WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) fan, and a friend of WWE owner
Vince McMahon. In 1988–89 he hosted
WrestleMania IV and
V at
Boardwalk Hall (dubbed "Trump Plaza" for storyline purposes) and has been an active participant in several of the shows.[207] Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City was host to the
1991 WBF Championship (which was owned by WWE, known at the time as the "World Wrestling Federation"). He also appeared in
WrestleMania VII. He was interviewed by
Jesse Ventura ringside at
WrestleMania XX.[208]
Trump appeared at
WrestleMania 23 in a match called "The Battle of the Billionaires".[207] He was in the corner of
Bobby Lashley, while Vince McMahon was in the corner of Lashley's opponent
Umaga with
Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special guest referee.[207] The deal was that either Trump or McMahon would have their head shaved if their competitor lost.[207] Lashley won the match, and so McMahon got the haircut.[207]
On June 15, 2009, as
part of a storyline, McMahon announced on Monday Night Raw that he had "sold" the show to Trump.[207] Appearing on screen, Trump declared he would be at the following commercial-free episode in person and would give a full refund to the people who purchased tickets to the arena for that night's show.[207] McMahon "bought back" Raw the following week for twice the price.[207]
Trump was inducted into the celebrity wing of the
WWE Hall of Fame in 2013 at
Madison Square Garden for his contributions to the promotion. He made his sixth WrestleMania appearance the next night.[209]
Trump considered the idea of running for president in 1988, 2004, and 2012, and for
Governor of New York in 2006 and 2014, but did not enter those races.[210][211]
2000 presidential candidacy
In 1999, Trump filed an
exploratory committee to seek the presidential nomination of the Reform Party in 2000.[212][213] A July 1999 poll matching him against likely Republican nominee
George W. Bush and likely Democratic nominee
Al Gore showed Trump with seven percent support.[214] Trump eventually dropped out of the race due to party infighting, but still won the party's California and Michigan primaries after doing so.[215][216][217][218]
As Trump publicly speculated about seeking the
2012 Republican presidential nomination, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released in March 2011 found Trump leading among potential contenders, one point ahead of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.[220] A Newsweek poll conducted in February 2011 showed Trump within a few points of Barack Obama, with many voters undecided in the November 2012 general election for president of the United States.[221] A poll released in April 2011 by
Public Policy Polling showed Trump having a nine-point lead in a potential contest for the Republican nomination for president while he was still actively considering a run.[222][223] His moves were interpreted by some media as possible promotional tools for his reality show The Apprentice.[224][225][226]
Trump played a leading role in
"birther" conspiracy theories that had been circulating since President
Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.[227][228] Beginning in March 2011, Trump publicly questioned Obama's citizenship and eligibility to serve as President.[229][230][231]
Although the Obama campaign had released a copy of the short-form birth certificate in 2008,[232] Trump demanded to see the original "long-form" certificate.[229] He mentioned having sent investigators to Hawaii to research the question, but he did not follow up with any findings.[229] He also repeated a debunked allegation that Obama's grandmother said she had witnessed his birth in Kenya.[233][234]
When the
White House later released Obama's long-form birth certificate,[235] Trump took credit for obtaining the document, saying "I hope it checks out."[236]
His official biography mentions his purported role in forcing Obama's hand,[237] and he has defended his pursuit of the issue when prompted. In 2013 he said, "I don't think I went overboard. Actually, I think it made me very popular."[238] When asked in 2015 whether Obama was born in the United States, Trump said he did not want to discuss it further.[239][240]
Earlier, Trump had also called for Obama to release his student records, questioning whether his grades warranted entry into an Ivy League school.[241] In September 2016, Trump publicly acknowledged that Obama was born in the U.S., and claimed that the rumors had been started by
Hillary Clinton during her
2008 presidential campaign.[230][242][243]
In February 2011, Trump made his first speaking appearance at the
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). His appearance at CPAC was organized by
GOProud, an
LGBT conservative organization, in conjunction with GOProud supporter
Roger Stone, who was close with Trump. GOProud pushed for a write-in campaign for Trump at CPAC's presidential straw poll.
Christopher R. Barron, co-founder of GOProud who would later not only endorse Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, but also launch LGBT for Trump, said he "would love to see Mr. Trump run for president." The 2011 CPAC speech Trump gave is credited for helping kick-start his political career within the
Republican Party.[244][245][246]
In the 2012 Republican primaries, Trump generally had polled at or below 17 percent among the crowded field of possible candidates.[247] On May 16, 2011, Trump announced he would not run for president in the 2012 election, while also saying he would have won.[224]
In 2013, Trump was a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).[248] During the lightly attended early-morning speech, Trump said that President Obama gets "unprecedented media protection", spoke against illegal immigration, and advised against harming Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.[249][250]
Also in 2013, he spent over $1million to research a possible run for president of the United States.[251] In October 2013, New York Republicans circulated a memo suggesting Trump should run for governor of the state in 2014, against
Andrew Cuomo; Trump said in response that while New York had problems and taxes were too high, running for governor was not of great interest to him.[252] A February 2014 Quinnipiac poll had shown Trump losing to the popular Cuomo by 37 points in a hypothetical election.[253] He also made statements denying climate change that were discordant with the
opinion of the scientific community.[254] In February 2015, Trump said he told NBC that he was not prepared to sign on for another season of The Apprentice at that time, as he mulled his political future.[255]
Political affiliations
Trump's party affiliation has changed over the years. Although his party affiliation prior to 1987 is unclear, Trump was an early supporter of Republican
Ronald Reagan for United States President in the late 1970s.[256] By 1987, he identified as a Republican.[257]
From 2001 to 2008 he was a Democrat, but in 2008 he endorsed Republican
