Top 10 Crazy Donald Trump Moments
Top 10 Crazy Donald Trump Moments
Top 10 Crazy Donald Trump Moments
Early life and education
Trump was born in
Queens,
New York City,
New York. He is the son of
Fred Trump, and his wife, Mary Anne (MacLeod), who married in 1936. His mother was born on the
Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of
Scotland.
[19] Donald was one of five children. Donald's oldest brother, Fred Jr., died in 1981 at the age of 43.
[20] Trump's paternal grandparents were
German immigrants.
[21] His grandfather, Frederick Trump (
né
Friedrich Drumpf), emigrated to the United States in 1885 and became a
naturalized American citizen in 1892. Frederick married Elisabeth Christ
(October 10, 1880 – June 6, 1966)
[22] at
Kallstadt,
Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, on August 26, 1902. They had three children.
Trump attended
The Kew-Forest School,
Forest Hills, New York, as did some of his siblings. At age 13 after
having some difficulties there, his parents sent him to the
New York Military Academy (NYMA), hoping to direct his energy and assertiveness in a positive manner.
[23] At NYMA, in
upstate New York, Trump earned academic honors, and played
varsity
football in 1962, varsity soccer in 1963, and varsity baseball from
1962 to 1964 (baseball captain 1964). The baseball coach, Ted Dobias, a
local celebrity for his work with area youth, awarded him the Coach's
Award in 1964. Promoted to Cadet Captain-S4 (Cadet Battalion Logistics
Officer) in his senior year, Trump and Cadet First Sergeant Jeff
Donaldson (NYMA class of 1965; West Point 1969) formed a composite
company of cadets, taught them advanced close-order drill, and marched
them down Fifth Avenue on Memorial Day, 1964.
Trump attended
Fordham University for two years before transferring to the
Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1968 with a
Bachelor of Science in economics.
[24] In his book,
Trump: The Art of the Deal, Trump discusses his undergraduate career:
After I graduated from the New York Military Academy in 1964, I
flirted briefly with the idea of attending film school ... but in the
end I decided real estate was a much better business. I began by
attending Fordham University ... but after two years, I decided that as
long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the
best. I applied to the Wharton School
at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in ... I was also very glad
to get finished. I immediately moved back home and went to work full
time with my father.[25]
Business career
Real estate developments
Trump began his career at his father's company,
[26] Elizabeth Trump and Son,
[27]
which focused on middle-class rental housing in Brooklyn, Queens, and
Staten Island. One of Trump's first projects, while he was still in
college, was the revitalization of the foreclosed Swifton Village
apartment complex in
Cincinnati,
Ohio, which his father had purchased for $5.7 million in 1962. Trump
became intimately involved in the project and with a $500,000
investment, turned the 1200-unit complex with a 66 percent vacancy rate
to 100 percent occupancy within two years. In 1972 the Trump
Organization sold Swifton Village for $6.75 million.
[28]
In 1971, Trump moved to Manhattan and became involved in larger
building projects and utilized attractive architectural design to win
public recognition.
[8] He made plans to acquire and develop the old Penn Central for $60 million with no money down.
[29] Later, with the help of a 40 year tax abatement from the New York City government, he turned the bankrupt
Commodore Hotel into the
Grand Hyatt [30] and created
The Trump Organization.
[31]
The New York City government had a plan to build the
Javits Convention Center on property Trump held a right to buy
option. Trump estimated his company could have completed the project for $110 million
[32] but the city rejected his offer and Trump received a broker's fee on the sale of the property instead. The
Wollman Rink in
Central Park,
was started in 1980 with an expected 2½-year construction schedule but
was nowhere near completion by 1986. Trump took over the management of
the project, at no cost to the city, and completed it in three months
for $1.95 million, which was $750,000 less than the remaining budget.
[33]
In 1988, Trump acquired the
Taj Mahal Casino in a transaction with
Merv Griffin and
Resorts International.
[34]
This expansion, both personal and business, led to mounting debt.
[35]
Much of the news about him in the early 1990s involved his much
publicized financial problems, creditor-led bailout, extramarital affair
with
Marla Maples (whom he later married), and the resulting divorce from his first wife,
Ivana Trump.
By 1989, poor business decisions left Trump unable to meet loan
payments. Trump financed the construction of his third casino, the
$1 billion
Taj Mahal, primarily with high-interest
junk bonds.
Although he shored up his businesses with additional loans and
postponed interest payments, by 1991 increasing debt brought Trump to
business bankruptcy
[35] and to the brink of
personal bankruptcy. Banks and
bond
holders had lost hundreds of millions of dollars, but opted to
restructure his debt to avoid the risk of losing more money in court.
The Taj Mahal re-emerged from bankruptcy on October 5, 1991, with Trump
ceding 50 percent ownership in the casino to the original bondholders in
exchange for lowered interest rates on the debt and more time to pay it
off.
[36]
The late 1990s saw a resurgence in his financial situation and fame. In 2001, he completed
Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the
United Nations Headquarters.
