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The biography for President Trump and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.
Donald John Trump was born in Queens, New York, on June 14, 1946. His father, Fred Trump was a successful real estate developer. Trump was educated at the New York Military Academy and the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1971, he took over his fathers real estate company, renaming it the Trump Organization. The business soon became involved in variety of projects, including hotels, resorts, residential and commercial building, casinos, and golf courses. His first of many books wasThe Art of the Deal, published in 1987. In 2004, he launched the reality television showThe Apprentice.
In 2005, Donald Trump married Melania Knauss. They have one son, Barron. Trump also has four adult children from previous marriages: Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany.
During the 2016 primary, Trump defeated more than a dozen rivals to win the Republican nomination. While he lost the popular vote, Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the general election by winning a majority of Electoral College votes. His campaign slogan was Make America Great Again.
Without previous elected political experience, President Trump used unconventional methods to communicate his priorities. Most notably, he used the social media platform Twitter as a primary mechanism for direct communication with the American public, other politicians, and the press corps.
As president, he signed a major tax reform bill into law and oversaw a reduction of federal regulations. His protectionist trade policies included tariffs in foreign aluminum, steel, and other products. The Trump administration also renegotiated trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, and South Korea. Other domestic priorities included Supreme Court and federal judiciary appointments, increased military budgets, aggressive border and immigration control, criminal justice reform, and the reduction of prescription drug prices.
In foreign policy, the Trump administration moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and brokered normalization agreements between Israel and a number of countries. In 2018, President Trump attended a summit with Kim Jong Un, marking the first time a sitting president met with a North Korean leader.
In 2018, there was a partial government shutdown as Trump disagreed with Congress over funding for a border wall between the United States and Mexico. The funding lapse lasted thirty-five days before it was resolved.
In 2019, a federal whistleblower filed a complaint that Trump had pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Bidens son Hunter, who had served on the board of Bursima Holdings, a natural gas company in Ukraine. Later that year, the House of Representatives impeached President Trump based upon allegations of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. In 2020, the Senate acquitted Trump on both articles of impeachment.
The first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in the United States on January 20, 2020. The remainder of Trumps presidency was consumed with the coronavirus pandemic. Critics argued that Trumps response to the pandemic was delayed and did not sufficiently encourage public health practices to reduce the spread of the virus. However, the Trump administrations program Operation Warp Speed assisted in the private sector development of two approved vaccines. Nonetheless, by the time Trump left office, more than 400,000 Americans had died of COVID-19.
Trump lost reelection to Democratic candidate Joe Biden, but publicly claimed widespread voter fraud had affected the outcome. Supporters of President Trump traveled to Washington, D.C. for a Save America rally on January 6, 2021. Trump spoke to the large crowd on the Ellipse near the White House and encouraged attendees to protest the counting of the Electoral College votes in Congress. The rally turned violent when the presidents supporters overwhelmed law enforcement, breaching the United States Capitol and disrupting the vote count. Five people died as a result of the violence, and the Capitol complex suffered millions of dollars in damage.
On January 13, 2021, Trumps actions resulted in the House of Representatives approving another article of impeachment: the incitement of insurrection. He is the only president in American history to be impeached twice by Congress.
Learn more about Donald Trumps spouse, Melania Trump.
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Donald J. Trump | The White House
- North Korea Wants to Convince the World It Can Nuke Hawaii. Donald Trump Is Happy to Oblige. - The Intercept [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- Donald Trump's peculiar obsession with authoritarian leaders - Chicago Tribune [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- Does Donald Trump Have Dementia? - The Root [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- Donald Trump Has Been Lying About The Size Of His Penthouse - Forbes [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- 'South Park' Creators Skirt Donald Trump Next Season Because Monkey Running Into Wall Can't Be Made Funnier - Deadline [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- AFT President: Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump Are Dismantling Public Education - TIME [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- This is the best news Donald Trump has had in a while - CNN [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- Donald Trump Predicts Mideast Peace Is 'Not As Difficult As People Have Thought' - Huffington Post [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- The Donald Trump Zone of Uncertainty shows up in the health-care debate - Washington Post [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- Donald Trump - The New York Times [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- Make America Great Again! | Donald J Trump for President [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2017]
- Stephen Colbert Defends Donald Trump Jokes After Controversy Erupted - NBCNews.com [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2017]
- Donald Trump May Have Exaggerated the Size of Something Else - Vanity Fair [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2017]
- Amanda Knox: Donald Trump supported me when I was wrongly accused of murder. What do I owe him? - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Says Peace in the Middle East Is 'Not as Difficult as People Have Thought' - Newsweek [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2017]
- Donald Trump says he's a big fan of history. But he doesn't seem to trust historians. - Washington Post [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Deletes Tweet Calling Mahmoud Abbas Meeting 'an Honor' - Newsweek [Last Updated On: May 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 6th, 2017]
- FCC to Investigate Stephen Colbert Over Controversial Donald Trump Joke - Variety [Last Updated On: May 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 6th, 2017]
- How Trump won another unlikely victory - CNN [Last Updated On: May 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 6th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's Tweets of the Week: Blasting North Korea, Shading the Democrats, Winning Bigly - Newsweek [Last Updated On: May 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 6th, 2017]