John McCain for President. In 2009, he officially changed his party registration to Republican.[258] In December 2011, Trump became an independent for five months before returning to the Republican Party, where he has pledged to stay.[259][260]
Trump has made contributions to campaigns of both Republican Party and Democratic Party candidates, with the top ten recipients of his political contributions being six Democrats and four Republicans.[261] After 2011, his campaign contributions were more favorable to Republicans than to Democrats.[262] In February 2012, Trump endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for President.[263] When asked in 2015 which recent President he prefers, Trump picked Democrat
Bill Clinton over the Republican
Bushes.[264][265]
According to a New York state report, Trump circumvented corporate and personal campaign donation limits in the 1980s—although no laws were broken—by donating money to candidates from 18 different business subsidiaries, rather than donating primarily in his own name.[266][267] Trump told investigators he did so on the advice of his lawyers. He also said the contributions were not to curry favor with business-friendly candidates, but simply to satisfy requests from friends.[266][268]
In his campaign, Trump said that he disdained
political correctness, stated that the media has intentionally misinterpreted his words, and made other claims of adverse
media bias.[270][271][272] In part due to his fame, Trump's run for president received an unprecedented amount of unpaid coverage from the media that elevated his standing in the Republican primaries.[273]
Some rallies during the primary season were accompanied by protests or violence, including attacks on protesters inside the rallies, and clashes between protesters and Trump supporters outside the venues.[281][282][283]
Fact checking organizations have denounced Trump for making a record number of false statements compared to other candidates.[2][284][285] At least four major publications – Politico, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times – pointed out lies or falsehoods in his campaign statements.[286] Trump's penchant for exaggerating may have roots in the world of New York real estate where he made his fortune, and where hyperbole is a way of life; Trump calls it "truthful hyperbole".[287][288] Lucas Graves, an assistant professor at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication,[289] says that Trump often speaks in a suggestive way that makes it unclear what exactly he meant, so that fact-checkers "have to be really careful when you pick claims to check to pick things ... that reflect what the speaker was clearly trying to communicate".[290] Other sources, such as NPR, also observed that Trump's statements during the campaign were often opaque or suggestive.[291]
Trump entered a large field of candidates against 16 other Republicans campaigning for the nomination, the largest presidential field in American history.[292] Trump participated in eleven of the twelve
Republican debates, skipping only the seventh debate on January 28 (that was the last debate before primary voting began on February 1). The debates received historically high viewership, increasing the visibility of Trump's campaign.[293]
By early 2016, the race had mostly centered on Trump and
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.[294] On
Super Tuesday, Trump won the plurality of the vote and remained the front-runner throughout the primaries. By March 2016, Trump became poised to win the Republican nomination.[295] After a landslide win in
Indiana on May 3, 2016, which prompted the remaining candidates Ted Cruz and
John Kasich to suspend their presidential campaigns,
RNC Chairman
Reince Priebus declared Trump the presumptive Republican nominee.[296] With nearly 14 million votes, Trump broke the all-time record for winning the most primary votes in the history of the Republican Party. He also set the record for the largest number of votes against the front runner.[297]
After becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, Trump's focus shifted to the
general election, urging remaining primary voters to "save [their] vote for the general election."[298] Trump began targeting
Hillary Clinton, who became the presumptive
Democratic nominee on June 6, 2016, and continued to campaign across the country. One month before the
Republican National Convention,
Secret Service agents thwarted an assassination attempt on Trump by a 20-year-old British man
illegally residing in the U.S. during one of his rallies in
Las Vegas.[299]
Clinton had established a significant lead in
national polls over Trump throughout most of 2016. In early July, Clinton's lead narrowed in national polling averages following the
FBI's conclusion of its investigation into her ongoing
email controversy.[300][301][302]FBI DirectorJames Comey concluded Clinton had been "extremely careless" in her handling of classified government material.[303]
One study argues that it was in fact Trump's grandiosity that attracted voters. A test was carried out by blind raters in which Trump scored highest on grandiosity ratings, use of first person pronouns, greater pitch dynamics and informal communication.[304]
After Trump won the Republican presidential nomination, historians
Fredrik Logevall and Kenneth Osgood noted that, "Hardly a day passes without some columnist comparing Donald J. Trump to
Huey Long,
Father Coughlin or
George Wallace."[305]
On July 15, 2016, Trump announced
IndianaGovernorMike Pence as his
running mate.[306] Trump and Pence were officially nominated by the Republican Party on July 19, 2016, at the Republican National Convention.[307] The list of convention speakers and attendees included former presidential nominee
Bob Dole but the other prior nominees did not attend, though John McCain endorsed Trump prior to the convention.[308][309]
Two days later, Trump officially accepted the nomination in a 76-minute speech inspired by
Richard Nixon's 1968 acceptance speech.[310] The historically long speech was watched by nearly 35 million people and received mixed reviews, with net negative viewer reactions according to CNN and Gallup polls.[311][312][313]
In late July, Trump came close to Clinton in national polls following a 3 to 4 percentage point
convention bounce, in line with the average bounce in conventions since 2004, although it was toward the small side by historical standards.[314] Following Clinton's 7 percent
convention bounce, she extended her lead significantly in national polls at the start of August.[315][316]
Trump has
declined to publicly release any of his full tax returns,[317] which led to speculation about whether he was hiding something.[318] Trump said that his tax returns are being audited and his lawyers advise against release.[319][320] High-income individuals are audited more frequently than the average taxpayer, but it is unusual for an individual to be audited for several consecutive years.[320] Trump has told the news media that his tax rate was "none of your business", but added, "I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible".[321][322] Every candidate since