[37] Also, he began construction on
Trump Place, a multi-building development along the
Hudson River. Trump owns commercial space in
Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use (hotel and
condominium) tower on
Columbus Circle. Trump currently
[when?] owns several million square feet of prime
Manhattan real estate,
[38] and remains a major figure in the field of real estate in the United States and a celebrity for his prominent media exposures.
Trump has several projects under way, with varying levels of success in their progress. The
Trump International Hotel and Tower – Honolulu
seems to be a success. According to Trump, buyers paid non-refundable
deposits, committing to purchase every unit on the first day they were
made available. Construction of the
Trump International Hotel and Tower – Chicago seems to be proceeding as planned, although 30 percent of the units remain unsold. The
Trump International Hotel and Tower – Toronto has had a series of delays and a height reduction. The
Trump Tower – Tampa
has been quite controversial because the initial sales were so
successful that all deposits were returned in order to charge a higher
price. Three years after construction of this controversial development
began, construction has delayed and lawsuits have been filed. In
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one Trump construction project was put on hold in favor of another (
Trump International Hotel and Tower – Fort Lauderdale). Meanwhile,
Trump Towers – Atlanta is being developed in a housing market having the nation's second-highest inventory of unsold homes.
[39]
In its October 7, 2007
Forbes 400 issue, "Acreage Aces",
Forbes valued Trump's wealth at $3.0 billion.
[40] Since 2011, his net worth has been estimated from $2.9 billion to $7 billion.
[2][41]
Legal affairs
In March 1990, Trump threatened to sue
Janney Montgomery Scott, a
stock brokerage firm, whose
analyst
had made negative comments on the financial prospects of Taj Mahal. The
analyst refused to retract the statements, and was fired by his firm.
[42] Taj Mahal declared bankruptcy for the first time in November 1990.
[43] A
defamation lawsuit by the analyst against Trump for $2 million was settled out of court.
[44] On November 2, 1992, the
Trump Plaza Hotel filed a prepackaged
Chapter 11 protection plan. Under the plan, Trump agreed to give up a 49 percent stake in the luxury hotel to
Citibank
and five other lenders. In return Trump would receive more favorable
terms on the remaining $550+ million owed to the lenders, and retain his
position as chief executive, though he would not be paid and would not
have a role in day-to-day operations.
[45]
By 1994, Trump had eliminated a large portion of his $900 million personal debt
[46] and reduced significantly his nearly $3.5 billion in business debt. While he was forced to relinquish the
Trump Shuttle
(which he had bought in 1989), he managed to retain Trump Tower in New
York City and control of his three casinos in Atlantic City.
Chase Manhattan Bank,
which lent Trump the money to buy the West Side yards, his biggest
Manhattan parcel, forced the sale of the tract to Asian developers.
According to former members of the Trump Organization, Trump did not
retain any ownership of the site's real estate – the owners merely
promised to give him about 30 percent of the profits once the site was
completely developed or sold. Until that time, the owners of The West
Side Yards gave him modest construction and management fees to oversee
the development, and allowed him to put his name on the buildings that
eventually rose on the yards because his well-known moniker allowed them
to charge a premium for their condos.
[47]
Trump was elected to the
Gaming Hall of Fame in 1995.
[48] In 1995, he combined his casino holdings into the publicly held
Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts.
Wall Street drove its stock above $35 in 1996, but by 1998 it had fallen into single digits as the company remained profitless.
In January 2002, the
Securities and Exchange Commission
brought a financial-reporting case against Trump Hotels & Casino
Resorts Inc., alleging that it had committed several "misleading
statements in the company's third-quarter 1999 earnings release." The
matter was settled with the defendant neither admitting nor denying the
charge.
[49]
Finally, on October 21, 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts announced a restructuring of its debt.
[50]
The plan called for Trump's individual ownership to be reduced from
56 percent to 27 percent, with bondholders receiving stock in exchange
for surrendering part of the debt. Since then, Trump Hotels has been
forced to seek voluntary bankruptcy protection to stay afloat. After the
company applied for Chapter 11 Protection in November 2004, Trump
relinquished his CEO position but retained a role as Chairman of the
Board. In May 2005
[51] the company re-emerged from bankruptcy as
Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings.
[52]
Lender
Deutsche Bank
refused to let Trump lower the prices on the units to spur sales.
Arguing that the financial crisis and resulting drop in the real estate
market is due to
circumstances beyond his control, Trump invoked a clause in the contract to not pay the loan.
[53]
Trump then initiated a suit asserting that his image had been damaged.
Both parties agreed to drop their suits, and sale of the units is nearly
complete.
[54]
On February 17, 2009
Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; Trump stating on February 13 that he would resign from the board.
[55] Trump Entertainment Resorts has three properties in
Atlantic City.
