Donald Trump
Donald Trump
This article is about the incumbent President of the United States. For other uses, see Donald Trump (disambiguation).
| Donald Trump | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 45th President of the United States | |
| Assumed office January 20, 2017 | |
| Vice President | Mike Pence |
| Preceded by | Barack Obama |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Donald John Trump June 14, 1946 New York City |
| Political party | Republican (1987–1999, 2009–2011, 2012–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
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| Spouse(s) |
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| Relations | See Family of Donald Trump |
| Children | |
| Residence | White House Mar-a-Lago (Southern White House) |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | |
| Net worth | US$3.5 billion (March 2017)[1] |
| Signature |  |
| Website | |
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|---|---|---|
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Donald John Trump, Sr. (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessman, television personality, politician, and the 45th President of the United States.
Trump was born and raised in Queens, New York City, and earned an economics degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He then took charge of The Trump Organization, the real estate and construction firm founded by his paternal grandmother, which he ran for four and a half decades until 2017. During his real estate and business career, Trump built, renovated, and managed numerous office towers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He has lent the use of his name for the branding of various products and properties. He owned the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants from 1996 to 2015, and he hosted The Apprentice, a reality television series on NBC, from 2004 to 2015. As of 2017, Forbes listed him as the 544th wealthiest person in the world (201st in the United States) with a net worth of $3.5 billion.
Trump first publicly expressed interest in running for political office in 1987. He won two Reform Party presidential primaries in 2000, but withdrew his candidacy early on. In June 2015, he launched his campaign for the 2016 presidential election, and quickly emerged as the front-runner among 17 candidates in the Republican primaries. His final opponents suspended their campaigns in May 2016, and in July he was formally nominated at the Republican National Convention along with Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate. His campaign received unprecedented media coverage and international attention. Many of the statements that he made in interviews, on social media, and at campaign rallies were controversial or false.
Trump won the general election on November 8, 2016, in a surprise victory against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. He became the oldest and wealthiest person to assume the presidency, the first without prior military or government service, and the fifth elected with less than a plurality of the national popular vote. His political positions have been described by scholars and commentators as populist, protectionist, and nationalist.
Personal life
Trump was born on June 14, 1946 at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Queens, 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).[2][3] His siblings are Maryanne (born 1937), Fred Jr. (1938–1981), Elizabeth (born 1942), and Robert (born 1948).
Ancestry
Further information: Trump family
Trump's ancestors originate from the village of Kallstadt, Palatinate, Germany on his father's side, and from the Outer Hebrides isles of Scotland on his mother's. All his grandparents, and his mother, were born in Europe. His mother's grandfather was also christened "Donald".[4]
His paternal grandfather, Friedrich Trump, first emigrated to the United States in 1885 (aged 16), became a citizen in 1892, and amassed a fortune operating boom-town restaurants and boarding houses in the Seattle area and the Klondike region of Canada, during the gold rush.[5] On a visit to his home village, he met Elisabeth Christ and married her in 1902. After two years in New York City, the couple returned to Kallstadt but were ordered to leave in 1905 because the authorities said Friedrich had missed military service, so they settled in New York definitively.[6][7][8] He died from the flu pandemic of 1918 and Elizabeth incorporated the family real estate business, Elizabeth Trump and Son, which would later become The Trump Organization.
Trump's father Fred was born in the Bronx, and worked with his mother since he was 15 as a real estate developer, primarily in the New York boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. He eventually built and sold thousands of houses, barracks and apartments.[8][9] Trump's mother Mary Anne emigrated in 1930 (aged 18) from her birthplace of Tong, Lewis, Scotland to New York, where she worked as a maid.[10] Fred and Mary were married in 1936 and raised their family in Queens.[10][11] Elizabeth's second son, John, became a physicist and inventor.[12]
Education
Trump grew up in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood of Queens, New York. He attended the Kew-Forest School from kindergarten through seventh grade. By age 13, Trump’s rambunctious behavior prompted his parents to enroll him at the New York Military Academy, a boarding school in Cornwall, New York. “I was a wise guy, and they wanted to get me in line,” Trump said. “Thinking back, it was a very positive influence.”[15]
In August 1964, Trump entered Fordham University in the Bronx. In September, 1966, he transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, because it offered one of the few real estate studies departments in United States academia at the time. [16][17]
In addition to his father, other role models whom he sought to emulate included the Manhattan developer William Zeckendorf.[18][19][20] While at Wharton, he worked at the family's company, Elizabeth Trump & Son, named for his paternal grandmother.[21] He graduated from Penn in May 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics.[17][22][23]
Trump was not drafted during the Vietnam War.[24] While in college from 1964 to 1968, he obtained four student deferments.[25] 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.[26] He attributed his medical deferment to heel spurs.[27] In 1969, he received a high number in the draft lottery, which would also have likely exempted him from service.[26][28][29]
Family
Main article: Family of Donald Trump
Trump has five children by three marriages, and eight grandchildren.[30][31] His first two marriages ended in widely publicized divorces.[32]
Trump married his first wife, Czech model Ivana Zelníčková, in 1977 at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. The ceremony was performed by Reverend Norman Vincent Peale.[33][34] The couple had three children: Donald Jr. (born 1977), Ivanka (born 1981), and Eric (born 1984). Ivana became a vice president of the company,[35] and was naturalized as a United States citizen in 1988.[36] The couple divorced in 1990 following Trump's affair with actress Marla Maples.[37]
In 1993, Maples gave birth to their daughter Tiffany.[38] They married two months later, with Trump's father Fred assisting as best man.[39] The couple separated in 1997 and eventually divorced in 1999.[40][41]
Following his second divorce, Trump entered a steady relationship with Slovene model Melania Knauss. They were married in 2005 at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church on the island of Palm Beach, Florida. A reception followed at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton among other celebrities.[42][43][44] In 2006, Melania became a naturalized United States citizen.[45] Later that year, she gave birth to their son Barron.[46][47] In addition to English, Barron is also fluent in Slovenian.[48] Melania Trump is now the First Lady of the United States.