Gerald Ford in 1976 released their taxes before the election.[323] Although no law prohibits release of tax returns during an audit, tax attorneys differ about whether such a release is wise legal strategy.[324][325]
Two days before the
second presidential debate, a
2005 recording surfaced, made on a studio bus while preparing to film an episode of Access Hollywood. On the tape, Trump is heard bragging about forcibly kissing and groping women with the show's then-cohost
Billy Bush.[332][333][334] "I just start kissing them", he says, "I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it, you can do anything ... grab them by the pussy."[335] He also speaks of his efforts to seduce a married woman, saying he "moved on her very heavily."[335] These statements were recorded several months after Trump married his third wife, Melania, who was also pregnant at the time.[335][336]
Trump's language was described by the media as "vulgar", "sexist", and descriptive of
sexual assault. The incident prompted him to make his first public apology during the campaign,[337][338] and caused outrage across the political spectrum,[339][340] with many Republicans withdrawing their endorsements of his candidacy and some urging him to quit the race.[341]
Subsequently, at least 15 women[342] came forward with new accusations of sexual misconduct, including unwanted kissing and groping, resulting in widespread media coverage.[343][344]
Trump and his campaign have denied all of these accusations.[345][346] He has called them "false smears" and alleged a conspiracy against him.[347] In his two public statements in response to the controversy,
Trump responded by alleging that Bill Clinton, former President of the United States and husband of Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, had "abused women" and that Hillary had bullied her husband's victims.[348] Trump's statement was criticized severely by the media and members of the public as insincere, and an attempt to divert attention away from Trump's comments and onto unsubstantiated accusations against his political opponents.[349]
Prior to the general election in November 2016, the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other American intelligence agencies publicly blamed Russia for cyberespionage that was intended to affect the U.S. presidential election, and U.S. officials decided that any countermeasures against Russia would come after election day instead of before.[350] On December 9, 2016, senior Obama administration officials indicated that Russia provided
Wikileaks with thousands of hacked emails from the
Democratic National Committee (DNC) and
Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman
John Podesta with the goal of influencing the outcome of the election.[351] The FBI later affirmed this assessment.[352][353]
Trump's
transition team initially dismissed the allegations with a statement which said: "These are the same people that said
Saddam Husseinhad weapons of mass destruction."[353] Wikileaks denied any involvement of Russian authorities.[351] A January 2017 U.S. intelligence report concluded that Russian president Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump in the election.[354] The report did not attempt to assess whether the Russian hacking actually helped to elect Trump or made any difference in the election outcome.[355] Trump acknowledged during a January 11, 2017 press conference that Russia was behind cyberattacks aimed at influencing the election, and mentioned that Putin "shouldn’t have done it."[356]
On November 8, 2016, Trump won the presidency with 306
electoral votes to Clinton's 232 votes. Trump received a smaller share of the popular vote than Clinton, and he is the
fifth person to become president without winning the popular vote.[357][358] The final popular vote difference between Clinton and Trump is that Clinton finished ahead by 2.86 million or 2.1 percentage points, 48.04% to 45.95%, with neither candidate reaching a majority.[359][360] The last time the Electoral College winner lost the nationwide popular vote by over two percentage points was the
election of 1876.[361]
Trump will be the first president without prior governmental or military experience.[362][363][364] Of the 44 previous presidents, 39 had held prior elective office; 2 had not held elective office but had served in the Cabinet; and 3 had never held public office but had been commanding generals.[364] Trump lost his home state of
New York, becoming only the fourth candidate to win the presidency without his home state. The others were
James Polk (
Tennessee) in
1844,
Woodrow Wilson (
New Jersey) in
1916, and
Richard Nixon (
New York) in
1968.[365]
Trump's victory was considered a big political upset, as nearly all national polls at the time showed Hillary Clinton with a modest lead over Trump, and state polls showed her with a modest lead to win the Electoral College.[366] The errors in some state polls were later partially attributed to pollsters overestimating Clinton's support among well-educated and nonwhite voters, while underestimating Trump's support among white working-class voters.[367] Trump's victory marked the first time that Republicans
would control the White House and both chambers of
Congress since the period from
2003 to
2007.[368]
In the early hours of November 9, 2016, Trump received a phone call in which Clinton conceded the presidency to him. Trump then delivered his victory speech before hundreds of supporters in the
Hilton Hotel in New York City. The speech was in stark contrast with some of his previous rhetoric, with Trump promising to heal the division caused by the election, thanking Clinton for her service to the country, and promising to be a president to all Americans.[369][370]
Trump's victory sparked protests across the United States. Democrats, in alignment with other Trump opponents, took to the streets to amplify their opposition to Trump's views and denounce his inflammatory statements. They argued that Clinton's popular vote victory meant Trump was not actually the
democratically-elected president and should be considered illegitimate.[371] Trump initially said on
Twitter that the protests consisted of "professional protesters, incited by the media", and were "unfair", but he later stated that he loves their passion for the country.[372][373] In contrast, after Obama's re-election in 2012, Trump had tweeted "We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!"[374]
On November 10, President-elect Trump had his first meeting with President Obama to discuss plans for a peaceful
transition of power. The New York Times stated that "It was an extraordinary show of cordiality and respect between two men who have been political enemies and are stylistic opposites."[375] The BBC stated that "their antipathy was barely concealed" in "awkward photos" of the meeting.[376]
In January 2017, Trump was briefed on as yet unproven
allegations that
Russia had "potentially compromising personal and financial information" about him.[404][405] He has denied these claims.[406]
Media have described Trump's political positions as "
