Donald J. Trump is an American politician, businessman and media personality who was the 45th president of the United States. He is currently the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election.
Born in Queens, New York in 1946, Trump grew up in a wealthy family. His father, Fred Trump, was a successful real estate developer and passed down his multimillion-dollar wealth to his children.
Trump was educated at the New York Military academy and later obtained a Bachelor of Science degree at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968.
Trump inherited his father’s real estate development company in 1971. He renamed the company The Trump Organization. The company build and renovated skyscrapers, hotels, casinos and golf courses. The Trump Organization became well known in New York and throughout the world.
A sequence of business failures in the 90s resulted in his casinos and hotels filing for bankruptcy.
Trump then began to build a public persona that caught the attention of tabloids and the press. He released a no. 1 best-selling book, “The Art of the Deal.” He owned a significant amount of the Miss Universe Pageants, and most famously hosted the popular CBS television show, “The Apprentice,” which ran for 15 seasons.
After winning the 2016 presidential election, Trump stepped down from all management roles within the Trump Organization. He appointed his two sons, Donald Trump Jr. And Eric Trump, to manage the company. Trump continued to maintain his financial stake in the organization.
During his presidency, Trump applied irregular methods to communicate priorities, most notably exhibited on the social media platform Twitter, now known as “X.” Trump used the app as a direct means of communication with American citizens, politicians and the press. But there was more to his presidency besides these unusual communication tactics.
The National Archives states that before COVID-19 invaded the nation, Trump had built a prosperous economy. Trump renegotiated previous trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, China, Japan and South Korea. He signed a crucial tax reform bill that reduced federal regulations. He created protectionist trade policies which included tariffs on foreign products.
Other domestic shifts during his term include Supreme Court and federal judiciary appointments, expansion of military budgets, strict immigration and border control, criminal justice reform and lowered prescription drug costs.
The Trump Administration relocated the United States Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and negotiated normalization agreements between Israel and other countries. This allowed Trump to attend a summit to ease international tensions with Kim Jong Un, which was the first time an American president met with a North Korean leader.
A partial government shutdown took place in 2018 after a disagreement between Trump and Congress over funding for the Mexico-United States border. The disagreement took 35 days to settle.
The following year, a federal whistleblower filed a complaint stating that Trump had influenced Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, to examine the political doings of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
Later in 2019, the House of Representatives impeached Trump on allegations of Obstruction of Congress and Abuse of Power. In 2020, the Senate declared Trump innocent on the articles of impeachment.
The remainder of Trump’s presidency was devoured by the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020. Critics said that Trump had a delayed response to the outbreak and did not encourage practice of proper health regulations to reduce the spread of the virus.
The Trump administration joined doctors and scientists to create the program, “Operation Warp Speed,” that developed two approved vaccines to fight COVID-19. By the time Trump finished his term in office, there had been more than 400,000 COVID-19 related deaths in America.
Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to the democratic candidate, Joe Biden. Trump publicly declared that voter fraud altered the outcome of the election. On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump supporters traveled to the U.S. Capital to participate in a rally organized by Trump’s “Save America” Leadership PAC. Trump spoke to the enormous crowd on The Ellipse, located near the White House. He persuaded the crowd to protest the outcome of the election.
The protest turned into a violent riot when Trump supporters engulfed and outnumbered law enforcement as the group burst into the United States Capital. The Department of Justice stated that seven civilians and three law enforcement officers died. 1,265 people were arrested and the Capital Building endured millions of dollars in damage.
Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 resulted in the House of Representatives agreeing to another Article of Impeachment, this time for Incitement of Insurrection. Trump is the only president in United States history to be impeached twice by Congress.
Trump endured a series of assassination attempts as the 2024 presidential election approaches. On July 13, Trump survived an attempted assassination at his rally in Bulter, Pennsylvania. The FBI said that Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, fired eight rounds from an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle from a nearby rooftop. Trump was shot in his right ear while one audience member was killed, and two others were injured. Crook was shot and killed by Secret Service’s Counter Sniper Team.
Nine weeks later, another apparent assassination attempt took place at Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Secret Service agents spotted the muzzle of an AK-style rifle through shrubs that line the golf course, 400 yards from the former president. A service agent fired at the gunman, later recognized as Ryan Wesley Routh, and he fled from the scene.
The New York Post covered that local law enforcement arrested an armed man outside of a Trump rally in California on Oct. 13– the third prevented assassination attempt of Trump. Vem Miller, 49, was flagged at a police checkpoint as he attempted to enter with a fake press pass. Miller’s unregistered car was searched, where a shotgun and loaded handgun were discovered.
Trump denies 19 accusations of sexual misconduct, claiming that they were lies used to hurt his presidential campaign. Dozens of women have come forward accusing Trump of episodes of sexual misconduct, dating back to the 1970s.
PBS News reported Trump to be the first former president criminally indicted. Within five months, he was charged in four different criminal cases, two federal and two state. He faced two charges involving his attempts to change the results of the 2020 election. He faced two more felony convictions in the infamous “hush money” case, in which a jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to prevent a sex scandal from impacting the 2016 presidential campaign.
According to the 568, the national polls show that Kamala Harris, Trump’s democratic opponent, has maintained a small lead against him since entering the race in late July. Polls are tight in the seven battleground states and averages show that neither candidate has a significant lead in any of them.