Upon acceding to the presidency, Trump delegated the management of his real estate business to his two adult sons, Eric and Don Jr.[49]Meanwhile, his daughter Ivanka resigned from The Trump Organization and moved to Washington with her husband Jared Kushner, who serves as a senior advisor in the White House.[50] Trump's elder sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, is a federal appeals court judge on the Third Circuit, now inactive.[51]
Religion
The Trump family were originally Lutherans in Germany,[52] and his mother's upbringing was Presbyterian in Scotland.[53] His parents married in a Manhattan Presbyterian church in 1936.[54] As a child, he attended Sunday School at the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens, and had his confirmation there.[55][55] In the 1970s, his family joined the Marble Collegiate Church (a New York City affiliate of the Reformed Church in America) in Manhattan.[56] The pastor at that church, Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking and The Art of Living, ministered to Trump's family and mentored him until Peale's death in 1993.[57][56] Trump, who is Presbyterian,[58][59] has cited Peale and his works during interviews when asked about the role of religion in his personal life.[56]
After marrying his first wife Ivana in 1977 at Marble Collegiate Church, he attended that church until 2013.[60][55] In 2016, Trump visited Bethesda-by-the-Sea, an Episcopal church, for Christmas services.[61] Trump has said that he participates in Holy Communion. Beyond that, he has not asked God for forgiveness, stating: "I think if I do something wrong, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture."[62]
Trump refers to his ghostwritten book The Art of the Deal, a bestseller following publication in 1987, as "my second favorite book of all time, after the Bible. Nothing beats the Bible."[63][64] In a 2016 speech to Liberty University, he referred to "Two Corinthians" instead of "Second Corinthians", eliciting chuckles from the audience.[65] Despite this, 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".[66]
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".[67] In 2015, he asked for and received a blessing from Greek Orthodox priest Emmanuel Lemelson[68] and, in 2016, released a list of his religious advisers, including James Dobson, Jerry Falwell Jr., Ralph Reed and others.[69] 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."[70]
Health
A 2016 medical report issued by his doctor, Harold Bornstein M.D., showed that Trump's blood pressure, liver and thyroid function were in normal ranges.[71][72] Trump says that he has never smoked cigarettes or consumed other drugs, including marijuana.[73][74] He also drinks no alcohol, a decision arising in part from watching his older brother Fred Jr. suffer from alcoholism until his early death in 1981.[75][76][77]
Wealth
Trump has said that he began his career with "a small loan of one million dollars" from his father (which "isn't very much compared to what I've built"), and paid back that loan with interest.[79] He was listed on the initial Forbes List of wealthy individuals in 1982 as having an estimated $200 million fortune, including a share of his father's estimated $200 million net worth.[80] He was absent from the list from 1990 to 1995 following losses which reportedly obliged him to borrow from his siblings' trusts in 1993.[80]
When he announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015, Trump released a one-page financial summary that stated a net worth of $8,737,540,000.[81] He declared, "I'm really rich", which he said would make him less reliant upon large campaign donations.[82][83] Forbes believed his suggestion of $9 billion was "a whopper", figuring it was actually $4.1 billion.[84][nb 1] Trump has stated that his income for the year 2014 was $362 million.[87]
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 $125 million.[88] 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.[89] Bookings and foot traffic at Trump-branded properties fell off sharply in 2016,[90][91] and the release of the Access Hollywood tape recordings in October 2016 exacerbated this.[92]
In their 2017 annual billionaires' rankings, Forbes estimated Trump's net worth at $3.5 billion (544th in the world, 201st in the U.S.)[1] and Bloomberg News estimates it at $3 billion,[86] making him one of the richest politicians in American history. Trump himself stated that his net worth was over $10 billion,[87] with the discrepancy essentially stemming from the uncertain value of appraised property and of his personal brand.[86][93]
Personal taxes
According to Trump's leaked 1995 federal tax returns, he claimed a loss of $916 million.[94] Trump's leaked 2005 1040 federal income tax returns indicate that Trump paid $38 million in federal taxes and had a gross adjusted income of $150 million.[95][96] The White House confirmed the authenticity of the 2005 documents and stated: "Despite this substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns."[95][96]
Real estate career
Main article: Business career of Donald Trump § Real estate
While a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Trump began his real estate career at his father's company,[97] Elizabeth Trump and Son.[98] The company focused on middle-class rental housing in the New York City boroughs outside Manhattan, but also had business elsewhere. For example, during his undergraduate study, Trump and his father Fred successfully revitalized the foreclosed Swifton Village apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio boosting the occupancy rate from 66% to 100%.[99]
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.[100][101] 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.[102][103] His adviser, publicist, and attorney during (and after) that period was Roy Cohn, who responded to attacks by counterattacking with maximum force, a tactic that Trump appreciated.[104]
Early Manhattan developments
In 1978, Trump consummated his first major real estate deal in Manhattan, purchasing a half-share in the decrepit Commodore Hotel, largely funded by a $70 million construction loan jointly guaranteed by Fred Trump and the Hyatt hotel chain. After remodeling, the hotel reopened as the Grand Hyatt Hotel, located next to Grand Central Terminal.[105][106]
Also 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".[107] The building was completed in 1983, and houses both the primary penthouse condominium residence of Trump and the headquarters of The Trump Organization.[108][109] Trump Tower was the setting of the NBC television show The Apprentice, and includes a fully functional television studio set.[110]
Repairs on the Wollman Rink (originally opened in 1949 in Central Park) were started in 1980 by a general contractor unconnected to Trump. Despite an expected 21⁄2-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.[111]
Trump acquired the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan in 1988 for $400 million, and asked his then-wife Ivana to manage its operation and renovation.[112] The hotel was built in 1907, and Trump called it "the ultimate work of art". According to hotel expert Thomas McConnell, the Trumps boosted it from a three-star to a four-star ranking, and sold it in 1995 by which time Ivana was no longer involved.[113]
Palm Beach estate
Main article: Mar-a-Lago
Trump acquired the historic Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1985 for $5 million, plus $3 million for the home's furnishings. It was built from 1924 to 1927 by heiress and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post, who envisioned the house as a future winter retreat for American presidents.