populist",[407][408] and some of his views cross party lines. For example, his economic campaign plan calls for large reductions in
income taxes and deregulation,[409] consistent with Republican Party policies, along with significant infrastructure investment,[410] usually considered a liberal (Democratic Party) policy.[411][412]
According to political writer
Jack Shafer, Trump may be a "fairly conventional American populist when it comes to his policy views", but he has a revolutionary ability to attract
free media attention, sometimes by making outrageous comments.[413][414]
Trump has supported varying political leanings and positions over time.[415][416][417]Politico has described his positions as "eclectic, improvisational and often contradictory",[417] while
NBC News counted "141 distinct shifts on 23 major issues" during his campaign.[418] He has listed several different party affiliations over the years[419] and has also run as a
Reform Party candidate.[419]
Economy and trade
Trump's campaign tax plan called for levelling the
corporate tax rate to 15%, eliminating various business loopholes and deductions,[409] and reducing the number of brackets for personal income tax: the top rate would be reduced from 39.6% to 25%, a large "zero bracket" would be created, and the
alternative minimum tax and
estate tax (which currently applies to individual estates over $5.45 million or $10.9 million per married couple) would both be eliminated.[420] His comments about the
minimum wage have been inconsistent.[421][422][423]
Many economists have been critical of Trump's economic policies,[424][425][426] with several reports assessing that his campaign plan would increase tax rates for families earning between $20,000 to $200,000 a year,[427][428] cause long-term job losses and recession,[429][430][431] and significantly increase the federal debt.[432]
Trump's energy policy advocates domestic industrial support for both fossil and renewable energy sources in order to curb reliance on Middle-Eastern oil and possibly turn the U.S. into a net energy exporter.[444]His appointed advisers favor a less regulated energy market and, because they do not consider
climate change a threat, see no need for immediate action.[445]
However, after winning the presidency, Trump admitted "some connectivity" between human activity and climate variability and said he has an "open mind" towards the Paris agreement.[454] On December 5, 2016, Donald and Ivanka Trump invited prominent
climate change activistAl Gore to a private meeting.[455] On January 13, 2017, Trump met with a Princeton physics professor
William Happer, who says benefits of climate change outweigh any harm.[456]
Foreign policy
Trump has been described as
non-interventionist[457][458] and nationalist.[459] Trump has repeatedly stated that he supports "America First" foreign policy, though he is not linked to the historical
isolationistAmerica First Party (1944) or the defunct
paleoconservativeAmerica First Party (2002).[460] He supports increasing United States military defense spending,[459] but favors decreasing United States spending on
NATO and in the Pacific region.[461] He says America should look inward, stop "nation building", and re-orient its resources toward domestic needs.[458] He questions whether he, as president, would automatically extend
security guarantees to NATO members,[462] and suggests that he might leave NATO unless changes are made to the alliance.[463] Trump has called for Japan to pay for the costs of American troops stationed there and that it might need to develop nuclear weapons in order to protect itself from North Korea.[439][464]
In order to confront
ISIS, Trump in 2015 called for seizing the oil in ISIS occupied areas, using U.S. air power and ground troops.[465] In 2016, Trump advocated sending 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops to the region,[415][466][467] a position he retracted.[468] Also in 2016, when asked how he would handle ISIS using human shields, Trump responded with "you have to take out their families."[469] He has since argued that regional allies of the U.S., such as
Saudi Arabia should provide troops in the fight.[418] He also believes that oil fields in ISIS-controlled areas should be bombed.[418] He supports the use of
waterboarding, a form of
torture, and has said he would "bring back a hell of a lot worse".[470][471] Trump has also said he will dismantle the
international nuclear agreement with Iran as president.[472] Regarding the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Trump has stated the importance of being a neutral party during potential negotiations, while also having stated that he is "a big fan of Israel".[473] He supports Israeli
settlement construction in the West Bank.[474]
During his 2016 Presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly said that he opposed the
Iraq War even before it was launched, although his public position had been unclear at the time.[475][476] In 2002, when asked whether he supported invading Iraq, Trump responded, "Yeah, I guess so" and added "I wish the first time it was done correctly" in reference to the
Gulf War of 1990–1991.[475][477]
Shortly before
the 2003 invasion, he said: "Well, [Bush's] either got to do something—or not do something, perhaps. […] And perhaps we should be waiting for the United Nations."[478][479]
Trump publicly referred to the war as a "mess" within a week after it began, and by 2004 he said he was opposed to it.[477] Since 2004, he has repeatedly
criticized the war, especially during the
primary debates with
Jeb Bush.[480][481]
Trump has at times during his presidential campaign stated that the
Afghanistan War was a mistake, and at other times stated that it was necessary.[482] He supports keeping a limited number of United States troops there.[482] Trump was a supporter of the
2011 military intervention in Libya at the time, stating in February 2011 "We should go in, we should stop [Gaddafi], which would be very easy and very quick, we could do it surgically."[483][484] He has since then reversed his position, stating in February 2016 that "We would be so much better off if Gaddafi would be in charge right now."[485]
Following the
November 2015 Paris attacks, Trump made a controversial proposal to completely ban Muslims from entering the United States until proper filtering could be implemented.[497][498] He later clarified that this proposal would only apply to Muslim noncitizens.[499] He changed his position in 2016 by stating that the temporary ban would apply only to people originating from countries with a "proven history of terrorism against the United States or its allies", or countries "compromised by terrorism".[500][501][502]
Trump characterized this as an expansion, not rollback, of his original proposal.[503]
In August 2016, Trump hinted he might soften his position calling for the deportation of all undocumented immigrants.[504][505] On August 31, 2016, he visited Mexican President
