Donald Trump is a real estate developer, politician, and a television personality. He is the 45th and the current President of the United States of America. In 2016, he won the Presidential election against Hilary Clinton, the Democratic Party candidate. Trump is the wealthiest and oldest President in the history of United States of America.
See Also: Bill Gates – Biography, Net Worth And Quotes Of The Principal Founder of Microsoft
Donald Trump Early Life
Donald John Trump was born on June 14, 1946 to Fredrick Christ Trump, a real estate developer, and Mary Anne Macleod, a Scotland-born housewife. Trump attended the Kew-Forest School, Queens, New York. He then proceeded to the New York Military Academy, at the age of 13, and graduated in 1964. In 1966, two years after Trump enrolled at Fordham University, he moved to the Wharton School of finance at the University of Pennsylvania. Donald Trump graduated with B.S Economics in May 1968. He has a German and Scot-Irish origin, and four siblings- 3 elder, 1 younger.
See Also: Richest Men – Top 10 Richest Men In The World And Their Businesses
Donald Trump Business Career
Donald Trump business career began in 1968, after school, at the Elizabeth Trump and Son – his father’s real estate development company. The company owns a middle-class rental housing in New York. In 1982, He appeared alongside his father Fredrick, on the first ever Forbes 400 list, with a combined net worth estimated at $200 million.
The Trump Organisation owns and controls residential real estate, hotels, resorts, residential towers, casinos, and golf courses in different countries. It is an umbrella for over 500 business entities with Trump as the principal owner, and other entities using the name ‘Trump’ for their businesses.
Similarly, Donald Trump rose into being a business icon, after he successfully concluded some real estate deals in Manhattan and New York City. This public recognition increased, when he started using beautiful architectural designs for his estate and owning lodges and golf courses. In 1983, he also completed The Trump Tower, a 58-story skyscraper in Midtown, Manhattan.
Trump’s first major deal in Manhattan was the remodeling of the Commodore to a Grand Hyatt Hotel in September, 1980. In 1981, He purchased a building in the Third Avenue, New York. He later named it The Trump Plaza, and created it into an apartment cooperative, where tenants own different parts of a building.
Succinctly, he changed the ‘Elizabeth Trump and Son’ company to ‘The Trump Organization’ after he became its president in 1971. In January 2017, he delegated its management role to his older sons – Donald Jr. and Eric after he became the President of US.
Although, Trump is seen as a successful business man, he also ventured into some businesses that proved abortive. Such as New Jersey General football team, the Trump University, casinos, show business, e.t.c
See Also: Biography, net worth and success story of Oprah Winfrey.
Donald Trump Foundation
He founded the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 1988, in New York City, New York. It is a private foundation established with the intention of donating the proceeds from his book (Trump: The Art of the Deal), to charity. In 2008, Trump started soliciting for donations to the foundation after he stopped contributing financially to it. Till 2015, the total of Trump’s contribution including proceeds from book is $5.5 million and $9.3 million from donors.
After many controversies against the foundation, Barbara Underwood, the New York Attorney General announced its closure in Dec. 18, 2018, with the distribution of its remaining asset to approved charities. This is due to legal and ethical violations on the part of the foundation.
Some of the stated legal and unethical allegations include; failure to maintain proper governance, using grants for political purposes, e.t.c
See Also: Biography and net worth of the man revolutionising earth and space transportation.
Donald Trump University
The university idea evolved, when Michael Sexton developed a business plan for a real estate training program with the intention of paying Trump a fee for using his name. But Trump wanted to be the principal owner. So, in 2004, Donald Trump established a University with Jonathan Spitalny and Sexton.
Donald J. Trump University was created in New York, U.S as a limited liability company for-profit education. The school launched its education program in May, 2005 with courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship and wealth creation. The university at some point used the name Trump Wealth Institute in 2008 but changed completely in June, 2010 to the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative.
