Donald Trump biography, quotes and books

Article by: Alexander Zeeman

Last update: February 2, 2025

Donald Trump (Donald John Trump, born on 14 June 1946) serves as the United States’ 45th president. Donald Trump additionally is an author who has written around fourteen bestsellers such as ‘Trump: The Art of the Deal.’ Before his presidency, he was a reality show host and a well-known and successful businessman.

Donald Trump biography

Donald Trump was born and raised in Queens, New York. He is the fourth child in the family, and he grew up with his two brothers, Robert and Fred Jr., and his sisters, Maryanne and Elizabeth. His father, Fred, has German nationality, and his mother has a Scottish background. Donald Trump’s father had a long career in the real estate industry. Fred built houses since the 20s, and he created a broad portfolio since. One of his strategies was to overestimate construction costs to obtain larger loans from the banks. It allowed Fred to get enormous profits if he managed to keep the construction costs lower than was agreed on.

Before Donald Trump obtained his bachelor’s degree, he first went to New York Military Academy, a private international boarding school. In 1964, Donald Trump attended Fordham University, a Catholic university in New York. Since 1966, Trump studied economics at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania), an international top business school, where he obtained his bachelor in 1968.

Trump was raised by a real estate developer, and he showed interest in a similar career. During his economics study at Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, he already worked parttime for his father at E. Trump & Son. Consequently, after finishing his education, Donald started working for his father by managing a broad rental house portfolio in New York City, Ohio, Virginia, and Cincinnati. However, working for his father did not go easy. For him to enter, he needed to obtain a loan of $1M. But on the other hand, Donald worked hard and later became the president of E. Trump & Son.

Since Trump serves as the president of the organization, he renamed it Trump Organization. Donald had major ambitions and re-evaluated the customer profiles. Trump decided that the business should also focus on larger projects’ demands instead of only focusing on residential units. Trump Organization next invested in several residential properties and hotels that all carry the Trump brand. For example, Donald’s properties have the name Trump World Tower, Trump Place, and Trump International hotel.

Since Donald invested his money in several businesses, he was considered a businessman. Similarly to his properties, Trump’s companies are assigned the Trump brand, and all operate under the Trump Organization. Examples are the Trump Financial, Trump Ice, Trump Chocolate, Trump Home, Trump Model Management, and Trump Vodka.

Unfortunately, the economic recession in 1990 almost made the Trump Organization file for bankruptcy. By this time, the Trump Organization’s debt was $3.4 billion. Donald Trump was forced to negotiate with more than 70 banks to discuss potential solutions. He was eventually forced to sell some of his assets, such as the Trump Shuttle airline and the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. In 1995, Donald Trump soon established Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which have helped to become more financially stable for some time. However, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts experienced financial difficulties since 2004 and renamed the organization to Trump Entertainment Resorts. It filed for bankruptcy and closed its building in 2014.

Despite the difficulties Donald Trump experienced in the previous decade, he remained optimistic and still had huge ambitions. For example, since the 80s, he already stated he wants to become president and stayed persistent in accomplishing this goal. Donald Trump entered politics in 2000, as he was a candidate for the Reform Party of the United States. He did not rush but prepared well before he decided to run for president. In a 2015 speech on 16 June, Donald formally stated that he would run for president.

However, becoming president was not easy for Donald Trump. He has been under the loop for his expressions several times. In 2011, It started by claiming that Barack Obama, former president of the United States, is not an American citizen, and he demanded that Barack prove its nationality with his birth certificate.

During the election in 2015, a recording of Trump was leaked in which he expressed that he can do anything to women without asking permission. He was also accused of walking into the women’s dress room of Miss Universe’s participants, an annual international beauty pageant that he owned while the ladies were undressing. Donald Trump has also been criticized for showing ridiculous behavior towards a disabled New York Times reporter. Currently, more than two dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misbehavior.

Despite the allegations and challenges he needed to overcome to become the president, he defeated the opponents during the Republican primaries in July 2016. Four months later, Donald Trump was elected 45th president of the United States. He took office as of January 2017, and he is the first president that took office without a political, legal, and military background.

Donald Trump promised American citizens that he is going to make America great again. It was also his slogan during the election. He pledged to boost the American economy, and he made some unique expressions about tackling illegal immigration, such as building a wall between the border of the U.S. and Mexico.

Some remarkable events took place during his presidency, such as withdrawing the Paris Agreement, an agreement within the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce gas emissions. 65% of his advisers have quit their job within the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency, and Barack Obama has expressed his critics on Donald Trump, stating that he expected that Donald would take the job seriously. Instead, Barack said that Trump had shown no interest in putting in the work to find common ground, he acts egocentric, and that he treats the office like a reality show.

