Donald Trump is serving a second presidential term. Here's the lowdown on his personal life, career, and politics.
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- Donald Trump has had a winding personal and political career.
- From his marriages to real estate to the presidency, he's captured the public's attention.
- Here's all you need to know about Trump's family, real estate business, and career in politics.
Donald Trump has won the presidency — again.
The businessman and former reality television star has long been a fixture of the American cultural scene. And as the 45th and now 47th president of the United States, he will continue to have untold political influence.
Trump first entered politics in June 2015 when he descended an escalator at his Trump Tower in New York City and announced he was entering the 2016 presidential race. Trump's presidency altered the very fabric of the Republican Party, bucking some traditional conservative values and ushering in the MAGA — Make America Great Again — era.
More than nine years after his initial campaign announcement, Trump prevailed in his third bid for the White House — after being ousted from office in 2020 — beating Vice President Kamala Harris. While polls leading up to the election had the race in a dead heat, Trump breached the Democrats' blue wall and defeated Harris in all seven swing states.
His third campaign for president brought about wild, unprecedented moments, including two apparent assassination attempts.
Trump's support ranges from his loyal base of largely working-class voters to billionaires like Elon Musk, who backed his candidacy with big donations and town hall appearances across Pennsylvania.
Here's a closer look at Trump's personal history and wide-ranging career.
Donald Trump's early life and family
Donald John Trump was born on June 14, 1946, in the Queens borough of New York City. At 78 years old, he was the oldest person to run for president. Compared to other former presidents, Trump has released relatively little information on his physical health.
In November 2023, his personal physician said measures of his physical health were within the normal range but did not provide details about his medication, blood pressure, or cholesterol. Standing at a reported height of 6 feet 3 inches, some have expressed concern about Trump's weight in the past.
His parents, real estate developer Fred Trump and Mary MacLeod, met at a party and got married in 1936. They had five children, with Donald Trump being their fourth. He attended a Presbyterian church as a child but doesn't appear to regularly attend church services.
Fred Trump made much of his fortune in New York City real estate and was the subject of a US Senate investigation related to taking advantage of a federal loan program.
As a teenager, Donald Trump attended New York Military Academy, a private military school. After graduating, he attended Fordham University in the Bronx for two years before eventually switching to the Wharton School of Finance and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Trump graduated from Wharton with a bachelor's degree in economics and talks about his time at the prestigious institution often.
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Donald Trump's career in business and reality television
After graduating from college, Trump began working for his father and eventually became the president of a collection of family-owned companies that he later turned into the Trump Organization. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Trump expanded his father's business and invested in Manhattan hotels. He was buoyed along by financial and social help from his father, whose New York connections ran deep.
In 1983, Trump opened Trump Tower on 56th Street and 5th Avenue, where he later had an apartment. That same decade, Trump started investing in casinos and bought Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
The 1990s recession harmed Trump's businesses and he was forced to sell various assets, as well as commit to a personal budget. His luck largely changed by the end of the 1990s, though his casinos continued to struggle.
Trump profited from his name throughout his long business career, selling everything from branded cologne and steaks to putting his name on an online education company. In 2018, The New York Times published a lengthy investigation detailing how Fred Trump funneled money to his son. The outlet reported Donald Trump received the equivalent of $413 million from his dad by the early 2000s. (Trump declined the Times's request for comment on the article at the time; a Trump spokesman at the time said there had been no fraud or tax evasion.)
In 1996, Trump teamed up with NBC to buy the Miss Universe Organization, which encompasses the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants. Trump then starred in a reality television show of his own — "The Apprentice." The Emmy-nominated program made him nearly $200 million over 16 years and boosted his image as a self-made billionaire.
Trump's net worth was $3.8 billion as of September 2024, according to Forbes's calculations.
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Donald Trump's various marriages and children
Donald Trump has a marital history marked by various divorces and alleged affairs.
He met his first wife, Czech model Ivana Marie Zelníčková, in 1976 when she was in New York City for a fashion show. The two got married in 1977 and remained a fixture of the city's tabloid scene. They had three children together: Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric.
Rumors about Trump having affairs swirled throughout the marriage, including with American actor Marla Maples. Ivana and Trump divorced in 1992.
One year later, Maples had Trump's fourth child, Tiffany. The couple got married two months later but split up in 1999.
Trump's current wife, Melania Trump (née Knauss), is a Slovenian-American former model whom he met in 1998 at a mutual friend's party. The two dated on and off before tying the knot in 2004 at Mar-a-Lago. The star-studded guest list included the Clintons and Billy Joel.
Trump's fifth child, Barron Trump, was born in 2006. When Trump moved into the White House, Melania and Barron waited months before joining him at the residence.