Enrique Peña Nieto, saying he wanted to build relations with the country.[506] However, in a major speech later that night, Trump laid out a 10-point plan reaffirming his hardline positions, including building a wall along the Mexican border to be paid for by Mexico, potentially deporting "anyone who has entered the United States illegally", denying legal status to such people unless they leave the country and apply for re-entry, and creating a deportation task force.[507] He said the focus of the task force would be criminals, those who have overstayed their visas, and other "security threats".[508]
Social issues
Trump describes himself as
pro-life and generally opposes
abortion with some exceptions: rape, incest, and circumstances endangering the health of the mother,[509] and said he is committed to
appointing justices who would try to overturn the ruling in Roe v. Wade.[510] He personally supports "traditional marriage"[448] but considers the nationwide legality of
same-sex marriage a "settled" issue.[510]
Trump has repeatedly vowed to repeal the
Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").[517][518] His 2000 book, The America We Deserve, argued strongly for a
single-payer healthcare system based on the
Canadian model.[519][520] Remarks from Trump as recently as January 2015 seem to hold up foreign single-payer healthcare systems as models to emulate[521] and his September 2015 remarks indicate support for government-funded universal healthcare.[522]
During the 2016 campaign, Trump distanced himself from a single-payer system without providing clarity about his present proposals.[523][524]
In March 2016, Trump's campaign released a platform summary which included a variety of
free-market reforms including provisions to allow health insurance to be sold across state lines, enable individuals to deduct health insurance premiums, expand health savings accounts, and give more control of Medicaid to the states.[525][526]
Trump has five children by three marriages, and has eight grandchildren.[532][533] His first two marriages ended in divorces that were publicized in the
tabloid media.[534]
Trump married his first wife, Czech model
Ivana Zelníčková, on April 7, 1977, at the
Marble Collegiate Church in
Manhattan[535] in a ceremony performed by one of America's most famous ministers, the Reverend
Norman Vincent Peale.[536] They had three children: son
Donald Jr. (born December 31, 1977), daughter
Ivanka (born October 30, 1981), and son
Eric (born January 6, 1984). Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric now serve as executive vice presidents of
The Trump Organization.[537] Ivana became a naturalized United States citizen in 1988.[538]
Trump has been nicknamed "The Donald" since Ivana referred to him as such in a 1989
Spy magazine cover story.[539][540] By early 1990, Trump's troubled marriage to Ivana and affair with actress
Marla Maples had been reported in the tabloid press.[541][542][543] Ivana Trump was granted an uncontested divorce in 1990, on the grounds that Trump's treatment of her, such as his affair with Maples, had been "cruel and inhuman".[544][545] In 1992, he successfully sued Ivana for violating a gag clause in their divorce agreement by disclosing facts about him in her book.[546][547][548] In 2015, Ivana said that she and Donald "are the best of friends".[549]
Maples gave birth to their daughter
Tiffany, named after
Tiffany & Company (Trump's purchase of the air rights above the store in the 1980s allowed him to build
Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue), on October 13, 1993.[550] They married two months later on December 20, 1993.[551] The couple formally separated in May 1997,[552] with their divorce finalized in June 1999.[553][554] Maples raised Tiffany as a single mother in
Calabasas, California, where they lived until Tiffany's graduation from
Viewpoint School.[555]
In 1998, Trump began a relationship with
Slovene model
Melania Knauss, who became his third wife.[556][557] They were engaged in April 2004[558] and were married on January 22, 2005, at
Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, on the island of
Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception at Trump's
Mar-a-Lago estate.[559][560][561] In 2006, Melania became a naturalized United States citizen.[557] On March 20, 2006, she gave birth to their son, whom they named Barron Trump.[562][563] Having heard the language since his birth, Barron is fluent in
Slovene.[564] In a February 2009 interview on ABC's news program Nightline, Trump commented that his love for his business had made it difficult for his first two wives to compete with his affection for work.[565]
Trump's brother, Fred Jr., predeceased their father Fred. Shortly after the latter died in 1999, the wife of Fred Jr.'s son gave birth to a son with serious medical problems. Trump and his family offered to pay the medical bills through Fred Sr.'s company (Fred Sr. had freely provided medical coverage to his family through his company for decades).[566] Fred III then sued the family for allegedly having used "undue influence" on a dementia-stricken Fred Sr. to get Fred III and his sister Mary a reduced share from their grandfather's will, but Trump attributed the reduced share to his father's dislike of Fred III's mother, and Trump stopped the aid for Fred III's son. The aid was resumed by court order pending outcome of the lawsuit, which was then settled.[567][568]
Trump calls his own book The Art of the Deal "my second favorite book of all time, after the Bible. Nothing beats the Bible".[574][575] In a speech to
Liberty University, he referred to
Second Corinthians as "Two Corinthians", eliciting chuckles from the audience.[576] Still, the New York Times reported that
Evangelical Christians nationwide thought "that his heart was in the right place, that his intentions for the country were pure".[577]
Outside of his church affiliations, Trump has relationships with a number of
Christian spiritual leaders, including Florida pastor
Paula White, who has been described as his "closest spiritual confidant."[578] In 2015, he asked for and received a blessing from
Greek Orthodox priest
Emmanuel Lemelson[579] and, in 2016, released a list of his religious advisers, including
James Dobson,
Jerry Falwell Jr.,
Ralph Reed and others.[580]
Referring to his daughter
Ivanka's
conversion to
Judaism before her marriage to
Jared Kushner, Trump said in 2015: "I have a Jewish daughter; and I am very honored by that […] it wasn't in the plan but I am very glad it happened."[581]
Health
A medical report by his doctor,
Harold BornsteinM.D., showed that Trump's
blood pressure, liver and thyroid function were in normal range.[582][583] Trump says that he has never smoked cigarettes or consumed other drugs, including
marijuana.[584] He also does not drink alcohol, a decision stemming from his brother's death caused by
alcoholism.[7][585][586][587] His
BMI, according to his December 2016 visit on Doctor Oz, is just under 30, which is "high".[588][589][590]
The Donald J. Trump Foundation is a U.S.-based
private foundation[591] established in 1988 for the initial purpose of giving away proceeds from the book Trump: The Art of the Deal by Trump and