In addition to using the home for this purpose, 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.[114]
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 Corporation,[115] and operated by the Harrah's gambling unit of Holiday Corp. Renamed simply "Trump Plaza", the casino's poor results exacerbated disagreements between Trump and Holiday Corp., which led to Trump paying $70 million in May 1986 to buy out Harrah's interest in the property.[116][117] Trump also acquired a partially completed building in Atlantic City from the Hilton Corporation for $320 million. When completed in 1985, the hotel/casino became Trump Castle. Trump's wife, Ivana, managed the property.[118]
Later in 1988, Trump acquired the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City in a transaction with Merv Griffin and Resorts International.[119] The casino was opened in April 1990, and was built at a total cost of $1.1 billion, which at the time made it the most expensive casino ever built.[120][121] Financed with $675 million in junk bonds[122] at a 14% interest rate, the project entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following year.[123] 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.[124] He also sold his financially challenged Trump Shuttle airline and his 282-foot (86 m) megayacht, the Trump Princess.[122][125][126]
The Taj Mahal was repurchased in 1996 and consolidated, along with Trump Plaza and Trump Castle, into Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (THCR), which filed for bankruptcy in 2004 with $1.8 billion in debt, filing again for bankruptcy five years later with $50 million in assets and $500 million in debt. The restructuring ultimately left Trump with 10% ownership in the Trump Taj Mahal and other Trump casino properties.[126] Trump served as chairman of the publicly-traded THCR organization, which was renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts, from mid-1995 until early 2009, and served as CEO from mid-2000 to mid-2005.[127]
During the 1990s, Trump's casino ventures faced competition from 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.[128][129] 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.[130]
Legal affairs
Main article: Legal affairs of Donald Trump
As of 2016, Trump and his businesses had been involved in more than 3,500 state and federal legal actions. Trump or one of his companies was the plaintiff in 1,900 cases and the defendant in 1,450. As plaintiff, more than half have been against gamblers at his casinos who had failed to pay off their debts. As a defendant, the most common type involved personal injury cases at his hotels. In cases where there was a clear resolution, Trump's side won 451 times and lost 38.[131][132]
Business bankruptcies
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.[133][134] 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.[135][136]
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).[137][138][139] 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."[123]
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.[140] A subsequent analysis by The Washington Post concluded that "Trump is a mix of braggadocio, business failures, and real success."[141]
More buildings in New York and worldwide
In 1996, Trump acquired a vacant seventy-story skyscraper on Wall Street—the former Bank of Manhattan Trust Building—which had briefly been the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1930. After an extensive renovation, the high-rise was renamed the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street.[142] After his father died in 1999, Trump and his siblings received equal portions[not in citation given] of his father's estate valued at $250–300 million.[143]
In 2001, Trump completed Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the United Nations Headquarters.[144] Trump also began construction on Trump Place, a multi-building development along the Hudson River. He continued to own commercial space in Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use (hotel and condominium) tower on Columbus Circle which he acquired in 1996,[145] and also continued to own millions of square feet of other prime Manhattan real estate.[146]
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.[147]
Most recently, The Trump Organization has expanded its footprint beyond the United States, with the co-development and management of hotel towers in Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas, New York City, Washington D.C., Panama City, Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Ties to Russia
Main article: Business projects of Donald Trump in Russia
Trump has pursued business deals in Russia since 1987, although his real estate projects there never materialized. In 1996, Trump filed trademark applications for potential Russian real estate development deals.[148][149] Along with his partners and children, Trump visited Moscow several times, connecting with developers and government officials to explore joint venture opportunities.[150][151][152][153] However, some of his real estate developments outside Russia have received a large part of their financing from private Russian investors, sometimes referred to as "oligarchs". In 2008 his son Donald Trump Jr. said "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets" and "we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia".[154][155][156] Trump hosted the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, in partnership with Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov, but, as of 2017, he has no known investments or businesses in Russia.[150][152]
Golf courses
The Trump Organization operates many golf courses and resorts in the United States and around the world. According to Golfweek, Trump owns or manages about 18 golf courses.[157] Trump's personal financial disclosure with the Federal Elections Commission stated that his golf and resort revenue for the year 2015 was roughly $382 million.[158][159]
In 2006, Trump bought the Menie Estate in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and created a golf resort against the wishes of some local residents[160] on an area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[161][162] A 2011 independent documentary, You've Been Trumped, by British filmmaker Anthony S. Baxter, chronicled the golf resort's construction and the subsequent nimbyism struggles between the locals and Trump.[163] Despite Trump's promises of 6,000 jobs, he stated in 2016 that the golf course has created only 200 jobs.[164] In June 2015, Trump made an appeal objecting to an offshore windfarm being built within sight of the golf course,[165] which was dismissed by five justices at the UK Supreme Court in December 2015.[166]
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.[167][168] After extensive renovations and a remodeling of the course by golf architect Martin Ebert, Turnberry was re-opened on June 24, 2016.[169]
Business career beyond real estate
Main article: Business career of Donald Trump
After Trump took charge of the family real estate firm in 1971, and renamed it The Trump Organization, he not only greatly expanded its real estate operations, but also ventured into numerous other business activities. The company eventually became the umbrella organization for several hundred individual business ventures and partnerships.[170]
When Trump was elected president in November 2016, the question arose how he would avoid conflicts of interest with his work in the White House and his business activities. At a press conference on January 10, 2017, Trump said he and his daughter Ivanka would resign all roles with The Trump Organization, while his two oldest sons Don Jr. and Eric would run the business, together with Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.[171]
Trump retains his financial stake in the business.[172] His attorney Sherri Dillon said that before the January 20 inauguration, Trump would put those business assets into a trust, which would hire an ethics advisor and a compliance counsel. She added that the Trump Organization would not pursue any new foreign business deals, while continuing to pursue domestic opportunities.[173]
Sports events
Main article: Business career of Donald Trump § Professional sports
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In September 1983, Trump purchased the New Jersey Generals—an American Football team that played in the United States Football League—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's 1986 schedule to the fall. He argued that the new schedule would coincide with the National Football League and would eventually force a merger with the NFL, thereby significantly increasing their investment.[174]
After the 1985 season, the Generals merged with the Houston Gamblers, but the organization experienced continuous financial difficulties. The USFL was down to just seven active franchises from a high of eighteen and was soon forced to fold, despite winning an antitrustlawsuit against the NFL.[175]
Trump remained involved with other sports after the Generals folded, operating golf courses in several countries.[175] 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.[175][176][177]
In 1989 and 1990, Trump lent his name to the Tour de Trump cycling 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.[178][179]
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.[180] 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."[181]
Beauty pageants
From 1996 until 2015,[182] 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.[183] Trump was dissatisfied with how CBS scheduled his pageants, and took both Miss Universe and Miss USA to NBC in 2002.[184][185]
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.[186][187] Trump subsequently filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision, alleging a breach of contract and defamation.[188][189] The lawsuit was settled in February 2016, but terms of the settlement were not disclosed.[190]
On September 11, 2015, Trump announced that he had become the sole owner of the Miss Universe Organization by purchasing NBC's stake.[191][192] He sold his own interests in the pageant shortly afterwards to WME/IMG.[182]
Model management
Main article: Trump Model Management
In 1999, Trump founded a modeling company, Trump Model Management, which operates in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.[193] 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.[194] 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.[195] 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%.[196] 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.[196][197]
Trump University
Main article: Trump University
Trump University LLC was an American for-profit education company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until at least 2010.[198] After multiple lawsuits, the business 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.[199][200] 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".[201] Trump was also found personally liable for failing to obtain a business license for the operation.[202]
In 2013, the State of New York filed a $40 million civil suit alleging that Trump University made false claims and defrauded consumers.[201][203] 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.[204] During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel who oversaw those two cases, alleging bias because of his Mexican heritage.[205][206][207] Trump later said that his concerns about Curiel's impartiality were not based upon ethnicity alone, but also upon rulings in the case.[208][209]
The Low v. Trump case was set for trial on November 28, 2016 in San Diego.[210] 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 $25 million.[211][212] The litigants agreed to the settlement 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.[213] The settlement was called into question on March 6, 2017, when Sherri Simpson, a Florida bankruptcy lawyer and former Trump University student, filed an objection.[214]
Branding and licensing
Main article: List of things named after Donald Trump
Trump has marketed his name on a large number of building projects that are owned and operated by other people and companies, as well as licensing his name for various commercial products and services. In doing so, he achieved mixed success for himself, his partners, and investors in the projects.[215] 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.[216]
Because developers pay Trump to market their properties and to be the public face for their projects, some buildings that display his name are not owned or operated by him.[217][217] According to Forbes, this portion of Trump's empire, actually run by his children, is by far his most valuable, having a $562 million valuation, with 33 licensing projects under development including seven Trump International Hotel and Tower "condo hotels".