Business ventures
Trump branding and licensing
Beyond his traditional ventures in the real estate, hospitality, and
entertainment industries and having carved out a niche for the Trump
brand within theses industries, Trump has since then moved on to
establish the Trump name and brand in a multitude of other industries
and products. Trump has succeeded in marketing the Trump name on a large
number of products, including
Trump Financial (a mortgage firm), Trump Sales and Leasing (residential sales),
The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative (a business education company, formerly called the
Trump University),
[2]
Trump Restaurants (Located in Trump Tower and consisting of Trump
Buffet, Trump Catering, Trump Ice Cream Parlor, and Trump Bar),
GoTrump[3]
(an online travel website), Donald J. Trump Signature Collection (a
line of menswear, men's accessories, and watches), Donald Trump The
Fragrance (2004), Trump Magazine, Trump Golf, Trump Chocolate, Trump
home (home furnishings), Trump Productions (a television production
company), Trump Institute, Trump The Game (1989 Board Game),
Donald Trump's Real Estate Tycoon (a business simulation game),
Trump Books,
Trump Model Management,
Trump Shuttle,
Trump Ice,
Trump Mortgage, Trump Vodka, and Trump Steaks. In addition, Trump reportedly receives $1.5 million for each one-hour presentation he does for
The Learning Annex.
[56]
In 2011, Forbes reported that its financial experts had estimated the value of the Trump
brand at $200 million. Trump disputes this valuation, saying that his brand is worth about $3 billion.
[57] Many developers pay Trump to market their properties and to be the public face for their projects.
[58] For that reason, Trump does not own many of the buildings that display his name.
[58] 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. According to
Forbes
there are 33 licensing projects under development including seven
"condo hotels" (the seven Trump International Hotel and Tower
developments).
Although not related to font designer Georg Trump, Donald Trump uses the "Trump Medieval" font Georg designed,
[59] for his own corporate logo.
[60]
Net worth
Estimates of Trump's
net worth have fluctuated along with real estate valuations: In 2013,
Forbes put it at $3.2 billion.
[61] As early as 2005, however,
New York Times writer
Timothy L. O'Brien questioned the accuracy of the
Forbes figure: He quoted a
Forbes
editor stating that the magazine "work[ed] hard to ensure the accuracy
of its data but that it also [relied] on information provided by those
whom it surveys" and that Trump would "constantly [call] about himself
and [say] we're not only low, but low by a multiple." While the magazine
put Trump's 2004 net worth at $2.6 billion, O'Brien's 2005 article
references three unnamed business associates of Trump who "thought his
net worth was somewhere between $150 million and $250 million."
[47]
After the publication of the article, Trump unsuccessfully filed a
libel lawsuit against O'Brien; it was dismissed in 2009.
[62][63] In the lawsuit it was revealed that, in 2005,
Deutsche Bank valued Trump's net worth at $788 million, to which Trump objected.
[58][62][63]
In April 2011, amidst speculation whether Trump would run as a candidate in the US presidential election of 2012,
Politico
quoted unnamed sources close to him stating that, if Trump should
decide to run for president, he would file "financial disclosure
statements that [would] show his net worth [was] in excess of $7 billion
with more than $250 million of cash, and very little debt."
[64]
(Presidential candidates are required to disclose their finances after
announcing their intentions to run.) Although Trump did not run as a
candidate in the 2012 elections, his professionally prepared 2012
financial disclosure was published in his book stating a $7 billion net
worth.
[41]
Other ventures
Other investments include a 17.2 percent stake in Parker Adnan, Inc.
(formerly AdnanCo Group), a Bermuda-based financial services holdings
company. In late 2003, Trump, along with his siblings, sold their late
father's real estate empire to a group of investors that included
Bain Capital,
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and LamboNuni Bank reportedly for $600 million. Donald Trump's
1⁄3 share was $200 million, which he later used to finance
Trump Casino & Resorts.
Trump at one time acted as a financial advisor for
Mike Tyson,
[65] hosting
Tyson's fight against
Michael Spinks in Atlantic City.
[66] Trump was an owner of the
New Jersey Generals football team.
[67] He later bought the
Eastern Shuttle routes.
[68]
In April 2011, it was reported that Trump was in the process of negotiating a deal with New York City to reopen the historic
Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park.
[69]
Trump Tower
Trump Tower is a 58-story mixed-use
skyscraper at 725
Fifth Avenue, at the corner of
East 56th Street in
Midtown Manhattan,
New York City. It was developed by Trump and the
Equitable Life Assurance Company. It is now just developed/owned by Donald Trump, and designed by
Der Scutt of
Swanke, Hayden Connell.
[citation needed]
Stock market investments
In 2011, Trump made a rare foray into the stock market after being
disappointed with the depressed American real estate market and facing
poor returns on
bank deposits.
He stated that he wasn't a stock market person, but he also stated that
prime real estate at good prices is hard to get. Among the stocks Trump
purchased, he stated he bought stock in
Bank of America,
Citigroup,
Caterpillar Inc.,
Intel,
Johnson & Johnson and
Procter & Gamble.
[7] In December 2012, Trump revealed that he also added shares of
Facebook to his stock portfolio.
[70]
Scottish golf course
In 2006, Trump bought the Menie estate in
Balmedie,
Aberdeenshire, Scotland announcing that he intended to create the best golf course in the world
[71][72] on a
site of special scientific interest (SSSI).