However, it ceased operations in 2010 after several allegations on illegal business practices and class action lawsuits against the institution and its managers.
See Also: Warren Buffet – Biography, Net Worth And Success Story Of An Investment Guru
Donald Trump Net Worth
According to Forbes in 2019, Donald Trump net worth is $3.1 billion, making him the 715th billionaire in the world and 259th in US.
Donald Trump Personal Life
In 1977, Trump married Ivana Winklmayr, a Czech model, and they had three children – Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric. In 1992, Ivana and Trump divorced. Trump became romantically involved with Marla Maples, an actress and they had a daughter, Tiffany in 1993. After the baby, they got married, and also divorced in 1999.
In 2005, Trump married his third wife, a Slovenian model, Melania Knauss, and she gave birth to a son, Barron after she became a citizen of US in 2006. Melania Knauss has remained his wife transitioning to the first lady of United States of America when Trump emerged as the president of US.
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric started managing the Trump Organisation, after their father’s inauguration into office.
See Also: Famous entrepreneurs in Nigeria and their businesses.
Media
Owing to the fact that Donald Trump is a television personality, who also likes to make what commentators call a controversial statement, he features on the media frequently. He is known to have made cameo appearances in about 12 films and 14 television series.
Before Donald Trump emergence as the United States President, he had already produced some TV shows such as; The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice from 2004 to 2015.
The Apprentice and the Celebrity Apprentice
The Apprentice is a television program that judges the business skills of a group of contestants. It started on NBC in 2004.
Similarly, the Celebrity Apprentice is an American TV reality competition series. It is a variation of The Apprentice series and was hosted by Donald Trump from 2008 – 2015 and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from January, 2017. In August 2017, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Entertainment Chairman, Bob Greenblatt announced the Cancellation of the series.
See Also: Young entrepreneurs in Nigeria across different industries.
Entertainment
He owned the Miss Universe, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, annual beauty pageants from 1996 – 2015 which featured on NBC.
Films and Film Works
Donald Trump has featured in movies such as; Celebrity (1998), Eddie (1996), and Across the Sea of Time (1995). He has also appeared in some television shows such as; The Jeffersons (1985), Spin city (1998), Video; Play Boy Centerfold (1994), and United Play Boy Video (2001).
Also, some of the film works written about Trump include Trump: What’s the Deal? (1991), by Jesse Kornbluth, A Dangerous Game (2014) by Richard Phinney, Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018) by Michael Moore.
Television works include Trump Unauthorised (2005) written by Keith Curran, Trump: The Kremlin Candidate? (2017), written by John Sweeney and other presenters.
See Also: Biography of the richest man in Africa: Aliko Dangote.
Music
He has been mentioned in several musical lyrics, and praised by many musicians for his wealth and has also been criticised for his politics and practices. Basically, the first time Donald Trump’s name appeared in hip-hop lyrics was in 1980, when he became an icon of the ultrarich.
Also, a political site, FiveThirtyEight (538) noted that about 19% of song lyrics about Donald were negative and 60% positive between 1989 and 2014. Some of Trump name-checkers artist include; Rick Ross, Nas, Migos, Lil Wayne, e.t.c.
Advertising
Donald Trump has featured in numerous television commercials for brands such as Pizza Hut in 1995 and 2000 in United States and Australia respectively. Also, He featured in McDonald’s The Grimace (2002), Pepsi, Verizon, Visa e.t.c
Additionally, Donald Trump has been nominated for some awards such as The Golden Raspberry in 1991 and 2019, The Prime Time Emmy in 2004, 2005, and the Teen Choice Awards for his works. Although, from the seven (7) nomination of his works, Donald won three (3).
See Also: Mark Zuckerberg – Biography And Net Worth Of The Founder Of Facebook.
Books
Donald Trump is an author, and has published numerous books, and some have been written about him by different authors. His published books include; Trump: The Art of the Deal (1987), Time to Get Tough; Making America #1 Again (2011), Crippled America; How to make America Great Again (2015) Why we want you to be rich (2006) and many more.