Tony Schwartz.[592][593] The foundation's funds have mostly come from donors other than Trump,[594] who has not given personally to the charity since 2008.[594] In 2016, investigations by The Washington Post uncovered several potential legal and ethical violations conducted by the charity, including alleged self-dealing and possible tax evasion.[595] After beginning an investigation into the foundation, the
New York State Attorney General's office notified the Trump Foundation that it was allegedly in violation of New York laws regarding charities, and ordered it to immediately cease its fundraising activities in New York.[596][597][598] A Trump spokesman called the investigation a "partisan hit job".[596]
The foundation's tax returns show that it has given to health care and sports-related charities, as well as conservative groups.[599] In 2009, for example, the foundation gave $926,750 to about 40 groups, with the biggest donations going to the
Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation ($100,000), the
New York–Presbyterian Hospital ($125,000), the
Police Athletic League ($156,000), and the
Clinton Foundation ($100,000).[600][601] From 2004 to 2014, the top donors to the foundation were
Vince and
Linda McMahon of
WWE, who donated $5 million to the foundation after Trump appeared at
WrestleMania in 2007.[594] After winning the presidency, Trump announced his intention to give Linda McMahon a cabinet-level position in his administration, as Administrator of the
Small Business Administration.[602] In response to mounting complaints, Trump's team announced in late December 2016 that the Trump Foundation would be dissolved to remove "even the appearance of any conflict with [his] role as President”.[603]
An analysis by USA Today, published in June 2016, found that over the previous three decades, Trump and his businesses had been involved in 3,500 legal cases in
U.S. federal courts and
state courts, an unprecedented number for a
U.S. presidential candidate.[604] Of the 3,500 suits, mostly in the
casino industry, Trump or one of his companies was the plaintiff in 1,900; defendant in 1,450; and third party, filer of bankruptcy, or other in 150.[604] Trump was named in at least 169 suits in federal court.[605] Although litigation over contract disputes and other matters is common in the
real estate industry,[606]USA Today found that Trump had been involved in more legal disputes than
Edward J. DeBartolo Jr.,
Donald Bren,
Stephen M. Ross,
Sam Zell, and
Larry Silverstein combined. In about 500 cases, judges dismissed plaintiffs' claims against Trump. Hundreds of cases have ended with the available public record unclear about the resolution,[604] but where there was a clear resolution, he has won 451 times and lost 38.[607]
1980s
In 1985, Trump was sued by both the State of New York and the City of New York for allegedly trying to force out tenants to enable demolition.[608] The matter was settled and the demolition canceled.[609] In 1988, Trump paid $750,000 to settle the civil penalties in an antitrust lawsuit stemming from stock purchases.[610]
1990s
In 1991, a business analyst predicted that the
Trump Taj Mahal would soon fail, and he then lost his job; the analyst sued Trump for allegedly having an unlawful role in the firing, and that matter was settled confidentially out of court.[611] After a helicopter crashed, killing three executives of his New Jersey hotel casino business, Trump sued the manufacturers,[612] and that case was dismissed.[613]Trump Plaza was fined $200,000 by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission for moving African-American and female employees away from a racist and sexist gambler to accommodate him, but Trump was not evidently investigated, nor held personally liable, and said he would not even recognize that gambler.[614] In 1991, Trump's father, Fred Trump, made an unlawful loan to
Trump's Castle to help it make a mortgage payment, and the casino was required to pay a $30,000 fine, but his son was not penalized.[615]
In 1993, Trump sued his business partner
Jay Pritzker for allegedly collecting excessive fees, and the matter was settled.[616][617][618] Boarding house owner
Vera Coking sued for damage during construction of an adjacent casino, and later dropped the suit against Trump while settling with his contractor; she also prevailed against Trump and other developers in an
eminent domain case.[619][620][621]
In 1997, Trump and rival Atlantic City casino owner
Stephen Wynn engaged in an extended legal conflict during the planning phase of new casinos Wynn had proposed to build, and the cases were settled.[622][623][624]
2000s
In 2000, Trump was charged with lobbying for government rejection of proposed casinos that would compete with his casinos, and he paid $250,000 to settle resulting fines.[625][626] The charges related to a proposed Native American-run casino in the
Catskills, New York, which would have competed with three of Trump's casinos in Atlantic City.[627]
When the
Securities and Exchange Commission charged one of his companies with poor financial reporting, Trump's attorney said the culprit had been dismissed, and that Trump had personally been unaware of the matter.[628][629][630] Following litigation with
Leona Helmsley that started in the 1990s regarding control of the
Empire State Building,[631][632] Trump in 2002 sold his share in that building to rivals of Helmsley's.[633][634]
In 2004 Trump sued former business partner Richard Fields for allegedly saying he still consulted for Trump. Fields counter-sued,[635][636][637][638] and the lawsuit was dismissed.[639]
The town of
Palm Beach, Florida fined Trump for building an 80-foot (24-meter) pole for the
American flag at his
Mar-a-Lago property. Trump then sued, and a settlement required him to donate $100,000 to veterans' charities, while the town agreed to let him enroll out-of-towners in his social club and permitted a 10-foot shorter flagpole elsewhere on his lawn.[640]
When the California city of
Rancho Palos Verdes thwarted luxury home development on a landslide-prone area owned by Trump, he sued,[641] and the city agreed to permit extensions for 20 more proposed luxury homes.[642][643]
Trump sued a law firm he had used, Morrison Cohen, for using his name, for providing news links at its website, and for charging excessive fees,[94] after which the firm halved the fees, and the court ruled that the links were allowable.[644]
In 2009, Trump was sued by investors in the canceled
Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico;[645] Trump said he had merely been a spokesperson,[645][646] and he settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.[647]
In 2004, the Trump Organization licensed the Trump brand to a hotel and condo project in
Fort Lauderdale scheduled to open in 2007,[144] but delays in construction and the
bursting of the U.S. real estate bubble led Trump to withdraw his name from the deal in 2009,[144] after which the project defaulted, investors sued,[648] and Trump was caught in the ongoing lawsuits because he had participated in advertising.[144][649]
Trump personally guaranteed $40 million to secure a $640 million loan for
Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago. When