JIM WATSON
Donald Trump's political rise and the 2016 election
An ubiquitous presence in American life since the 1980s, Trump floated running for president since his early days as a businessman. People generally didn't take him seriously, and his political affiliations flip-flopped — he went from being a registered Democrat, to a registered Republican, to the front man for a remade American conservatism.
In 2012, Trump gained prominence in Republican circles for popularizing the "birther" theory — the racist and false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. And in the summer of 2015, the prospect of a Trump presidential bid became much more real when he announced his candidacy at a campaign rally in New York City.
Throughout the 2016 campaign, Trump positioned himself as a political outsider and built his platform around economic prosperity, immigration, and a newly combative rhetoric. His campaign was mired in controversy — from the Access Hollywood tape where he bragged about groping women to his failure to quickly denounce the KKK — but he appealed to a wide swath of Americans.
Despite doing poorly in the early Iowa caucus, Trump triumphed in a series of primary wins and had a strong performance on Super Tuesday. After becoming the Republican nominee, Trump trailed Hillary Clinton in the polls but ended up victorious on November 8, 2016. He lost the popular vote by more than 2.8 million but won 304 electoral votes to Clinton's 227.
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Donald Trump's first presidency
Once in the White House, Trump was quick to issue a slate of executive orders based on his campaign promises, including building a wall on the southern border and implementing his proposed "Muslim ban," which quickly faced legal challenges.
While running for office, Trump promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but doing so proved difficult and contentious, so he instead chipped away at the law. He also repealed many Obama-era environmental policies and withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement because he said it damaged the economy.
Trump took an isolationist approach to foreign policy, imposing tariffs and withdrawing from revising long-standing trade agreements. On the economy, Trump pushed a $1.5 trillion tax cut package through Congress. Regarding the Supreme Court, he appointed three conservative judges and took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade.
By his final years in office, Trump was both president and candidate — he launched his reelection bid in June 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic upended both the election and spelled the end of Trump's presidency. President Joe Biden had accused him throughout the election of ignoring the crisis. Trump came down with COVID-19 himself during the final weeks of the campaign and received treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center.
When election day finally rolled around, Trump eventually lost both the popular and Electoral College votes. The race was extremely close in key states and took days to call. Trump declared victory one day after the election, before all the votes were tallied, and thus inaugurated his months-long campaign contesting the election results.
After leaving office in January 2021, Trump and Melania moved to Mar-a-Lago, where he has lived since leaving the White House.
Chip Somodevilla
Donald Trump's controversies and ongoing legal woes
Donald Trump's legal troubles stretch back to the very beginning of his business career. In 1973, the US Justice Department sued Fred and Donald Trump for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act in various New York City apartment buildings. The parties settled the suit two years later and the Trumps did not admit to any wrongdoing.
Trump's political rise is backlit by controversy as well, from the personal scandals that have plagued his candidacies to his new status as the first former president convicted of a federal crime. The FBI investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, but ultimately concluded that there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove that "members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government." Yet the report did find "numerous links" between the two groups.
While in office, Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, but the Senate acquitted him both times.
The chamber first impeached him in 2019 on articles charging him with abuses of power and obstruction of justice. He is accused of offering Ukraine a quid-quo-pro: dig up dirt on Biden in exchange for military aid.
The second impeachment articles relate to his ongoing efforts to overturn the 2020 election and actions on January 6, 2021, when a violent mob stormed the Capitol. As lawmakers convened to certify the election results, Trump encouraged his supporters to attend a rally in DC to protest the joint session of Congress. Thousands showed up, including some from white supremacist groups and right-wing militias.
When speaking to the crowd, Trump did not explicitly call for violence, but encouraged his followers to "fight like hell" — many of those same followers stormed the Capitol moments later, overwhelming police and forcing lawmakers to flee. Five people died during or shortly after the event, including a Capitol police officer.
Congress reconvened to certify the election results in the early hours of January 7 and Biden was inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Meanwhile, Trump continues to deny that he lost the election in 2020, refusing to admit defeat.
Kent Nishimura
After he left office, an avalanche of lawsuits against Trump piled up, many of which are stalled or are no longer being pursued after the election.
The former president has been charged in four criminal cases: a federal election interference case, a classified documents case, a Georgia election interference case, and a hush-money case. Trump used money from two of his PACs to pay his legal fees, but his decisive victory at the polls could mean that the cases will wind down.
On May 30, 2024, Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who alleges she had an affair with Trump. With the guilty verdict, Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
In the federal election interference case, special prosecutor Jack Smith is accusing Trump of engaging in a broad effort to undermine Biden's 2020 win. Smith argues that Trump amplified false claims about voter fraud, pressured elected officials, and organized fake electors.