[73]
The project includes plans for a hotel, holiday homes, housing and two
golf courses. It led to controversy, with opposition voiced by
environmentalists, and planning permission was initially refused by
Aberdeenshire Council. In 2008 the local authority was overruled by the Scottish government,
[74][75] First Minister Alex Salmond citing economic benefits Trump had promised as justifying the unusual step of permitting development on an SSSI.
[76] These supposed benefits were disputed by the
London School of Economics.
[77]
In 2009, Aberdeenshire Council received a request on behalf of Trump International Golf Links Scotland to approve
compulsory purchase orders on a number of local homes.
[78][79] A protest group campaigned actively, using mass land purchase as a tactic.
[80] In late January 2011 Trump International stated that it had "no interest" in pursuing compulsory purchase orders
[81] and that it had never applied for them.
[82][83]
An award-winning 2011 documentary film,
You've Been Trumped,
[84][85] by
Anthony Baxter,
follows the development's progress. It shows Trump speaking locally
about his ambitions for the project, insulting a local farmer, who he
claims lives in "a slum", and being awarded an honorary degree by
The Robert Gordon University, in spite of a professor at that university returning his own honorary degree in protest.
[86][87] It also queries the supposed economic benefits and examines the ecological impact and the effect on local residents.
[77][88] When it was announced that the documentary was to be given its UK television première on
BBC Two on October 21, 2012,
[89] Trump's lawyers contacted the
BBC
to demand that the film should not be shown, claiming it was defamatory
and misleading. The screening went ahead, the BBC defending the
decision and stating that Trump had refused the opportunity to take part
in the film.
[90]
Trump has objected to plans for an offshore windfarm to be built
within sight of the golf links. In 2011, he wrote to First Minister Alex
Salmond expressing his view that the planned structures were ugly. He
denied that he was concerned only with the view from the golf links,
saying, "It is not only for my project, it is more to preserve
Scotland's beautiful coastline and natural heritage."
[91]
In 2012, Trump announced that if the windfarm were built he would
abandon his plans for the hotel and housing at the golf links.
[92] Trump's advertisement comparing wind farms to terrorism was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.
[93]
On February 11, 2014, it was announced that Trump had purchased
Doonbeg Golf Club in the Republic of Ireland. He announced the purchase
of the course on the day that his objection to the windfarm being built
off the coast of his Scottish golf course was dismissed, a decision
Trump said he would appeal. It was also confirmed that Doonbeg Golf Club
would be renamed Trump International Golf Links, Ireland.
[94]
Beauty pageants
The
Miss Universe Organization has been owned by Donald Trump since 1996 and the National Broadcasting Company (
NBC) became a joint partner in 2003. The organization produces the
Miss Universe,
Miss USA, and
Miss Teen USA pageants. In December 2006, talk show host
Rosie O'Donnell criticized Trump's lenience toward Miss USA,
Tara Conner, who had violated pageant behavioral guidelines. This sparked a
tabloid war between the two celebrities which lasted for several weeks thereafter.
[95][96][97][98]
Entertainment media
“ |
Susan Mulcahy [editor of Page Six during the early 1980s]: He was a great character, but he was full of crap 90 percent of the time.
Donald Trump: I agree with her 100 percent. |
” |
|
In the media, Donald Trump is a two-time
Emmy Award–nominated personality, has made appearances as a caricatured version of himself in television series and films (e.g.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,
The Nanny,
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,
Days of Our Lives,
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
[100]), and as a character (
The Little Rascals).
He has been the subject of comedians, Flash cartoon artists, and online
caricature artists. Trump also has his own daily talk radio program
called
Trumped!.
[101][102][103][104]
In March 2011, Trump was the subject of a
Comedy Central Roast. The special was hosted by
Seth MacFarlane, and roasters included
Larry King,
Snoop Dogg, and
Anthony Jeselnik
among regular roast participants. Trump's daughter Ivanka was seen in
the audience. In April 2011, Trump attended the White House
Correspondents' Dinner, featuring comedian
Seth Meyers. President Obama used the occasion to present several prepared jokes mocking Trump.
[105]
The Apprentice
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. The other contestants were
successively "fired" and eliminated from the game. In 2004, Donald Trump
filed a trademark application for the
catchphrase "
You're fired."
[4][5][6]
For the first year of the show, Trump was paid $50,000 per episode
(roughly $700,000 for the first season), but following the show's
initial success, he is currently
[when?] paid a reported $3 million per episode, making him one of the highest paid TV personalities.
[citation needed] In 2007, Trump received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to television (
The Apprentice).
Along with British TV producer
Mark Burnett, Trump also put together
The Celebrity Apprentice,
where well-known stars 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.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Trump is a known
World Wrestling Entertainment fan and friend of WWE owner
Vince McMahon. He has hosted two
WrestleMania
events in the Trump Plaza and has been an active participant in several
of the shows. Trump's Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City was host to the
1991 WBF Championship (which was owned by WWE, known at the time as the "World Wrestling Federation"). Trump was interviewed by
Jesse Ventura ringside at
WrestleMania XX. He also appeared at
WrestleMania 23 in the corner of
Bobby Lashley who competed against
Umaga
with WWE Chairman McMahon in his corner, in a hair versus hair match,
with either Trump or McMahon having their head shaved if their
competitor lost. Lashley won the match, and he and Trump both proceeded
to shave McMahon bald.