Properties to which Trump has licensed his name and image include two in Florida that have gone into foreclosure.[218] 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.[219]
Foundation
Main article: Donald J. Trump Foundation
The Donald J. Trump Foundation is a U.S.-based private foundation[220] 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.[221][222] The foundation's funds have mostly come from donors other than Trump,[223] who has not given personally to the charity since 2008.[223]
The foundation's tax returns show that it has given to health care and sports-related charities, as well as conservative groups.[224] 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).[225][226] 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.[223] Linda McMahon later became Administrator of the Small Business Administration.[227]
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.[228] 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.[229][230][231] A Trump spokesman called the investigation a "partisan hit job".[229] 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".[232]
Media career
Further information: Donald Trump in popular culture, Filmography of Donald Trump, and Donald Trump in music
Trump has twice been nominated for an Emmy Award and has made cameo appearances in 12 films and 14 television series.[233] He has also played an oil tycoon in The Little Rascals. Trump is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and receives an annual pension of more than $110,000.[234][235] He has been the subject of comedians, flash cartoon artists, and online caricature artists. Trump also had his own daily talk radio program called Trumped![236][237][238]
The Apprentice
Main articles: The Apprentice (U.S. TV series) and The Apprentice (TV series)
In 2003, Trump became the executive producer and host of the NBC reality show The 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. 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.[239] 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,[87] although the network did not verify the statement.[240] In 2007, Trump received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to television on The Apprentice.[215][241]
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.[242] On February 27, Trump stated that he was "not ready" to sign on for another season because of the possibility of a presidential run.[243] Despite this, on March 18, NBC announced they were going ahead with production.[244] 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."[245]
After Trump's election campaign and presidential win led to his departure from the program, actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced Trump as host for the fifteenth season.[246] Trump is still credited as an executive producer for the show.[247]
Professional wrestling
Trump is a World Wrestling Entertainment fan and a friend of WWE chairman Vince McMahon. In 1988–89 Trump 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.[248] He also appeared in WrestleMania VII, and was interviewed ringside at WrestleMania XX.[249]
Trump appeared at WrestleMania 23 in a match called "The Battle of the Billionaires".[248] He was in Bobby Lashley's corner, while Vince McMahon was in the corner of Lashley's opponent Umaga, with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special guest referee.[248] The terms of the match were that either Trump or McMahon would have their head shaved if their competitor lost.[248] Lashley won the match, and so McMahon was shaved bald.[248]
On June 15, 2009, McMahon announced as part of a storyline on Monday Night Raw that he had "sold" the show to Trump.[248] Appearing on screen, Trump declared that 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.[248] McMahon "bought back" Raw the following week for twice the price.[248]
In 2013, Trump was inducted into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame at Madison Square Garden for his contributions to the promotion. He made his sixth WrestleMania appearance the following night at WrestleMania 29.[250]
Political career up to 2015
Early involvement in politics
Trump first vaguely expressed interest in running for office in 1987, when he spent almost $100,000 to place full-page advertisements in several newspapers. In his view at that time, ″America should stop paying to defend countries that can afford to defend themselves″,[251] and ″should present Western Europe and Japan with a bill for America's efforts to safeguard the passage of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.″[252] As of December 1988, Trump was the tenth most admired person in America according to a Gallup poll.[253][254]
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 respective races.[255][256] In February 2009, Trump appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, and spoke about the automotive industry crisis of 2008–10. He said that "instead of asking for money", General Motors "should go into bankruptcy and work that stuff out in a deal".[257]
Trump publicly speculated about seeking the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, and a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released in March 2011 found Trump leading among potential contenders; he was one point ahead of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.[258] A Newsweek poll conducted in February 2011 showed Trump within a few points of incumbent president Barack Obama, with many voters undecided in the November 2012 general election for president of the United States.[259] 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.[260][261] His moves were interpreted by some media as possible promotional tools for his reality show The Apprentice.[262][263][264]
Trump played a leading role in "birther" conspiracy theories that had been circulating since President Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.[265][266] Beginning in March 2011, Trump publicly questioned Obama's citizenship and eligibility to serve as President.[267][268][269] Although the Obama campaign had released a copy of the short-form birth certificate in 2008,[270] Trump demanded to see the original "long-form" certificate.[267] He mentioned having sent investigators to Hawaii to research the question, but he did not follow up with any findings.[267] He also repeated a debunked allegation that Obama's grandmother said she had witnessed his birth in Kenya.[271][272] When the White House later released Obama's long-form birth certificate,[273] Trump took credit for obtaining the document, saying "I hope it checks out."[274] His official biography mentions his purported role in forcing Obama's hand,[275] and he has defended his pursuit of the issue when prompted, later saying that his promotion of the conspiracy made him "very popular".[276] In 2011, Trump had called for Obama to release his student records, questioning whether his grades warranted entry into an Ivy League school.[277] When asked in 2015 whether he believed Obama was born in the United States, Trump said he did not want to discuss the matter further.[278][279] In September 2016, Trump publicly acknowledged that Obama was born in the U.S., and said that the rumors had been started by Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign.[268][280][281]
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Trump made his first speaking appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February 2011. 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. The 2011 CPAC speech Trump gave is credited for helping kick-start his political career within the Republican Party.[282][283] Christopher R. Barron, co-founder of GOProud, would later endorse Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and launch "LGBT for Trump", a political campaign with the goal of encouraging lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to support Trump.[284]
In the 2012 Republican primaries, Trump generally had polled at or below 17 percent among the crowded field of possible candidates.[285]On May 16, 2011, Trump announced he would not run for president in the 2012 election, while also saying he would have become the President of the United States, had he ran.[262]
In 2013, Trump was a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).[286] During the lightly attended early-morning speech, Trump spoke out against illegal immigration, then-President Obama's "unprecedented media protection", and advised against harming Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.[287][288]
Additionally, Trump spent over $1 million in 2013 to research a possible run for president of the United States.[289] In October 2013, New York Republicans circulated a memo suggesting Trump should run for governor of the state in 2014 against Andrew Cuomo. In response to the memo, Trump said that while New York had problems and that its taxes were too high, running for governor was not of great interest to him.[290] In January 2014, Trump made statements denying climate change that were discordant with the opinion of the scientific community.[291] A February 2014 Quinnipiac poll had shown Trump losing to the more popular Cuomo by 37 points in a hypothetical election.[292] In February 2015, Trump told NBC that he was not prepared to sign on for another season of The Apprentice, as he mulled his political future.[293]
2000 presidential campaign
Main article: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2000
In 1999, Trump filed an exploratory committee to seek the presidential nomination of the Reform Party in 2000.[294][295] 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.[296] Trump eventually dropped out of the race due to party infighting, but still won the party's California and Michigan primaries after doing so.[297][298][299][300]
Political affiliations
Trump's political party affiliation has changed numerous times over the years. Trump was a Democrat prior to 1987.[301] In 1987, Trump registered as a Republican in Manhattan.[302]
In 1999, Trump switched to the Reform Party and ran a presidential exploratory campaign for its nomination. After his run, Trump left the party in 2001, ostensibly due to the involvement of David Duke, Pat Buchanan, and Lenora Fulani.[294]
