Donald John Trump was born in New York in 1946 and became the 45th president of the United States. He made his fortune in real estate, building an empire from the 1980s onward focused on luxury housing, hotels, and casinos, which he managed to maintain despite financial setbacks. This success earned him considerable prestige and popularity as the embodiment of the American self-made man, despite his egotistical personality and questionable ethics. With an extremely conservative ideology, his constant television appearances and off-color remarks made him one of the most controversial figures in the country from 2005 onward.
His father, Fred Trump, who was orphaned at the age of twelve, built his own fortune by constructing middle-class housing and eventually owned thousands of apartments in the New York boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. From a young age, Donald, the fourth of five siblings, accompanied his father to inspect buildings and collect rent. He studied at Fordham University and then at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, he entered the construction business, and in 1974, at age 28, he took over the family company and plunged into Manhattan’s real estate market.
One of his early major successes was acquiring an old hotel next to Grand Central Station, which he turned into a top-tier establishment through loans and tax incentives. From that point on, he acquired a variety of buildings in New York, especially luxury apartment towers—such as Trump Tower, where he resides in a triplex—as well as hotels. He became the owner of iconic properties like the Plaza Hotel, the St. Moritz Hotel, and the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
In the 1980s, he also acquired the Eastern Company’s air shuttle service between Boston, New York, and Washington, renaming it Trump Shuttle, and purchased a 5% stake in American Airlines. In June 1988, he published the book Trump: The Art of the Deal, which quickly topped the bestseller lists in the United States. Trump became the quintessential example of a successful American self-made millionaire and one of the country’s most recognizable business personalities. Although he generally remained on the political sidelines, in 1987 he spent over $100,000 buying ad space in major newspapers to publish an open letter criticizing U.S. policy for protecting oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
In 1990, rumors began to circulate about Trump’s financial troubles, as he reportedly struggled to pay off his massive debts. On April 27 of that year, he hired Merrill Lynch to negotiate the sale of Trump Shuttle, although he publicly claimed he needed cash to become “the king of liquidity” in order to snatch up real estate bargains during a market downturn.
Presidential Elections:
During the early phase of his campaign, one of the most chaotic in recent memory, Trump was hurt by sexual assault allegations and his own controversial remarks. However, in the final stretch, he regained momentum in the polls, which ultimately failed to predict the outcome. On election day, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton decisively. Somehow, his racist rhetoric and misogynistic behavior did not cost him support; rather, his attacks on the Democratic candidate and his direct messaging on the economy and immigration helped lead to an unexpected victory.