[106]
On June 15, 2009, as
part of a storyline, McMahon announced on
Monday Night Raw
that he had "sold" the show to Donald Trump. Appearing on screen, Trump
confirmed it and declared 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 in the amount of
US$235,000. McMahon "bought back"
Raw the following week.
[citation needed] His
entrance theme "Money, Money" was written by
Jim Johnston.
Trump was inducted into the celebrity wing of the
WWE Hall of Fame in 2013 at
Madison Square Garden due to his contributions to the promotion. He made his fifth Wrestlemania appearance the next night.
[107]
Political activity
In the
2000 election, Trump expressed a desire to run as a
third-party candidate for the United States presidency, considering
a bid for the nomination of the Reform Party as a
business conservative,
socially moderate candidate.
[108][109][110][111] In his 2000 tome,
The America We Deserve, economic policies Trump proposed include:
- Institution of a once-only 14.25 percent tax on personal estates and
trusts over $10 million, which he estimated would raise $5.7 trillion
in revenue toward retirement of the national debt,
tax cuts for the middle class, and supplementing the funding of Social
Security, Medicare and Medicaid; and, by way of compensating this
one-time tax on the wealthy, permanent abolition of the 55 percent
federal inheritance tax.
- Repeal of limits on campaign contributions, combined with outlawing soft money campaign contributions.
- Regarding universal health care,
Trump touted himself as "a conservative on most issues, but a liberal
on this one. Working out detailed plans will take time. But the goal
should be clear: Our people are our greatest asset."[112][113]
- Renegotiation of U.S. trade policies.[114]
For
2004 and
2008, Trump speculated about running for President in the Republican party and for
2006 considered running for
governor of New York as a representative of the party.
[115] In October 2007, Trump appeared on
Larry King Live and delivered a strong criticism of then-United States President
George W. Bush, particularly concerning the
Iraq War. He speculated that
Rudy Giuliani and
Hillary Clinton
could win the Republican and Democratic Presidential nominations,
respectively, and voiced some support for either of them being elected
President. He expressed doubt, on CNN's
The Situation Room
at the time, over whether a candidate for President could win the
election by supporting a continued escalation of the war in Iraq.
[116]
On September 17, 2008, Trump officially endorsed
John McCain for the U.S. Presidency on
Larry King Live.
[117] Trump again registered as a Republican in 2009 after having registered with the
Democratic Party in 2001.
[118] Trump said in an interview in 2007, "I'm very much
independent in that way. I go for the person, not necessarily the party. I mean, I vote for Republicans and I vote for Democrats."
[119]
Since the 1990 U.S. elections, Donald Trump has made contributions to
campaigns of both Republican Party and Democratic Party candidates.
These have included Republicans John McCain, Rudolph Giuliani,
Newt Gingrich, and George W. Bush
[120] and Democrats
Ted Kennedy,
John Kerry,
Tom Daschle,
Joe Biden,
Harry Reid,
Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton,
Anthony Weiner,
Charles Schumer,
Kirsten Gillibrand, and
Charles Rangel.
[120][121][122]
In January 2013, Trump endorsed Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, during the
2013 Israeli elections, stating that "A strong prime minister is a strong Israel."
[123] An ardent Zionist,
[124]
with having taken a more active role in Israeli politics as of 2012,
Trump posted his endorsement via a YouTube video where, in the video
from his office in Manhattan, Trump says he is "a big fan of Israel". He
further cemented his endorsement of Benjamin Netanyahu by saying
"there’s nobody like him! He’s a winner; he’s highly respected; he’s
highly thought of by all."
[125]
Potential candidacy for President of the United States
In 2010, Trump said he considered himself a potential candidate for President of the United States in
the 2012 election.
[126][127] In his
primary campaign, Trump made a February speech to a
CPAC gathering,
[128] an early venue for candidates considering a presidential run, as a write-in candidate in its
straw poll for the office. A
Wall Street Journal/NBC
News poll released in March 2011 found Trump leading among potential
contenders for the Republican nomination for President of the United
States, one point ahead of former Massachusetts Governor
Mitt Romney.
[129] A
Newsweek
poll conducted in February 2011 showed Trump within a few points of
Barack Obama, with many voters undecided in the November 2012 general
election for President of the United States.
[130]
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 of the United States while he was still
actively considering a run.
[131][132]
Trump's present political stances include being
pro-life, supporting defining marriage as between one man and one woman,
[133] supporting Second Amendment rights of gun ownership and opposing
gun control, advocates the repeal and replacement of
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, anti-
foreign aid;
[128][134]
and supporting a fair trade policy and believing generally that the
People's Republic of China should be considered more of an adversarial
competitor, subjected to significant
import tariffs as a response to China's currency manipulation in order to help balance the U.S. budget.