From 2001 to 2008, Trump identified as a Democrat, but in 2008, he endorsed Republican John McCain for President. In 2009, he officially changed his party registration to Republican.[303] In December 2011, Trump became an independent for five months before returning to the Republican Party, where he later pledged to stay.[304][305]
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.[306] After 2011, his campaign contributions were more favorable to Republicans than to Democrats.[307] In February 2012, Trump openly endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for President.[308] When asked in 2015 which recent president he prefers, Trump picked Democrat Bill Clinton over the Republican Bushes.[309][310]
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.[311][312] Trump told investigators he did so on the advice of his lawyers. He also said the contributions were not to gain favor with business-friendly candidates, but simply to satisfy requests from friends.[311][313]
2016 presidential campaign
Main article: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
On June 16, 2015, Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States at Trump Tower in Manhattan. In the speech, Trump drew attention to domestic issues such as illegal immigration, offshoring of American jobs, the U.S. national debt, and Islamic terrorism, which all remained large priorities during the campaign. He also announced his campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again".[314]
In his campaign, Trump said that he disdained political correctness; he also stated that the media had intentionally misinterpreted his words, and he made other claims of adverse media bias.[315][316][317] In part due to his fame, Trump received an unprecedented amount of unpaid coverage from the media during his run for the presidency; this elevated his standing in the Republican primaries.[318]
Republican leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan were hesitant to support him during his early quest for the presidency. They doubted his chances of winning the general election and feared that he could harm the image of the Republican Party.[319][320]
The alt-right movement coalesced around Trump's candidacy,[321] due in part to its opposition to multiculturalism and immigration.[322][323]The connection of this group to the Trump campaign is controversial; writers such as Jon Ronson have suggested that the link between Trump and members of the alt-right such as Alex Jones and Roger Stone is a marriage of convenience.[324]
During the campaign, Trump was accused of pandering to white nationalists,[325] especially in his apparent refusal to condemn the support of David Duke, a former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, in a CNN interview with Jake Tapper. He had previously criticized Duke in 1991, disavowed himself from the 2000 Reform Party due to the support of Duke and others, and condemned Duke on the campaign trail both before and after the interview.[326] In August, he appointed Steve Bannon—the executive chairman of Breitbart News—as his campaign CEO; the website was described by Bannon as "the platform for the alt-right".[327] However, Bannon later told the Wall Street Journal that he was an "economic nationalist" but not "a supporter of ethno-nationalism".[328]
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.[329][330][331]
Fact-checking organizations have denounced Trump for making a record number of false statements compared to other candidates.[332][333][334] At least four major publications – Politico, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times – have pointed out lies or falsehoods in his campaign statements.[335] Trump's penchant for hyperbole is believed to have roots in the New York real estate scene, where Trump established his wealth. Trump has called his public speaking "truthful hyperbole", though online media outlets such as Yahoo! believed Trump's "truthful hyperbole" to be a political tactic.[336][337] Lucas Graves, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication,[338] opined, of Trump's speaking, 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".[339] Other sources, such as NPR, also observed that Trump's statements during the campaign were often opaque or suggestive.[340]
State primaries
Main article: Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016
Trump entered a field of 16 candidates who were vying for the 2016 Republican nomination; this was the largest presidential field in American history.[341] 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 television ratings, which increased the visibility of Trump's campaign.[342]
By early 2016, the race had mostly centered on Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.[343] On Super Tuesday, Trump won the plurality of the vote and remained the front-runner throughout the remainder of the primaries. By March 2016, Trump became poised to win the Republican nomination.[344] 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.[345]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.[346]
General election campaign
Main article: United States presidential election, 2016
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".[347] 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 during one of his rallies in Las Vegas; they seized a 20-year-old British man who was illegally residing in the U.S.[348]
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 re-opening of its investigation into her ongoing email controversy.[349][350][351] In reference to the matter, FBI Director James Comey opined Clinton had been "extremely careless" in her handling of classified government material.[352]
On July 15, 2016, Trump announced his selection of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate.[353] Trump and Pence were officially nominated by the Republican Party on July 19, 2016, at the Republican National Convention.[354] 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.[355][356]
Two days later, Trump officially accepted the nomination in a 76-minute speech inspired by Richard Nixon's 1968 acceptance speech.[357]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.[358][359][360]
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.[361] Following Clinton's 7 percent convention bounce, she significantly extended her lead over Trump in national polls at the start of August.[362][363]
Discussion of tax returns
See also: § Personal taxes, and Donald Trump's tax returns
Trump has declined to publicly release any of his full tax returns,[364] which led to speculation about whether or not he was hiding something.[365] Pursuant to FEC regulations, Trump published a 92-page financial disclosure form that listed all his assets, liabilities, income sources and hundreds of business positions.[158]
Trump said that his tax returns are being audited and his lawyers advise against release.[366][367] 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."[368][369] Every candidate since Gerald Ford in 1976 released their taxes before the election.[370] Although no law prohibits release of tax returns during an audit, tax attorneys differ about whether such a release is wise legal strategy.[371][372]
On October 1, 2016, the New York Times obtained three pages of Trump's 1995 tax return. A reporter claimed that the documents were received in her Times mailbox. Each of the three pages is one page from Trump's state filings in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. They show that using allowed deductions for losses, Trump claimed a loss of $916 million on his 1995 federal tax returns. During the second presidential debate, Trump acknowledged using the deduction, but declined to provide details such as the specific years it was applied.[373] When asked if he used the tax code to avoid paying taxes, he said, "Of course I did. Of course I did." He then went on to say he paid "hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes", calling it a "simple" thing. "I pay tax, and I pay federal tax, too", he said.[374][375][376]
Presidential debates
Main article: United States presidential election debates, 2016
On September 26, 2016, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off in the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Lester Holt, an anchor with NBC News, was the moderator.[377] This was the most watched presidential debate in United States history.[378] The second presidential debate was held at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. The beginning narrative of that debate was dominated by a leaked tape of Trump making lewd comments, and counter-accusations by Trump of sexual misconduct by Bill Clinton. Trump had invited four women who had accused Clinton of impropriety to a press conference prior to the debate. The final presidential debate was held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on October 19. Trump's refusal to say whether or not he would accept the result of the election, regardless of the outcome, drew particular press attention.[379][380]
Political positions
Main article: Political positions of Donald Trump
Trump's campaign platform emphasized renegotiating U.S.–China relations and free trade agreements such as NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, strongly enforcing immigration laws, and building a new wall along the U.S.–Mexico border. His other campaign positions included pursuing energy independence while opposing climate change regulations such as the Clean Power Plan and the Paris Agreement, modernizing and expediting services for veterans, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, abolishing Common Core education standards, investing in infrastructure, simplifying the tax code while reducing taxes for all economic classes, and imposing tariffs on imports by companies that offshore jobs. During the campaign, he also advocated a largely non-interventionist approach to foreign policy while increasing military spending, extreme vetting of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries to pre-empt domestic Islamic terrorism, and aggressive military action against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL also known as ISIS or IS).