- All Major TV Networks Block Trump's 'Fake News' Ad - Variety [Last Updated On: May 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 6th, 2017]
- Martha Stewart Appears to Give Donald Trump the Middle Finger - Vanity Fair [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2017]
- Outside Donald Trump's offices, pigs will fly - The indy100 (satire) [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2017]
- President Trump seizes on election rules to push his agenda in new ways - USA TODAY [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2017]
- Donald Trump finally gets a bill passed but his history of dealmaking is still full of failure - Salon [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's Star Gets the Toilet Treatment ... Wanna 'Take a Trump?' - TMZ.com [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2017]
- Why Emmanuel Macron is the anti-Donald Trump - CNN [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's highly abnormal presidency: a running guide for May - VICE News [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Urges Senate Republicans to 'Not Let the American People Down' on Health Care - TIME [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2017]
- Donald Trump wants to ramp up America's presence in Afghanistan - Salon [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- Trevor Noah: Donald Trump Is 'Comedy Cocaine' - Variety [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- Donald Trump says Congress has too much power. He's wrong. - USA TODAY [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- Republicans abandon their virtues to stand behind Donald Trump and clap - Chicago Tribune [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's New Website Features Military Personnel, Tweets, Merchandise - Newsweek [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Can't Stop His Team from Undermining Him - GQ Magazine [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- Pipelines and Donald Trump: British Columbia Goes to the Polls - New York Times [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- Trump made one of his own tweets into a Twitter header. Cue the Twitter shade. - CNN [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- Read Donald Trump's Interview With TIME on Being President - TIME [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Thinks He Invented a Phrase That's Been Around Since 1932 - Vanity Fair [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2017]
- Donald Trump After Hours - TIME [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Is Launching a Panel to Investigate Voter Fraud - Fortune [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2017]
- Donald Trump thinks he invented the phrase 'priming the pump.' That's telling. - CNN [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2017]
- What Donald Trump doesn't understand about the federal government - Washington Post [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2017]
- Donald Trump, 'Brexit,' Snapchat: Your Thursday Briefing - New York Times [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2017]
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- WikiLeaks Offering $100000 For Donald Trump's 'Comey Tapes' - HuffPost [Last Updated On: May 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 13th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's tax law firm has 'deep' ties to Russia - ABC News [Last Updated On: May 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 13th, 2017]
- Is Donald Trump boosting the economy? Goldman finds mixed signals - MarketWatch [Last Updated On: May 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 13th, 2017]
- Does Donald Trump want to be president? - Fox News [Last Updated On: May 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 13th, 2017]
- Donald Trump la Mode - New York Times [Last Updated On: May 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 14th, 2017]
- Yet another reason Donald Trump is bad news: He's utterly lacking in integrative complexity and that's dangerous - Salon [Last Updated On: May 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 14th, 2017]
- Today Marks Trump's Twenty-First Visit to a Golf Club Since Becoming President - Vanity Fair [Last Updated On: May 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 14th, 2017]
- Who Is Mary Anne Trump? Donald Trump's Immigrant Mother Came To America For A Better Life - Newsweek [Last Updated On: May 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 14th, 2017]
- Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey supports Donald Trump's use of the social media platform - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: May 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 14th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's Mother's Day proclamation is straight out of The Handmaid's Tale - Quartz [Last Updated On: May 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 14th, 2017]
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- Donald Trump Is Reportedly Considering Blowing Up the West Wing - Vanity Fair [Last Updated On: May 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 14th, 2017]
- 'Our Institutions Are Under Assault' - HuffPost [Last Updated On: May 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 14th, 2017]
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- What Donald Trump said about the spread of classified material during the campaign - PolitiFact [Last Updated On: May 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 17th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's plan to disenfranchise minority voters - The Hill (blog) [Last Updated On: May 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 17th, 2017]
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- Donald Trump Is a Stress Test for Democracy and We Are Failing - Slate Magazine [Last Updated On: May 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 17th, 2017]
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- Stephen Colbert Uses 'Let It Go' From 'Frozen' To Mock Donald Trump - HuffPost [Last Updated On: May 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 18th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Said Saudi Arabia Was Behind 9/11. Now He's Going There on His First Foreign Trip. - The Intercept [Last Updated On: May 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 18th, 2017]
- Chinese propagandists are using adorable kids to take on Donald Trump - Washington Post [Last Updated On: May 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 18th, 2017]
- Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron, Google: Your Thursday Briefing - New York Times [Last Updated On: May 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 18th, 2017]
- Trump's Loyalty Test - TIME [Last Updated On: May 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 18th, 2017]
- Donald Trump: Come out, come out, wherever you are - The Hill (blog) [Last Updated On: May 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 20th, 2017]
- Donald Trump May Be Causing Problems For Disney World - HuffPost [Last Updated On: May 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 20th, 2017]
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- A Prayer for Donald Trump - New York Times [Last Updated On: May 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 20th, 2017]