[135] He said he would impose a 25 percent tariff on Chinese goods.
[136] He also believes the U.S. should disengage in
Iraq and
Afghanistan.
[137]
In December 2008, Trump supported a government-backed rescue plan for
the American auto industry in which the government would provide the
debtor in possession financing for a Chapter 11 restructuring.
[138]
His campaign has been reported by some media as a possible promotional tool for his reality show
The Apprentice.
[139][140] Time ran the headline "Donald Trump Begins Not Running For President"
[14] and
The Huffington Post was similarly skeptical of whether he would run.
[141]
Regardless of this skepticism, Trump participated in the "Politics and Eggs" forum at the
New Hampshire Institute of Politics at
Saint Anselm College, a popular spot for presidential candidates visiting New Hampshire.
[142]
This scheduled visit is important because the event is taking place in
mid June 2011, supposedly after Trump had been supposed to make his
decision whether to or not to run. On April 23, 2011, the New York-based
TV station
NY1 reported that Trump had not voted in primary elections in New York City for a span of 21 years,
[143]
beginning after the city's mayoral primary in 1989, an accusation he
has denied. A city election board spokeswoman confirmed the story.
[144]
On May 5, 2011, Trump announced he would not be the celebrity pace-car driver for the 2011
Indianapolis 500 as had been announced on April 5, 2011, by the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
[145][146]
Trump stated he made the decision because of business constraints, but
there had been a fan campaign for the Speedway to instead name a racing
celebrity to the position
[147] and a Speedway press release stated that Trump cancelled because of his intention to run for president.
[148]
On May 16, 2011, Trump announced he would not run for president.
[14]
On May 23, 2011, Trump stated that he hadn't ruled out running for
president, adding: "The country is so important, so vital that we choose
the right person, and at this moment, I don't see that person."
[15] In December 2011, Trump was suggested as a possible
Vice Presidential selection by
Michele Bachmann, if she were to win the Republican nomination.
[149]
In February 2012 he endorsed Mitt Romney prior to the Nevada caucuses.
[150] Trump gave media interviews endorsing Romney before the Michigan primary.
[151]
Trump was a featured speaker at the 2013
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
[16] In 2013, Trump spent over $1 million to research a possible run for president of the United States in 2016.
[17] In October 2013, New York Republicans circulated a memo suggesting Trump should run of governor of the state in 2014 against
Andrew Cuomo. Trump said that while New York had problems and taxes were too high, running for governor was not of great interest to him.
[152]
However in December, he said he would "make a decision some time pretty
soon" regarding a potential run but indicated he had "something else in
mind."
[153]
Statements about Barack Obama
Speaking to an audience of more than five thousand people in Boca
Raton, Florida on April 16, 2011, Trump implied that voter reaction to
the
2008 financial crisis and the perception of slow progress on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during the final months of
George W. Bush's second term as President was the primary cause for the election of his successor
Barack Obama and further that Obama would probably be known "as the worst president in U.S. history."
[154]
Trump brought attention to
conspiracy theories questioning Obama's citizenship status in media appearances and received heavy criticism from political opponents for this.
[155][156] In an
NBC-TV interview broadcast April 7, 2011, Trump said he was "not satisfied that Obama had proven his citizenship."
[157]
In an April 2011 NBC interview, Trump disclosed that he had sent
researchers to Hawaii to investigate the matter of Obama's citizenship
status, commenting "they cannot believe what they're finding,"
[158] though no revelation or information was ever subsequently published. On
Anderson Cooper 360° on
CNN, April 25, 2011, Trump said he wanted Obama to end the issue by releasing the long-form of his birth certificate.
[159][160]
With media coverage and Trump's repeated calls for release of the birth
certificate, Obama eventually made a formal statement in efforts by the
White House to put the matter to rest with the release of the long-form of Obama's birth certificate on April 27, 2011.
[161]
Trump expressed pride at his role in the release of the long-form
certificate in a press conference follow-up, but did not, however, say
whether he would be releasing his own tax returns, despite suggesting
that he would make those public when Obama produced his long-form birth
certificate.
[162] In May 2011,
Public Policy Polling described the events as "one of the quickest rises and falls in the history of presidential politics".
[163]
Following President Obama's re-election, Trump sent messages on his
Twitter account saying that the election was a "sham and a travesty" and
that the electoral college was "a disaster" and called for "a
revolution".
[164] Trump deleted the last comment when it became clear that Obama had won the electoral college
[165][166] and also the popular vote.
[167]
Personal life
Donald Trump at a press conference in 2008.
Trump is popularly known as
The Donald, a nickname perpetuated by the media after his first wife
Ivana Trump, a native of the
Czech Republic, referred to him as such in an interview.
[168]
While it has been reported that he does not shake hands because of fear of germs,
[169] he claims this is "a rumor that the enemies say", and shook hands repeatedly in public during a visit to
New Hampshire in April 2011.