Media have described Trump's political positions as "populist",[381][382] and some of his views cross party lines. For example, his economic campaign plan calls for large reductions in income taxes and deregulation,[383] consistent with Republican Party policies, along with significant infrastructure investment,[384] usually considered a liberal (Democratic Party) policy.[385][386] According to political writer Jack Shafer, Trump may be a "fairly conventional American populist when it comes to his policy views", but he attracts free media attention, sometimes by making outrageous comments.[387][388]
Trump has supported or leaned toward varying political positions over time.[389][390][391] Politico has described his positions as "eclectic, improvisational and often contradictory",[391] while NBC News counted "141 distinct shifts on 23 major issues" during his campaign.[392]
Foreign interference in election and FBI Investigation
There has been intensive media scrutiny of Trump's relationship to Russia.[393][394] During the campaign, Trump repeatedly praised Russian president Vladimir Putin as a strong leader.[395] Several of Trump's advisers, including former National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn and former campaign manager Paul Manafort, have been connected to Russian or Ukrainian officials.[154][396] The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine provided a ledger that helped to force Manafort's resignation as campaign manager.[397]American intelligence sources stated with "high confidence" that the Russian government attempted to intervene in the 2016 presidential election to favor the election of Trump by hacking into computers of Trumps' opponents,[398] and that members of Trump's campaign were in contact with Russian government officials both before and after the presidential election.[399]
Sexual misconduct allegations
Main articles: Donald Trump and Billy Bush recording and Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations
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 to the show's then-cohost Billy Bush about forcibly kissing and groping women.[400][401][402] "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."[403] During the recording, Trump also speaks of his efforts to seduce a married woman, saying he "moved on her very heavily".[403] These statements were recorded several months after Trump married his third and current wife, Melania, who was pregnant at the time.[403][404]
Trump's language on the tape 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,[405][406] and caused outrage across the political spectrum,[407][408] with many Republicans withdrawing their endorsements of his candidacy and some urging him to quit the race.[409] A number of Trump supporters worldwide also withdrew their support following release of the tape, including many Conservatives in Britain.[410]Subsequently, at least 15 women[411] came forward with new accusations of sexual misconduct, including unwanted kissing and groping, resulting in widespread media coverage.[412][413]
Trump and his campaign have denied all of the sexual misconducting accusations, which Trump has called "false smears", and alleged a conspiracy against him.[414][415][416] 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.[417]
Election to the presidency
Main article: United States presidential election, 2016
On Election Day, November 8, 2016, Trump received 306 electoral votes to Clinton's 232 votes. The counts were later adjusted to 304 and 227 respectively, after defections on both sides, formalizing Trump's election to the presidency.[418] In the early hours of November 9, Clinton called Trump to concede the election. Trump then delivered his victory speech before hundreds of supporters in the New York Hilton hotel. The speech was in 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.[419][420]
Trump received a smaller share of the popular vote than Clinton, making him the fifth person to be elected president after losing the popular vote. Records on this matter date from the year 1824.[421][nb 2] Clinton finished ahead by 2.86 million votes or 2.1 percentage points, 48.04% to 45.95%, with neither candidate reaching a majority nationwide.[424][425]
Trump's victory was considered a stunning political upset, as polls consistently showed Hillary Clinton leading nationwide and in most battleground states, while Trump's support had been underestimated throughout his campaign.[426] 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.[427] Trump won the perennial swing states of Florida, Iowa and Ohio, and flipped Clinton's "blue wall" states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which had been Democratic strongholds since the 1990s. Trump's victory marked the return of a Republican White House combined with control both chambers of Congress, as was the case during parts of George W. Bush's presidency from 2003 to 2007.
Trump became the first president without prior governmental or military experience.[428][429][430] 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.[430] He is the first Republican since the 1980s to win the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He 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.[431]
Pre and post–victory protests
Main article: Protests against Donald Trump
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.[432] 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.[433][434] 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!"[435]
On the Saturday following Trump's inauguration there were massive demonstrations protesting Trump in the United States and worldwide, with approximately 2,600,000 taking place in Women's Marches worldwide.[436] The most notable of these marches was the Women's March on Washington (in Washington, D.C.), where over 500,000 people marched in opposition to Trump.[437] This was more than three times the number of people who were at Trump's inaugural speech, according to crowd scientists at the Manchester Metropolitan University.[438]
Presidency
Main article: Presidency of Donald Trump
For a chronological guide to this subject, see Timeline of the presidency of Donald Trump.
