Basic bio info
Donald J. Trump was born June 14, 1946, in Queens, New York City, N.Y. The future mogul attended Fordham University and two years later transferred to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1968 with a degree in economics.
The New York native made his name as real-estate developer in that state. He has namesake towers and hotels around the world amond his many property and commercial holdings. He’s also known as a best-selling author, including “The Art of the Deal” (1987), and he’s also an American celebrity as the “You’re fired!” leader of the reality TV series “The Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice.”
On the personal side, he’s had three high-profile marriages: Melania Trump (whom he married a decade ago), Marla Maples (1993–1999) and Ivana Trump (1977–1992). He has five children: two sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, and a daughter, Ivanka, from his first marriage; a college-age daughter, Tiffany, from his second marriage; and a young son, Barron, from his current marriage.
His stand (entering the race)
On Tuesday, June 16, Trump became the 12th high-profile Republican to enter the 2016 race. By the time that fall rolled around, he had outpaced all his GOP rivals — the field had swelled to 17 by that time — in the polls.
“All of my life, I have heard, a truly successful person, a really successful person, and even a modestly successful person, cannot run for public office, just can’t happen, ” Trump said in his announcement for his presidential bid. “Yet that’s the kind of mindset you need to make this country great again.
“So, ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again.”
Trump made the announcement at the midtown Manhattan tower that bears his name, giving a rambling speech that wandered from foreign policy to President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul to Trump’s achievements in business. In his well-known bombastic style, he mixed boasts about his wealth with promises to defeat effortlessly the Islamic State group and negotiate trade deals with China.
“Sadly, the American dream is dead, ” Trump said. “But if I get elected president, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and we will make America great again.”
It was a speech that drew immediate scorn online from a series of Republicans, who feared Trump would turn an otherwise serious Republican primary contest into a circus.
Trump had teased presidential runs before but always backed out. But in preparation for the 2016 campaign, Trump decided not to renew his contract with NBC for his reality show “Celebrity Apprentice.”
His support
Unlike other candidates, he hasn’t had to make fundraising a key part of his campaign — another draw for voters who want someone not beholden to big donors. Forbes magazine has estimated his net worth at $4.5 billion, although Trump says he and his personal brand are worth billions more.
At a Georgia visit that drew thousands of supporters, Trump asked the crowd rhetorically if he should accept big money from lobbyists and others who are offering it. “It’s not like me,” he said, to turn down money. The expected, unified chorus of “noooooooo” from the crowd.
Trump’s brashness, his willingness to speak bluntly has appealed to a broad swath of voters. As Jason Brown, 18, of Loganville, Ga., said during Trump’s visit to Georgia in October: “I think we’ve reached a point where everyone’s so tired of the political BS that we just want somebody who’s not like that.”
When another GOP candidate criticized the tone of Trump’s remarks, Trump shot back: “Well, we need a tougher tone in this country, and we need a lot more enthusiasm, because these people don’t have any energy. There’s no energy.
“We need to bring our country back, make our country great again. Our country is going down into the ground. We’re really getting decimated on trade deals, everything we do. The Iran deal is so bad.
“We have people that are incompetent running our country, and we have to bring it back.”
His critics
Of course, his bravado also rubs just as many people the wrong way. He has discovered that his apparently off-the-cuff comments can leave room for interpretation.
In June when addressing illegal immigration, viewed by some conservatives as one of the nation’s most pressing problems, Trump said Mexican immigrants are “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
When a firestorm broke out over the remarks from his speech, he wrote in a message to supporters: “My statements have been contorted to seem racist and discriminatory. What I want is for legal immigrants to not be unfairly punished because others are coming into America illegally, flooding the labor market and not paying taxes.”
Hispanic leaders continued to speak out against Trump’s characterization of Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers. The high-profile coverge of his comments produced an uncomfortable moment for Republicans, who want more votes from the surging Latino population. However, Trump has paid less of a political price than a commercial one for the comments. The leading Hispanic television network, Univision, backed out of televising the Miss USA pageant, a joint venture between Trump and NBC, which also cut ties with Trump. The Macy’s department store chain, which carried a Donald Trump menswear line, said it was ending its relationship with him and other retailers felt pressure to follow suit.
After the first GOP debate on Fox News, Trump criticized Megyn Kelly’s line of questioning, including the perception he’s a misogynist and cited his past derogatory comments about women. In a CNN interview afterward, Trump said that “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her… wherever.”
The comment got him dis-invited from the conservative RedState Gathering in Atlanta. However, Trump maintained that he was not talking about menstruation, that “wherever” meant Kelly’s nose, and had nothing to do with her being on her period.
The criticism linked to misogyny arose again when Trump insulted the physical appearance of Carly Fiorina, his party’s only female White House contender. The spark was an interview published by Rolling Stone, in which Trump said Fiorina’s face would make her unelectable. The magazine quoted Trump as saying of the former technology executive: “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”
Trump later explained he was talking about Fiorina’s “persona.” But his fellow rivals, including Fiorina, and pundits took him to task for the comment, which also came up in the second presidential debate.