Georgia's election interference case focuses specifically on Trump's alleged attempts to overturn Biden's win in the state. District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and allies in August of 2023, but the case has shrunk in scope and a judge dismissed several counts against Trump. The case has been mired in scandals involving Willis' personal life, and is currently held up as Trump attempts to disqualify Willis as the lead prosecutor.
Smith also led the charge on a federal case accusing Trump of storing sensitive national security documents at Mar-a-Lago after removing them from the White House, and impeding the government from retrieving the documents. A Trump-appointed judge in Florida dismissed the case over highly controversial allegations that Smith's special counsel appointment was unconstitutional. Smith's office is appealing her ruling.
Trump has previously said he would fire Smith if elected president. And once in office, he would be eligible for a presidential pardon in both federal cases — though a self-pardon has never been attempted. A Trump presidency could spell delays for his state cases in Georgia and New York, legal experts told Business Insider.
In addition to the criminal trials, a jury found Trump guilty of sexual abuse in a civil case brought by E. Jean Carroll. The saga, which has extended over two suits, relates to Carroll's allegation that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store and subsequently made defamatory statements. Together, they resulted in a verdict granting Carroll damages of $88.3 million. Trump has appealed the cases.
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Donald Trump's second presidential victory and policy outlook
Trump announced his third presidential bid just after the 2022 midterms, and almost two years before election day in 2024. He easily beat his primary rivals and prepared for a rematch against Biden.
Trump complained when Biden dropped out of the presidential race at the end of July and Vice President Kamala Harris soared to the top of the ticket. Polls showed Trump and Harris closely tied in the final days of the race, though Trump ultimately pulled off a comfortable victory, with 312 electoral votes to Harris' 226. He also won the popular vote — the first time a Republican has done so in 20 years.
While surveys suggested Biden's unpopularity may have proven unsurmountable for Harris, other stats showed how younger voters tilted red, Latino voters increasingly backed Trump, and economic frustrations also likely pushed the needle in his favor.
Republicans also regained control of the Senate and kept their control of the House, paving the way for Trump's judicial appointments — including any vacancies on the Supreme Court.
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The election cycle was defined by political violence: There have been two alleged assassination attempts against Trump thus far, one in Pennsylvania and the other in Florida. The former president survived both.
On July 13, Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, nicking his ear using an AR-style rifle. A Secret Service sniper killed Crooks, whose motive for the shooting remains unclear. The first assassination attempt quickly became a rallying cry for Trump supporters, and Elon Musk endorsed the former president shortly after.
The second apparent assassination attempt occurred on Sept. 15 in Palm Beach, Florida at a golf course. Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect, may have staked out the course for 12 hours. Law enforcement officials said that Routh got close to Trump but didn't have a clear line of sight of the former president. They also said that a Secret Service agent spotted Routh's rifle through a fence and immediately opened fire, at which point the suspect fled. On September 16, Routh was charged with two firearms counts.
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Given the two candidates' wildly different politics, the competition turned nasty at times, with Trump questioning Harris' race and contending with a pattern of misogynistic comments toward female opponents.
In terms of the economy, a top issue for many voters, Trump promised to extend his hallmark 2017 tax cuts and eliminate taxes on tips. He's also threatening a broad 10 to 20% tariff on imported goods, which economists predict would fuel inflation.
Trump's views on abortion have become a sticky subject in the post-Roe environment. He takes credit for overturning Roe v. Wade but has tempered his stance to appeal to rising pro-choice sentiment. Trump has said that states should decide the laws around abortion and hasn't publicly supported a federal ban. In August, Trump said that the federal government should pay for costly IVF treatments.
Immigration emerged as a key campaign issue and Trump has promised mass deportations. His team has also drafted memos to curb migration and implement the same hardline border policies he adopted during his first term.
Trump has criticized Israel's actions in Gaza at times but portrays himself as a strong defender of the Israeli state and hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago.
With respect to the war in Ukraine, Trump has repeatedly said he could quickly end the Ukraine war, though hasn't specified how. He's avoided explicitly saying that he wants Ukraine to win. And on the question of China, Trump continues to take a tough tone — he's threatened to levy a 60% tariff on Chinese goods.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to make sure America leads the world in oil and gas production. He also promised to cut energy and electricity prices by more than half and roll back Biden's electric vehicle policies.
It remains to be seen what campaign promises Trump will enact, but on day one of his administration, he will be able to issue pardons and fire government officials — having previously floated names like Smith and Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler.
Trump could also pardon the January 6 rioters and issue executive orders — though orders on hot-button issues like immigration could face challenges in the courts.
To this end, the president-elect has already started to staff up his incoming administration, naming campaign manager Susie Wiles chief of staff — the first woman in history to serve in that role. Trump has also tapped Thomas Homan as border czar to oversee the mass deportations.
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