Transition
Main article: Presidential transition of Donald Trump
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On November 10, President-elect Trump had his first ever 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."[439] The BBC stated that "their antipathy was barely concealed" in "awkward photos" of the meeting.[440]
White House appointments
Trump's transition team was led by Chris Christie until November 11, 2016, when Vice President-elect Mike Pence took over.[441] Since then, Trump has chosen RNC chairman Reince Priebus as White House Chief of Staff[442] and businessman and media executive Steve Bannon as Counselor to the President.[443]
Cabinet-level nominations
Main article: Formation of Donald Trump's cabinet
He has nominated Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General,[444] retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor,[445] education reform activist Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education,[446] Governor Nikki Haley as Ambassador to the United Nations,[447] former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao as Secretary of Transportation,[448]U.S. Representative Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services,[449] former campaign rival Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development,[450] financier Steve Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury,[451] billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as Secretary of Commerce,[452] retired Marine Corps General James Mattis as Secretary of Defense,[453] retired Marine Corps General John F. Kelly as Secretary of Homeland Security,[454] businessman Andrew Puzder as Secretary of Labor[455] (later withdrawn, replaced by attorney and law school dean Alexander Acosta),[456] CEO of ExxonMobil Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State,[457] former Governor Rick Perry as Secretary of Energy,[458] U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior,[459] and Under Secretary for Health David Shulkin as Secretary of Veterans Affairs.[460]
Despite being nominated promptly during the transition period, most cabinet members were unable to take office on Inauguration Day because of delays in the formal confirmation process. By February 8, 2017, President Trump had fewer cabinet nominees confirmed than any prior president two weeks into their mandate, except George Washington.[461][462] Part of the lateness was ascribed to delays in submitting background-check paperwork, part to obstructionism by Senate Democrats.[463]
Pre-inauguration events
On November 22, Trump outlined his plan for his first 100 days in office in a video posted on YouTube. The plan included the United States' withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and asking the Department of Defense to develop a plan to protect the U.S. from cyber-attack.[464][465]
On December 7, Time named Trump as its "Person of the Year".[466] In an interview on The Today Show, he said he was honored by the award, but he took issue with the magazine for referring to him as the "President of the Divided States of America".[467][468] He also opposed Time's decision to change its "Man of the Year" title to "Person of the Year" in 1999, describing the action as too "politically correct".[469] On December 13 he was named Financial Times Person of the Year.[470] In December 2016, Forbes ranked Trump the second most powerful person in the world, after Vladimir Putin and before Angela Merkel.[471]
Based on intelligence reports issued from October 2016 to January 2017, the Obama administration accused the Russian government of trying to influence the U.S. presidential election in favor of Trump, notably by supplying the DNC emails to WikiLeaks for publication.[472] Both Trump,[473] WikiLeaks[474] and Russian officials[475] have denied the allegations.
In January 2017, Trump was briefed on a private intelligence dossier containing "potentially compromising personal and financial information" about his activities in Russia,[476]which he denied.[477] The dossier was also leaked to the press and published.[478] Media evaluation of the dossier ranged from "garbage"[479] to "partially corroborated".[480]
First 100 days
Main article: First 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency
Trump's inauguration as the 45th President of the United States was held on Friday, January 20, 2017. In his first week as president, Trump signed six executive orders. His first order as president stood to minimize "the economic burden" of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). That same week, Trump withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, re-instated the Mexico City Policy, reopened the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline construction projects and launched the process to build a new Mexico border wall and reinforce border security.[481]
Immigration order
Main articles: Executive Order 13769 and Executive Order 13780
On January 27, President Trump signed an executive order that suspended admission of refugees for 120 days and denied entry to citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days, citing security concerns about terrorism. The following day, thousands of protesters gathered at airports and other locations throughout the United States to protest the signing of the order and detainment of the foreign nationals.[482] Later, the administration seemed to reverse a portion of part of the order, effectively exempting visitors with a green card.[483][484] Two Iraqi nationals detained upon arrival filed a complaint.[485] Several federal judges issued rulings that curtailed parts of the immigration order, stopping the federal government from deporting visitors already affected.[484]
On March 6, 2016, Trump issued a revised executive order, that, among other differences with the original order, excluded Iraq, visa-holders, and permanent residents from the temporary suspension and did not differentiate Syrian refugees from refugees from other countries.[486]
Supreme Court nomination
Main article: Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court nomination
On January 31, Trump nominated U.S. Appeals Court judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacancy left on the Supreme Court by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.[487]
Domestic policy
Energy and climate
Main article: Environmental policy under the Trump administration
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.[488] 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.[489]
Trump does not accept the scientific consensus on climate change.[490][491] In 2012, he said that global warming was a hoax invented by the Chinese, but later said that he was joking.[492][493] He has called the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a "disgrace" and has threatened to cut its budget.[494] Trump has pledged to eliminate the Clean Power Plan[495] and withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, which calls for reductions in carbon emissions in more than 170 countries.[496] 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.[497]
Immigration
Main article: Immigration policy of Donald Trump
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Trump's immigration policies were intensely discussed during the campaign. Trump vowed to build a more substantial wall on the Mexico–United States border to keep out illegal immigrants, a wall which Trump promised Mexico would pay for.[498][499][500][501] He pledged to massively deport illegal immigrants residing in the United States,[502] and criticized birthright citizenship as it creates "anchor babies".[503]He said the focus of deportation would be criminals, those who have overstayed their visas, and other "security threats".[504]
Following the November 2015 Paris attacks, Trump made a controversial proposal to completely ban Muslim non-citizens from entering the United States until stronger vetting systems could be implemented.[505][506][507] Later in 2016 he stated that the 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".[508][509][510]
In late January 2017, Trump issued an executive order banning the admission of immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.[511] The order was imposed without warning and took effect immediately;[512] the measure caused chaos at many airports, with consecutive days of mass protest afflicting major airports in the United States.[513] Multiple legal challenges were filed against the order, and a federal court blocked its implementation.[512] In early March 2017, Trump issued a revised order into law, which excluded Iraq, gave specific exemptions for permanent residents, no priorities for religious minorities (e.g. Christian refugees) and a week was given to implement legislation.[512][486]
Social issues
Main article: Social policy of Donald Trump
Trump is conservative, describes himself as pro-life and generally opposes abortion; exceptions are made in cases of rape, incest, and circumstances endangering the health of the mother.[514] He has said that he is committed to appointing justices who would try to overturn the ruling in Roe v. Wade.[515] He personally supports "traditional marriage"[492]but considers the nationwide legality of same-sex marriage a "settled" issue.[515]