Deutsche Bank tried to collect it, Trump sued the bank for harming the project and his reputation,[650] and the bank then agreed to extend the loan term by five years.[651]
Trump sued the town of
Ossining, New York, over the property tax valuation on
his golf course there,[661][662] after separately being sued for modifying a drainage system that allegedly damaged a library, public pool, and park facilities.[662]
Street in
Kalispell, Montana named Trump Drive (Montana real estate developer Hubert Turner named the streets on his Empire Estates properties after famous NYC business moguls).[668]
Trump was awarded an honorary doctorate of business administration by Scotland's
Robert Gordon University in 2010.[672] The degree was revoked on December 9, 2015, because Trump had made statements that the university deemed "wholly incompatible" with its "ethos and values".[673]
Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation Commandant's Leadership Award[680] (2015) Trump received the award for pledging to donate $100,000 to the charity, and later claimed he was "given the biggest award by the Marines". The charity is not legally affiliated with the Marine Corps, though the award was presented by Marine Commandant General
Joseph Dunford.[681]
^His external entrepreneurial and investment ventures include
Trump Financial (a mortgage firm), Trump Sales and Leasing (residential sales), Trump International Realty (a residential and commercial real estate brokerage firm),
The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative (a for profit business education company, formerly called the
Trump University), Trump Restaurants (located in Trump Tower and consisting of Trump Buffet, Trump Catering, Trump Ice Cream Parlor, and Trump Bar), GoTrump (an online travel search engine),[146][147][148] Select By Trump (a line of coffee drinks),[149] Trump Drinks (an energy drink for the Israeli and Palestinian markets),[150][151][152][153] Donald J. Trump Signature Collection (a line of menswear, men's accessories, and watches), Donald Trump The Fragrance (2004),
SUCCESS by Donald Trump (a second fragrance launched by The Trump Organization and the Five Star Fragrance Company released in March 2012),
Trump Ice bottled water, the former Trump Magazine,[154] Trump Golf, Trump Chocolate,
Trump Home (home furnishings),[155]Trump Productions (a television production company),
Trump Institute, Trump: The Game (1989 board game with a 2005 re-release version tied to The Apprentice),[147]Donald Trump's Real Estate Tycoon (a business simulation game),
Trump Books,
Trump Model Management, Trump Shuttle,
Trump Mortgage, Trump Network (a multi-level vitamin, cosmetic, and
urinalysis marketing company),[156][157]Trump Vodka,[155][158][159] Trump Steakhouse[146][160] and
Trump Steaks.[147] In addition, Trump reportedly received $1.5million for each one-hour presentation he did for
The Learning Annex.[161] Trump also endorsed
ACN Inc., a multi-level marketing
telecommunications company. He has spoken at ACN International Training Events at which he praised the company's founders, business model and video phone.[162] He earned a total $1.35 million for three speeches given for the company, amounting to $450,000 per speech.[163]
^Blair, Gwenda (2001). The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a Presidential Candidate (1st ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 28–29, 453;
ISBN9780743210799.
^Blair, Gwenda (2001). The Trumps: Three Generations That Built an Empire. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 26.
ISBN978-0-7432-1079-9.
^Goldman, Russell (April 29, 2011).
"Donald Trump's Own Secret: Vietnam Draft Records".
ABC News. Retrieved August 1, 2016. Nor do the documents categorically suggest it was deferments and not a high draft number that ultimately allowed him to avoid the draft.
^Eder, Steve; Philipps, Dave (August 1, 2016).
"Donald Trump's Draft Deferments: Four for College, One for Bad Feet". The New York Times.
ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved August 2, 2016. Because of his medical exemption, his lottery number would have been irrelevant, said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, who has worked for the agency for three decades... Still, Mr. Trump, in the interviews, said he believed he could have been subject to another physical exam to check on his bone spurs, had his draft number been called. 'I would have had to go eventually because that was a minor medical...' But the publicly available draft records of Mr. Trump include the letters 'DISQ' next to his exam date, with no notation indicating that he would be re-examined.
^Trump, Donald J.; Schwartz, Tony (January 1989) [First published 1987]. Trump: The Art of the Deal.
Warner Books. p. 46.
ISBN978-0-446-35325-0. He called his company Elizabeth Trump & Son ...
^"Donald Trump's Bond Hill connection". The Enquirer. August 12, 2015.
^Dunlap, David (July 30, 2015).
"1973: Meet Donald Trump". The New York Times.
Archived from the original on July 31, 2015. Trump Management... was also to allow the league to present qualified applicants for every fifth vacancy... Trump himself said he was satisfied that the agreement did not 'compel the Trump Organization to accept persons on welfare as tenants unless as qualified as any other tenant.'
^"From the Tower to the White House". The Economist. February 20, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016. Mr Trump's performance has been mediocre compared with the stockmarket and property in New York.
^Salisbury, Ian (November 1, 2016).
"Did Trump Really Lose $1 Billion in One Year?". TIME. New York. Retrieved November 1, 2016. Trump, or his tax advisers, had somehow devised a way to claim large business losses tied to debts that had been forgiven without reporting offsetting income that would have reduced his staggering loss ... documents that appear to show during the early 1990s Trump indeed used a strategy of swapping partnership interests to his creditors in exchange for having his businesses debts forgiven, eliminating the need for him to report this relief as income. There are still plenty of unknowns.{{
cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (
link)
^
abcMelby, Caleb (July 19, 2016).
"Trump Is Richer in Property and Deeper in Debt in New Valuation". Bloomberg Politics. In the year that Donald Trump was transformed... into the presumptive Republican nominee, the value of his golf courses and his namesake Manhattan tower soared... His net worth rose to $3 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index...
^Cassidy, John (May 17, 2016).
"Just How Rich Is Donald Trump?". The New Yorker. [He] has stated that he is worth more than ten billion dollars... Forbes concluded [in 2015] that Trump was worth about $4.5 billion, while Bloomberg estimated $2.9 billion. The Forbes figure was high enough to put Trump in a tie at No. 324 on the magazine's global ranking of billionaires... The gap between Forbes's $4.5 billion figure and Bloomberg's $2.9 billion figure is largely attributable to differences in how the two publications appraised individual properties.