Despite the critiques, Donald Trump is also known for establishing the United States Space Force (USSF), a military service concerned with all activities regarding protecting U.S. space assets. Another accomplishment is the tax reform, which has decreased corporate tax from 35 percent to 21 percent. Under Donald’s presidency, a large group of ISIS’s caliphate was defeated by the U.S. Military and its allies, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, former ISIS leader, died during an American military operation.

Donald Trump education

Back in Donald Trump’s student period, he was often called D.T., an abbreviation for Don Trump. At the New York Military Academy, he was considered by his classmates as a person who is gifted with mental and physical strength as he always succeeded in things. Compared to others at the academy, Donald Trump was seen as a serious individual eager for results. He had an entrepreneurial mindset since young age compared to other students.

Donald Trump excelled well in sports as well, such as soccer, baseball, and football. Some believe he could be a professional sportsman as he was athletic. He also won several awards for his sport performances.

Next to these performances, Donald was a well-respected young man at the academy. He was open-minded and treated everyone with respect. According to his former classmates, Donald Trump was good looking and a real ladies man.

After the New York Military Academy, Donald Trump wanted to attend the University of South Carolina, but he was rejected. Attending Fordham University was his second choice. At Fordham University, his classmates had mixed feelings about Trump, but Donald was also not sure if Fordham was the right choice for him. Donald later argued that he wanted to test his academic performance against the best, and hence he applied to attend Wharton Business School.

According to Trump, he could easily compete with his classmates at Wharton. While some remember Donald Trump as a calm person who is not full of himself and knows where he is going, others do not praise him. Hene, there are mixed feelings about his attendance at Wharton, but he still completed the Economics program. According to Donald Trump, he is happy that he studied at Wharton because many business professionals value any attendance at the business school.

Marriages and children / kids

Donald Trump has been married three times. He first married to Ivana Zelníčková Winklmayr, a Czech model and businesswoman. They have three children- Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. Donald’s second wife was Marla Maples, an actress who gave birth to their daughter, Tiffany. Donald Trump and Marla divorced in 1999. In 1998, he met Melania Knauss, a former Slovenian model, at a party during Time Square Fashion Week. Soon after their first meeting, the two started dating. The couple engaged in 2004 and married one year later. In 2006, their son Barron William Trump was born. Donald Trump has ten grandchildren.

Donald Trump quotes

“Leaders, true leaders, take responsibility for the success of the team and understand.”
“Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don’t make.”
“Nothing is easy, but who wants nothing?”
“Climate change is a big scam for a lot of people to make a lot of money.”
“When somebody says something about me I hate them for the rest of my life. It’s probably wrong.”
“What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.”
“Politicians can’t manage. All they can do is talk.”
“As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.”
“I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That’s where the fun is.”
“If you’re interested in ‘balancing’ work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable”

Books and articles

2018. Donald Trump: Democrats ‘Medicare for All’ Plan Will Demolish Promises to Seniors. USA Today.
2017. Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States, Executive Order 13769. Federal Register, 82(20), 8977.
2017. Promoting energy independence and economic growth. Federal Register, 82(61), 16093-7.
2017. Presidential Memorandum regarding withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and agreement. The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 23.
2017. Presidential executive order expanding apprenticeships in America. White House, 15.
2017. A New National Security Strategy for a New Era. Washington, DC: White House
2016. Remarks at the south Florida fair expo center in West Palm Beach, Florida. The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, 13.
2016. Donald J. Trump: Great again!: How I will save America. Plassen publishing house
2016. Disappearing middle class needs better deal on trade. USA Today, 14.
2016. Address accepting the presidential nomination at the republican national convention in Cleveland, Ohio. The American Presidency Project, 21.
2015. Our Country Needs a Truly Great Leader. Wall Street Journal, 16.
2015. Ending China’s currency manipulation. Wall Street Journal. November, 9.
2011. Trump university wealth building 101: Your first 90 days on the path to prosperity. John Wiley & Sons.
2011. Time to get tough: Make America great again!. Simon and Schuste
2009. Trump: The art of the deal. Ballantine Books
2007. Trump 101: The way to success. John Wiley & Sons.
2004. Trump: think like a billionaire: everything you need to know about success, real estate, and life. Random House.
2004. Trump: The Way to the Top: The Best Business Advice I Ever Received. Currency.

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Original publication date: 09/13/2020 | Last update: 02/02/2025

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Article by:

Alexander Zeeman

Alexander Zeeman is Content Manager at ToolsHero where he focuses on Content production, Content management and marketing. He is also an International Business student at Rotterdam Business school. Currently, in his study, working on the development of various management competencies and improving operational business processes.