[170] Trump is a golfer, with a low single-figure
handicap. He is a member of the
Winged Foot Golf Club in
Mamaroneck, New York, and plays regularly at the other courses he owns and operates.
[171]
Trump's mother, Mary Anne, was born in 1912 at
Tong, Stornoway on the
Isle of Lewis, off the coast of
Scotland,
United Kingdom. In 1930, aged 18, on a holiday in New York, she met Fred Trump and stayed in New York. Born in
Queens, New York,
[172]
Trump has four siblings: two brothers, Fred, Jr. (who is deceased) and
Robert S. Trump; and two sisters, Maryanne and Elizabeth. His older
sister,
Maryanne Trump Barry, is a federal appeals court judge.
In 1977, Trump married
Ivana Zelníčková and together they have three children:
Donald, Jr. (born December 31, 1977),
Ivanka (born October 30, 1981), and
Eric (born January 6, 1984). They were divorced in 1992. In 1993, he married
Marla Maples and together they had one child,
Tiffany (born October 13, 1993). They divorced on June 8, 1999. In a February 2008 interview on ABC's news program
Nightline,
Trump commented on his ex-wives by saying, "I just know it's very hard
for them (Ivana and Marla) to compete because I do love what I do. I
really love it."
On April 26, 2004, he proposed to
Melania Knauss (
Melanija Knavs), a native of
Slovenia. Trump and Knauss married on January 22, 2005, at Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal Church, on the island of
Palm Beach,
Florida, followed by a reception at Trump's
Mar-A-Lago estate.
[173] Melania gave birth to a boy named Barron William Trump, Trump's fifth child, on March 20, 2006.
Trump has six grandchildren. Four from his son Donald Jr. (Kai Madison,
[174] Donald John III,
[175] Tristan Milos,
[176] and Spencer Frederick) and two from his daughter Ivanka (Arabella Rose and Joseph Frederick
[177][178]).
Trump has stated in interviews that he is a
Presbyterian. In April 2011 on
Human Events, he said that he is "a Presbyterian within the
Protestant group".
[6] In an April 2011 interview, on the
700 Club,
Trump said, "I'm a Protestant, I'm a Presbyterian. And you know I've
had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion
is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion."
[133][179] A 2010 article in
The Daily Telegraph stated that Trump was Catholic.
[180] A February 2011
Politics Daily article described Trump as "apparently a member of the
Dutch Reformed Church, which is a Presbyterian denomination".
[181] Andrew Cusack in 2008 stated that Donald Trump is a member of New York City's
Marble Collegiate Church.
Explaining that church's organizational relationships, Cusack says "the
Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church is actually a denomination
within a denomination" and that the Collegiate Churches are "now part of
the
Reformed Church of America".
[182] Marble Collegiate Church also states that it is denominationally affiliated with the Reformed Church in America,
[183] with the RCA website stating that the RCA has a local church "presbyterian form of government".
[184] Trump does not drink alcohol.
[185]
In September 2010, Trump expressed on
Anderson Cooper's show on CNN, his "suspicions of ulterior motives at the imam running the project" known as
Park51, claiming the imam was "using religion" (meaning Islam) to get a good price for the real estate.
[186] He also appeared on Fox's
Hannity, and said much the same.
[187] Trump was quoted by the
New York Post that, while he "is a 'big believer in
freedom of religion,' ... his personal opinion was that the mosque should not be built close to
Ground Zero ...".
After Trump offered in a letter to buy the two-building site for more
than $6 million in order to end the general controversy, the lawyers for
the majority stakeholder, according to the
Post, criticized "Trump's letter offering to buy the site as a publicity stunt".
[188]
Controversies
Allegations of racism
In 1973, the Justice Department sued Trump Management Corporation for
alleged racial discrimination, at which time Trump was the company's
president.
[189]
The federal government filed the lawsuit against his New York real
estate company for discriminating against potential black renters.
[190]
After the rape of a white female jogger in Central Park in 1989,
Trump aroused controversy in New York's black community when he took out
full-page newspaper ads calling for the death penalty for the
African-American teenage suspects—who were all later exonerated. One of
the defendant’s lawyers, Colin Moore, compared Trump's stance to the
racist attitudes expressed in the 1930s during the infamous
Scottsboro Boys case.
[189]
In 1991, Trump was accused of making racial slurs against black
people in a book written by John R. O'Donnell, former president of Trump
Plaza Hotel & Casino, called
Trumped!. O'Donnell wrote that
Trump once said, in reference to a black accountant at Trump Plaza,
"laziness is a trait in blacks". He also told O'Donnell: "Black guys
counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my
money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day."
[189][191]
In response, Trump called O'Donnell a disgruntled employee but he
didn't deny allegations made in the book during an interview with
Playboy magazine in 1999.
[189]
In April 2011, when Trump made allegations that Obama didn't get good
enough grades to warrant entry to Harvard Law School, CBS News chief
Washington correspondent
Bob Schieffer
called it absurd. "That's just code for saying he got into law school
because he's black. This is an ugly strain of racism that's running
through this whole thing. We can hope that kind of comes to an end too,
but we'll have to see", Schieffer said.