^Koffler, Jacob (August 7, 2015).
"Donald Trump's 16 Biggest Business Failures and Successes". Time. The Apprentice premiered on NBC in 2004 to great ratings. Trump served as not only the host but also the executive producer, raking in $1 million per episode. The show was successful enough that it inspired a spinoff, The Celebrity Apprentice.
^"Donald J. Trump – Biography".
The Trump Organization. Retrieved August 27, 2016. In 2011, after failed attempts by both Senator McCain and Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump single handedly forced President Obama to release his birth certificate, which was lauded by large segments of the political community.
^"Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees: Transcript". CNN. July 9, 2015. I really don't know. I mean, I don't know why he wouldn't release his records. But you know, honestly, I don't want to get into it.
^Cunion, William. "White Knights to the Rescue! The Non-Candidates of 2012" in The 2012 Nomination and the Future of the Republican Party,
pp. 47–48 (William J. Miller, ed., 2013). Cunion writes that Trump never got above 17 percent in polls against the rest of the Republican field, but at least one exception was a PPP poll in April 2011 that put him at 26%. See Jensen, Tom.
"Trump collapses", Public Policy Polling Blog (May 10, 2011).
^Walsh, Kenneth T. (August 15, 2016).
"Trump: Media Is 'Dishonest and Corrupt'". U.S. News & World Report. 'If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn't put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20 percent,' Trump also tweeted Sunday.
^Koppel, Ted (July 24, 2016).
"Trump: "I feel I'm an honest person"". CBS News. 'Well, I think that I'm an honest person,' Trump said. 'I feel I'm an honest person. And I don't mind being criticized at all by the media, but I do wanna – you know, I do want them to be straight about it.'
^Flitter, Emily; Oliphant, James (August 28, 2015).
"Best president ever! How Trump's love of hyperbole could backfire". Reuters. Trump's penchant for exaggeration could backfire – he risks promising voters more than he can deliver... Optimistic exaggeration... is a hallmark of the cutthroat New York real estate world where many developers, accustomed to ramming their way into deals, puff up their portfolios. 'A little hyperbole never hurts,' he wrote... For Trump, exaggerating has always been a frequent impulse, especially when the value of his Trump brand is disputed.
^McCammon, Sarah. "Donald Trump's Controversial Speech Often Walks The Line", NPR (August 10, 2016): "Many of Trump's opaque statements seem to rely on suggestion and innuendo."
^Jan, Tracy (October 14, 2016).
"More women accuse Trump of aggressive sexual behavior". The Boston Globe. Trump has been confronted with a slew of allegations of sexual misconduct over the past week, starting with a report in The Washington Post of a 2005 tape featuring him bragging about forcibly kissing women and grabbing them by the genitals.
^Shafer, Jack.
"Did We Create Trump?", Politico (May 2016): "Trump's outrageous comments about John McCain, Muslims, the 14th Amendment and all the rest..."
^Trump, Donald J.; Schwartz, Tony (1987).
Trump: The Art of the Deal.
Random House. p. 56.
ISBN978-0446353250. If you are a little different, or a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you.
^Johnson, Jenna.
"Trump now says Muslim ban only applies to those from terrorism-heavy countries", Chicago Tribune (June 25, 2016): "[A] reporter asked Trump if [he] would be OK with a Muslim from Scotland coming into the United States and he said it 'wouldn't bother me.' Afterward, [spokeswoman] Hicks said in an email that Trump's ban would now just apply to Muslims in terror states..."
^Official website.
Protecting our Second Amendment rights will make America great again. "There has been a national background check system in place since 1998 ... Too many states are failing to put criminal and mental health records into the system ... What we need to do is fix the system we have and make it work as intended." Retrieved: October 21, 2015.
^"After The Gold Rush". Vanity Fair. August 1990. Retrieved January 10, 2016. "They were married in New York during Easter of 1977. Mayor Beame attended the wedding at Marble Collegiate Church. Donald had already made his alliance with Roy Cohn, who would become his lawyer and mentor.
^Collins, Eliza (July 28, 2015).
"Ivana Trump denies accusing Donald Trump of rape". Politico. "Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of. I have nothing but fondness for Donald and wish him the best of luck on his campaign. Incidentally, I think he would make an incredible president."
^"Part 2: Donald Trump on 'Watters' World'". Watters' World. Fox News Channel. February 6, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2016. WATTERS: "Have you ever smoked weed?" TRUMP: "No, I have not. I have not. I would tell you 100 percent because everyone else seems to admit it nowadays, so I would actually tell you. This is almost like, it's almost like 'Hey, it's a sign'. No, I have never. I have never smoked a cigarette, either."
^Dent, Millie (July 10, 2015).
"15 Facts You Didn't Know About Donald Trump". The Fiscal Times. Retrieved August 1, 2015. The Donald has never smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol or done drugs. His older brother, Fred, was an alcoholic for many years and warned Trump to avoid drinking. Fred ultimately died from his addiction.
^Mullins, Brody; Oberman, Jim (March 13, 2016).
"Trump's Long Trail of Litigation". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 14, 2016. Litigation isn't unusual for resolving business disputes or enforcing contracts, particularly in the real-estate industry...
^"SEC cites Trump Hotels". CNN/Money. January 16, 2002. Retrieved March 10, 2016. Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. has consented to a Securities and Exchange Commission cease-and-desist order after being accused by regulators of making misleading statements in the company's third-quarter 1999 earnings release.
^Jewish National Fund Tree of Life Award Presentation to Donald J. Trump: Tuesday Evening March 1, 1983, Gala Dinner Dance, Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York
^"MC–LEF Events". Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation. 2015. Archived from
the original on August 19, 2015. Donald Trump received our Commandant's Leadership Award.