Donald Trump: How America’s ‘Colorful Billionaire’ Became a Controversial Political Figure

Long before Donald Trump became a candidate for the presidency, he was already one of the most famous and colorful billionaires in the country. At one point, his election to the presidency was considered almost impossible, yet now the 78-year-old Trump is running for the presidency for the third time.

When Trump first ran for president in 2016, many questions arose about his candidacy, and there were numerous reasons for doubt about his potential success. A key issue in his controversial campaign was immigration. Additionally, his life as a celebrity was shrouded in questions.

However, he defied all predictions, outmaneuvering seasoned politicians in the Republican Party’s primary race with a bold campaign, and then he took it a step further by defeating Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.

His first presidential term was fraught with controversy, yet remarkably, he has made a political comeback, and his recent campaign could once again take him to the White House.

Heritage

Donald Trump was the fourth child of Fred Trump, a real estate mogul in New York. Despite immense family wealth, he held minor positions in his father’s companies. When Donald was 13, his father discovered a knife that opened with a button in his room, prompting him to send Donald to military school for correction.

As captain of his baseball team, Trump proved to be a good athlete and earned a ‘Neatness and Order’ award, but he struggled to make close friends at the military academy.

After graduating in 1964, he became influenced by the glamorous world of entertainment and considered attending film school, but he enrolled at Fordham University and then transferred to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania two years later.

From there, he became his father’s favored child to take over the business, preferred over his older brother Fred Trump Jr., who chose to become a pilot and died of alcoholism at the age of 43. Donald claims that his brother’s death was the reason he quit drinking and smoking.

Regarding entering the real estate development and sales business, Trump states that he took a $1 million loan from his father to start his business and later joined him in his company. His father was involved in the construction of residential buildings. Trump expanded his father’s real estate business in New York and took over the company in 1971, renaming it Trump Organization.

His father passed away in 1999. Trump has often said that he was deeply influenced by his father.

Business Brand

Donald Trump expanded his company’s business from constructing residential buildings in Brooklyn and Queens to major construction projects in Manhattan. He transformed the old Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt and built the 68-story Trump Tower, one of the most famous buildings on Fifth Avenue.

He continued to build structures under his family name, including Trump Palace, Trump World Tower, and Trump International Hotel and Tower. The list is extensive, and today Trump Towers also exist in Mumbai, Istanbul, and the Philippines.

He ventured into the entertainment industry, establishing his empire there as well. From 1996 to 2015, he owned the Miss Universe pageants, as well as organizing beauty contests like Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. In 2003, he appeared in the NBC TV show The Apprentice, where contestants competed for a job at his company. He claimed that the network paid him $213 million for the 14 seasons of the show. His famous catchphrase, “You’re fired,” became widely popular during this time.

Trump has authored numerous books and has his own brand, which ranges from ties to bottled water. According to Forbes, Trump’s total assets are valued at four billion dollars.

He has declared bankruptcy at least six times and several of his projects, including Trump University and Trump Steaks, have failed.

Family

Donald Trump has been married three times, but his most famous wife was Ivana Zelníčková, a Czech model and athlete. They had three children: Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.

The year 1990 ended with a costly divorce from his wife, as she discovered his affair.

During the court proceedings, which made headlines, Trump’s former wife also leveled allegations of domestic abuse; however, she later attempted to downplay the seriousness of these claims, and this controversy was also covered in a new film about Trump.

In 1993, Trump married actress Marla Maples. They have one daughter, Tiffany, and this marriage also ended in divorce in 1999. He married his current wife, Melania Knauss, from Slovenia, in 2005, and they have a son, Barron William Trump.

However, allegations of extramarital affairs and sexual misconduct have continued to haunt him. This year, two different courts found that Trump committed defamation by denying sexual harassment allegations from author E. Jean Carroll, ordering him to pay a total of $88 million in damages. He has appealed this decision.

Another controversy is connected to Stormy Daniels, a former adult film actress who claims that in 2006, Trump had a sexual encounter with her and later, after he became a presidential candidate, paid her $130,000 through his lawyer Michael Cohen on the condition that she would not disclose their relationship. Trump has been found guilty of hiding this payment.