[192]
In mid-April 2011, when Trump was asked during a radio interview
about whether or not he is supported by African-Americans, he replied "I
have a great relationship with the blacks. I've always had a great
relationship with the blacks." Walter Fields, former head of
NAACP New Jersey, described Trump's comments as "highly offensive".
[189]
On April 27, 2011,
David Letterman, while interviewing Dr.
Phil McGraw in his
Late Show
said "It's all fun, it's all a circus, it's all a rodeo, until it
starts to smack of racism. And then it's no longer fun" about Trump
questioning Obama's entry into Harvard.
[193]
Referring to Trump, Letterman added "if he comes back on this show, and
I'm not sure we want him back under those circumstances, but he ought
to be prepared to apologize just for that kind of behavior."
[194]
Trump's questioning regarding Obama's place of birth has provoked
additional charges of racism, with a number of public figures including
Bill Maher,
[195][196] Jesse Jackson and
Whoopi Goldberg accusing him of employing crude and unfair stereotypes.
[189]
On June 5, 2013, Trump shared his thoughts on race and crime on
Twitter which was considered controversial and prejudiced, by critics.
Trump tweeted: "According to
Bill O'Reilly,
80% of all the shootings in New York City are blacks-if you add
Hispanics, that figure goes to 98%, 1% white". Trump also tweeted:
"Sadly, the overwhelming amount of violent crime in our major cities is
committed by blacks and hispanics-a tough subject-must be discussed".
[197][198] The statistics that Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly cited were from the 2012
New York City Enforcement
Report compiled by the police department, based on 662 shooting
suspects. However, according to the figures in the report, 78.2% of
shooting suspects were black, while 18.9% were Hispanic and 2.4% were
white.
[197] Media critic Eric Deggans dismissed Trump's views. Deggans wrote in a
Tampa Bay Times
column, "There is no doubt that violent crime is a serious problem in
communities of color, but connecting it to race in such a blunt and
unfair fashion seems more about blaming certain kinds of people than
solving the problem. As always, it remains puzzling that NBC continues
to offer a platform to someone so willing to pass along prejudice
disguised as political speech."
[197]
On April 24, 2013, Trump sent a tweet about
Jon Stewart of
The Daily Show,
which some other Twitter users believe had anti-Semitic undertones: "I
promise you that I'm much smarter than Jonathan Leibowitz – I mean Jon
Stewart @TheDailyShow. Who, by the way, is totally overrated."
[199] Andy Lassner, producer of the
Ellen DeGeneres Show, tweeted in response: "I knew you were more than just a racist. Proud of you for showing your anti-semitic stripes too."
[200]
Litigation
On August 24, 2013, a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman
alleged that Trump defrauded more than 5,000 persons of $40 million,
handed over for what was supposed to be the opportunity to learn Trump's
real estate investment magic at his for-profit training program, Trump
University.
[201]
Beginning in 2005, Trump University offered a program that began with a
free introductory 90-minute presentation promising to teach Donald
Trump's secrets that helped build his real estate empire. This was,
according to the suit, no more than a lengthy promotion for a three-day,
$1,500 seminar. The three-day program, in turn, was used to plug
"elite" courses that cost anywhere from $10,000 to $35,000.
[201]
In October 2013, Trump's lawyers asked the court to extend the deadline
for Trump to respond to the lawsuit until mid-December. The court
rejected that request, but it gave Trump's lawyers until November 1,
2013, to file their response.
[202]
Statements on vaccines and autism
Appearing on
Fox & Friends on April 2, 2012 (which was
World Autism Awareness Day), Trump stated that he suspects that vaccines may be linked to autism.
[203] This, as well as similar remarks he made on
Twitter the following August,
[204] led many to criticize Trump for making dangerous and inaccurate statements regarding the
causes of autism.
[203][205] His remarks on Twitter led
Richard Besser,
ABC News's Chief Health and Medical editor, to label them "shameful":
- "The autism-vaccine link has been disproven. Spreading shots out
over a long period of time will not reduce the number of children who
develop autism but it will leave more children vulnerable to infectious
diseases for a longer period of time than necessary. That can kill
children."[203]
Donald John Trump, Sr. (born June 14, 1946) is an American business magnate, investor,[7] television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts.[1] Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner, and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have made him a well-known celebrity who was No. 17 on the 2011 Forbes Celebrity 100 list.[2]
Considered one of best known real estate entrepreneurs in the United States, Trump is the son of Fred Trump, a wealthy New York City real-estate developer.[8] He worked for his father's firm, Elizabeth Trump & Son, while attending the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1968 officially joined the company.[9] He was given control of the company in 1971 and renamed it The Trump Organization.[10][11]
In 2010, Trump expressed an interest in becoming a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election,[12][13] though in May 2011, he announced he would not be a candidate.[14][15] Trump was a featured speaker at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).[16] In 2013, Trump spent over $1 million to research a possible run for president of the United States in 2016.[17][18]