Trump supports a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment and says he is opposed to gun control in general,[516][517] although his views have shifted over time.[518] Trump opposes legalizing recreational marijuana but supports legalizing medical marijuana.[519] He favors capital punishment,[520][521] as well as the use of waterboarding.[522][523]
Health care
In 1999, Trump told Larry King Live that "I believe in universal healthcare."[524] Trump's 2000 book, The America We Deserve, argued strongly for a single-payer healthcare system based on the Canadian model,[525] and has voiced admiration for the Scottish National Health Service.[524][526][527]
However, Trump has repeatedly vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare.[528][529] In March 2016, Trump's campaign released a platform summary which included a variety of free-market health 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.[530][531]
Trump aims to streamline the Department of Veterans Affairs, getting rid of backlogs and waitlists, and upgrading relevant facilities.[532] On his first Monday in office, Trump issued a federal hiring freeze on the VA.[533]
Education
Trump has stated his support for school choice and local control for primary and secondary schools.[534] He opposes the Common Core State Standards Initiative for primary and secondary schools,[535] and has called Common Core "a disaster" that must be ended.[536] He has stated he would abolish all or part of the Department of Education.[537]
Economy and trade
Main article: Economic policy of Donald Trump
Trump's campaign tax plan called for levelling the corporate tax rate to 15%, eliminating various business loopholes and deductions,[383] 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.[538] His comments about the minimum wage have been inconsistent.[539][540][541]
Trump identifies as a "free trader", but says that trade must be "reasonably fair".[542] He has often been called a "protectionist",[543][544][545] because of his criticism of NAFTA,[546][547] the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP),[548] and his proposal to raise tariffs on Chinese and Mexican exports to the United States significantly.[549][550] He has also been critical of the World Trade Organization, threatening to leave unless his proposed tariffs are accepted.[551][552] However, Trump has been very keen to support a "fair" post-Brexit trade deal with the United Kingdom,[553] which Trump claims would be "good for both sides".[554]
Government size and deregulation
Trump's early policies have favored far-reaching deregulation and a smaller federal government. He became the first president in sixteen years to sign a Congressional Review Act disapproval resolution; the law had been used only once before.[555] During his first six weeks in office, he abolished ninety federal regulations.[556][557]
On January 23, 2017, Trump ordered a temporary government-wide hiring freeze.[558][559] The Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office told a House committee that hiring freezes have not proven to be effective in reducing costs.[560] Unlike some past freezes, however, the current freeze bars agencies from adding contractors to make up for employees leaving.[560]
A week later Trump signed Executive Order 13771, directing administrative agencies to repeal two existing regulations for every new regulation they issue.[561][562] Harvard Law professor Jody Freeman said that the order would do no more than slow the regulatory process, because it did not block rules required by statute.[563]
On February 24, 2017, Trump ordered the agencies to create task forces to determine which regulations are deemed burdensome to the U.S. economy.[564] Agency defenders expressed opposition to Trump's attacks, saying that the bureaucracy exists to protect people against well-organized, well-funded interest groups.[565]
Foreign policy
Main article: Foreign policy of Donald Trump
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Trump has been described as non-interventionist[566][567] and nationalist.[568] Trump repeatedly stated that he supports "America First" foreign policy.[569] He supports increasing United States military defense spending,[568] but favors decreasing United States spending on NATO and in the Pacific region.[570] He says America should look inward, stop "nation building", and re-orient its resources toward domestic needs.[567] As a candidate he questioned whether he, as president, would automatically extend security guarantees to NATO members,[571] and suggested that he might leave NATO unless changes are made to the alliance.[572]
In order to confront the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Trump in 2015 called for seizing the oil in ISIS-occupied areas, using U.S. air power and ground troops.[573] In 2016, Trump advocated sending 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops to the region,[389][574][575] a position he later retracted.[576] 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".[577] During the campaign he said he would relocate the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from its current location, Tel Aviv, although he has not pursued that proposal as president.[578]
Trump has considered recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and lifting sanctions on Russia in the past;[579][580] however, in the aftermath of Michael T. Flynn's resignation as National Security Adviser, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that Trump expects Russia to "return" Crimea to Ukraine,[581] emphatically stating that "Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control of the peninsula to Ukraine".[582] He added that Trump's appointed ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, "strongly denounced the Russian occupation" of Crimea.[582] Trump has pledged to hold a summit meeting with Vladimir Putin.[583] He added that Russia could help the U.S. in fighting ISIS militants.[584]
Indications of 2020 presidential campaign
Main article: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020
Trump signaled his intent to run for a second term by filing with the FEC within hours of assuming the presidency.[585][586] This transformed his 2016 election committee into a 2020 reelection one.[587] The early timing of the beginning of the campaign was highly unorthodox. Trump marked the official start of the campaign with a campaign rally in Melbourne, Florida on February 18, 2017, less than a month after taking office.[588] By February 1, 2017, the campaign had already raised over $7 million.[589]
Electoral history
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Donald Trump | 14,015,993 votes 1,441 delegates (41 contests) | Votes: 44.9% Delegates: 58.3% | |
| Republican | Ted Cruz | 7,822,100 votes 551 delegates (11 contests) | Votes: 25.1% Delegates: 22.3% | |
| Republican | Marco Rubio | 3,515,576 votes 173 delegates (3 contests) | Votes: 11.3% Delegates: 7% | |
| Republican | John Kasich | 4,290,448 votes 161 delegates (1 contest) | Votes: 13.8% Delegates: 6.5% | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Donald Trump | 62,979,879 votes 304 electors (30 states + ME-02) | Votes: 46.0% Electors: 56.5% | |
| Democratic | Hillary Clinton | 65,844,954 votes 227 electors (20 states + DC) | Votes: 48.1% Electors: 42.2% | |
Awards, honors, and distinctions
- The Jewish National Fund's Tree of Life Award for outstanding contributions to Israel–United States relations.[590] (1983)
- The Ellis Island Medal of Honor in celebration of "patriotism, tolerance, brotherhood and diversity".[591] (1986)
- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his role in Ghosts Can't Do It[592] (1990)
- Gaming Hall of Fame[593] (1995)
- 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).[594]
- Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[595][596] (2007)
- Muhammad Ali Entrepreneur Award[597] (2007)
- Trump was awarded an honorary doctorate of business administration by Scotland's Robert Gordon University in 2010.[598] The degree was revoked on December 9, 2015, because Trump had made statements that the university deemed "wholly incompatible" with its "ethos and values".[599]
- NY Ride of Fame[600] (2010)
- Honorary doctorate of business, Liberty University[601][602] (2012)
- WWE Hall of Fame[603] (2013)
- The Algemeiner Liberty Award for contributions to Israel–United States relations.[604] (2015)
- New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame[605] (2015)
- Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation Commandant's Leadership Award[606] (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.[607]
- Key to the City of Doral, Florida[608][609] (2015)
- Time Person of the Year (2016)
- Financial Times Person of the Year (2016)
Notes
- ^ 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.[85] The July 2015 FEC disclosure reports assets worth above $1.4 billion and debts above $265 million. 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.[86]
- ^ The number "five" includes the elections of 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016. Despite their similarities, some of these five elections had peculiar results; e.g. John Quincy Adams trailed in both the national popular vote and the electoral college in 1824 (since no-one had a majority in the electoral college, Adams was chosen by the House of Representatives), and Samuel Tilden in 1876 remains the only losing candidate to win an actual majority of the popular vote (rather than just a plurality).[422][423]
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