Presidential Candidate

In a 1980 interview, a 34-year-old Trump stated that “politics is a lowly life” and that “more talented people turn to the business world.”

By 1987, he began contemplating running for president. Before the 2000 elections, he considered entering the race as a candidate for the Reform Party and later contemplated running as a Republican candidate in 2012.

Trump is known for fervently promoting conspiracy theories related to the birthplace of former President Barack Obama, and he did not admit until 2016 that these theories were baseless. He has never apologized for expressing these views.

In June 2015, Trump officially announced his bid for the White House, stating that “the American dream is dead,” but he promised he could revive it.

While entering the presidential race, Trump touted his wealth and business successes, blaming Mexico for drugs, crime, and rapists crossing the border, while also pledging to teach them a lesson by building a wall along the southern border.

He successfully garnered equal attention from both fans and critics with the slogan “Make America Great Again,” easily surpassing all competitors within the Republican Party, and thus faced off against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The presidential campaign was controversial, marked by a leaked audio in which he bragged about sexual harassment. Before the elections, Trump consistently lagged in polls.

Yet, against all predictions and analysis, Trump stunned an experienced politician by winning the presidency on January 20, 2017.

President Trump

It was evident from the first few hours of Trump’s presidency just how dramatic his term would be, as he frequently resorted to social media for formal announcements and openly feuded with foreign leaders.

Trump announced a withdrawal from major climate change and trade agreements, imposed a ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries entering the U.S., initiated a trade war with China, implemented record tax cuts, and drastically altered Middle Eastern relations.

For almost two years, he faced another controversy as a special counsel investigated potential collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 elections. A total of 34 individuals were indicted for various offenses, including computer hacking and financial crimes, but Trump was not among them. However, no criminal collusion was proven during the investigation.

Not long after, Trump became the third president in American history to face impeachment due to allegations that he pressured a foreign government to seek materials against his rival, Joe Biden. He was impeached by the House of Representatives, where the opposing Democratic Party held a majority, but this motion failed in the Senate, where Trump’s party, the Republican Party, had the majority.

In 2020, he faced criticism for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as death tolls rose in the U.S., and Trump made controversial statements suggesting that “it needs to be investigated whether injecting disinfectant into the body can cure the virus.”

In October, Trump himself contracted the coronavirus and had to pause his presidential election campaign.

Though he received 74 million votes that year—the most ever for a sitting president—he lost to rival Joe Biden by 7 million votes.

From November 2020 to January 2021, Trump continued to assert that “votes were stolen” and “the election was rigged.” His claims faced defeat in more than 60 lawsuits.

However, refusing to accept the results, on January 6, Trump gathered his supporters in Washington, D.C., urging them to converge on the Capitol, where Congress was about to officially confirm Biden’s victory.

The gathering of his supporters escalated into chaos, endangering the lives of Trump’s vice president and lawmakers, leading to Trump’s historic second impeachment. He barely survived in the Senate.

This incident has resulted in Trump facing two different legal cases.

Political Comeback

After the Capitol Hill incident, it appeared that Trump’s political career was over. Many of his supporters, including donors, announced they would no longer support him, and many close allies distanced themselves.

Breaking with tradition, Trump did not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration and relocated his family to Florida. Nevertheless, a loyal fanbase remained, ensuring that his influence within the Republican Party remained intact.

Perhaps the most significant moment of Trump’s presidency came after his term ended when the Supreme Court, aided by three of his appointed right-wing judges, overturned the 50-year-old right to abortion.

In this environment, Trump once again announced his candidacy for president and quickly overshadowed other candidates in his party. At the start of his campaign, he faced 91 legal challenges, including four criminal cases, yet his strategy of prolonging the legal battles has proven successful.

Currently, three cases will not go to trial until 2024, and despite these challenges, Trump remains a prominent figure in the Republican Party, appealing to his base while continuing to shape the party’s future direction.