Some of the books written about him include: The Case for Impeachment by Lichtman Allan, The Little Book of Trumpisms by Seth Milstein, Trump’s First Year by Michael Nelson, e.t.c
Donald Trump Political Career
At first, Donald Trump registered under the Republican Party in 1987 at Manhattan. He switched to the Reform Party in 1991, and Democratic Party in 2001, before he finally returned to the Republican in 2009, where he contested under, in 2016. On the 16th of June, 2015, he declared his interest in the presidential candidacy of the US at his tower in Manhattan. He also triumphed in the primary election against 16 other candidates vying for the 2016 Republican nomination.
During the campaign platforms, his interests were on renegotiating US – China relations and free trade agreements, enforcing immigration laws, building a new wall along the U.S – Mexico border and many more. In Politics, Donald Trump has been described as a populist, nationalist and protectionist because of his actions and words.
He was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017 as the 45th President of the US, succeeding Barrack Obama. Today, Donald Trump is the wealthiest President in the United States history, and the oldest to assume office. He is the first person who became president without any military experience or holding a public office.
Consequently, Donald Trump, after assumption to office signaled to the Federal Electoral Committees, his intention to run for second term. Therefore, his 2016 election committee is transitioning to the 2020 committee.
Awards and Recognition
- Humanitarian Award, National Jewish Health – 1976
- Tree of Life Award, Jewish National Fund – 1983
- Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his patriotism, tolerance, brotherhood and diversity – 1986
- President’s Medal, Freedom Foundation, Washington, for supporting youth programs – 1995
- Gaming Hall of Fame – 1995
- Hollywood Walk of Fame – 2007
- Shining Star Award, Unicorn Children’s Foundation – 2008
- Five Diamond Awards for his hotels, by American Automobile Association.
- Palm Tree Award by the Palm Beach Police Foundation – 2010
- Presidential Hero Award, Lois Pope LIFE Foundation – 2011
- Presidential Order of Excellence, Georgia – 2012
- Hall of Fame by World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. – 2013
- Hall of Fame, New Jersey Boxing – 2015
- Liberty Award by Algemeiner for positively influencing Israel – 2015
- Commandant’s Leadership Award by Marine-corps Law Enforcement Foundation – 2015
- Person of the Year, Time – 2016
- Person of the Year, Financial Times – 2016
- Second Most Powerful Person in the World after Vladimir Putin, Forbes – 2016
- Friend of Zion Award by The Friends on Zion Museum – 2017
- Most Influential Person in Sport Business by the Sports Business Journal – 2017
- Hall of Fame, Atlantic City Boxing – 2018
- 100 Most Influential People in the World – 2019
- Collar of the Order of Abdulaziz al Saud from Saudi Arabia – 2017
- Medal of Bravery by Logar Province, Afghan – 2018
Honorary Awards
- Doctor of Law from, Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – 1988
- Doctor of Humane Letters from Wagner College, New York – 2004
- Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia also honoured him with a Doctor of Business Administration – 2012
- Doctor of Laws, Liberty University – 2017
Donald Trump Quotes
“No dream is too big. No challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach.”
“Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes, you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that’s more productive.”
“We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreement honestly, but always pursue solidarity.”
“In the end, you’re measured not by how much you undertake but by what you finally accomplish.”
“If you love what you do, if you love going to the office, if you really like it- not just say it, but really like it – it keeps you young and energized. I really love what I do.”
“As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.”
“The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its own citizens. Any government that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead.”
“Remember there’s no such thing as an unrealistic goal – just unrealistic time frames.”
“Show me someone without an ego, I’ll show you a loser.”
“It doesn’t hurt to get more education.”
“What’s the point of having great knowledge and keeping all to yourself?”
Entrepreneurship is lonely journey, let us help you get through with our services.
You can follow our activities on social media as well.