Donald Trump facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Donald Trump
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Official portrait, 2017
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| 45th President of the United States | |
| In office January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021 |
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| Vice President | Mike Pence |
| Preceded by | Barack Obama |
| Succeeded by | Joe Biden |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Donald John Trump
June 14, 1946 Queens, New York City, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican (1987–1999, 2009–2011, 2012–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
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| Children | |
| Relatives | Family of Donald Trump |
| Residences | Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania (BS) |
| Occupation |
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| Awards | Full list |
| Signature | .svg) |
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, businessman, and president-elect of the United States. He previously served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump is the only U.S. president to have been impeached twice, in 2019–20 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after he pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, and in 2021 for incitement of insurrection. The Senate acquitted him in both cases.
Since leaving office, Trump has continued to dominate the Republican Party and is its presumptive nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
On July 13, 2024, Trump survived an assassination attempted at a 2024 presidential campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump won the 2024 presidential election as the Republican Party nominee against Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris, becoming the first former president since Grover Cleveland in 1892 to win a non-consecutive second term and the first Republican presidential candidate in 20 years projected to win the popular vote. Aged 78 at the time of the election, he also became the oldest person to be elected President of the United States.
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Early life and family
Donald John Trump was born at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, New York City. He is the son of Fred Trump and his wife Mary Anne (née MacLeod). They married in 1936. His mother was born on the Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland. Donald was one of five children. Donald's oldest brother, Fred Jr., died in 1981 at the age of 43. Trump's sister, Maryanne, is a judge in New York. Trump's father's parents were German immigrants.
His grandfather, Frederick Trump, immigrated to the United States in 1885. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1892. Frederick married Elisabeth Christ (October 10, 1880 – June 6, 1966) at Kallstadt, State of Bavaria, Germany, on August 26, 1902.
Education
Trump attended the private Kew-Forest School from kindergarten through seventh grade. Trump went to Sunday school and was confirmed in 1959 at the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens. At age 13, he entered the New York Military Academy, a private boarding school. In 1964, he enrolled at Fordham University. Two years later, he transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in economics.
Trump was not drafted during the Vietnam War. This was due to four college deferments and one medical deferment.
Business career
Starting in 1968, Trump was employed at his father's real estate company, Trump Management. In 1971, he became president of the company and began using the Trump Organization as an umbrella brand. The Trump Organization has its headquarters at 40 Wall Street.
Trump has developed many real estate projects. They include Trump International Hotel and Tower in Honolulu, Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto, and Trump Tower in Tampa.
Media career
Trump made cameo appearances in many films and television shows from 1985 to 2001.
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Starting in the 1990s, Trump was a guest about 24 times on the nationally syndicated Howard Stern Show. He also had his own short-form talk radio program called Trumped! (one to two minutes on weekdays) from 2004 to 2008. From 2011 until 2015, he was a weekly unpaid guest commentator on Fox & Friends.
Beauty pageants
From 1996 to 2015, Trump owned all or part of the Miss Universe pageants, including Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.geants.
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. In 2004, Trump filed a trademark application for the catchphrase "You're fired!"
For the first year of the show, Trump earned $50,000 per episode (roughly $700,000 for the first season), but following the show's initial success, he was paid $1 million per episode. In a July 2015 press release, Trump's campaign manager said that NBCUniversal had paid him $213,606,575 for his 14 seasons hosting the show.
On February 16, 2015, NBC announced that they would be renewing The Apprentice for a 15th season. On February 27, Trump stated that he was "not ready" to sign on for another season because of the possibility of a presidential run. Trump was replaced by former Governor of California and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Political activity before 2015
Trump switched between political parties a number of times. He registered as a Republican in 1987, a member of the Independence Party in 1999, a Democrat in 2001, a Republican in 2009, with no political party in 2011, and a Republican in 2012.
2016 presidential campaign
Trump made a formal announcement of his candidacy for president of the United States for the 2016 elections on June 16, 2015. Trump's official campaign slogan was "Make America Great Again." That was first used by Alexander Wiley, but Donald Trump trademarked it.
On May 4, 2016, Trump became the presumptive nominee after his only challengers, Texas United States senatorTed Cruz and Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, dropped out.
Primaries
Trump entered a large field of candidates consisting of 16 other Republican candidates campaigning for the nomination, the largest presidential field in American history. By early 2016, the race had mostly centered on Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. On Super Tuesday, Trump won the majority of the delegates and remained the front-runner throughout the primaries.
Finishing in June 2016 with nearly 14 million votes, Trump broke the all-time record for winning the most primary votes in the history of the Republican Party.
Election
On November 8, 2016, Trump won the presidency with 306 electoral votes to Clinton's 232 votes, even though Trump won a smaller part of the popular vote than Clinton. He is the fourth person to become president without winning the popular vote. The final popular vote difference between Clinton and Trump is that Clinton finished ahead by 2.86 million or 2.1 percentage points, 48.04% to 45.95%, with neither candidate reaching a majority. Trump's victory was considered a big political upset, as nearly all national polls at the time showed Hillary Clinton with a modest lead over Trump, and state polls showed her with a modest lead to win the Electoral College. In the early hours of November 9, 2016, Trump received a phone call in which Clinton conceded the presidency to him.
President of the United States
Inauguration
On January 20, 2017, Trump was sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts as President of the United States at his inauguration ceremony at the United States Capitol Building. Within his first hour as president, he signed several executive orders, including an order to minimize "the economic burden" of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
On the Saturday following Trump's inauguration there were massive demonstrations protesting Trump in the United States and worldwide, including the 2017 Women's March.
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Cabinet and staff
The following people were part of Donald Trump's cabinet. They are the most senior officers of the executive branch.
- Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson (2017-2018), Mike Pompeo (2018-2021)
- Secretary of the Treasury: Steven Mnuchin
- Secretary of Defense: James Mattis (2017-2019), Mark Esper (2019-2021)
- Attorney General: Jeff Sessions (2017-2018), William Barr (2019-2021)
- Secretary of the Interior: Ryan Zinke (2017-2019), David Bernhardt (2019-2021)
- Secretary of Agriculture: Sonny Perdue
- Secretary of Commerce: Wilbur Ross
- Secretary of Labor: Alexander Acosta (2017-2019), Eugene Scalia (2019-2021)
- Secretary of Health and Human Services: Tom Price (2017), Alex Azar (2018-2021)
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Ben Carson
- Secretary of Transportation: Elaine Chao
- Secretary of Energy: Rick Perry (2017-2019), Dan Brouillette (2019-2021)
- Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos
- Secretary of Veterans' Affairs: David Shulkin (2017-2018), Robert Wilkie (2018-2021)
- Secretary of Homeland Security: John F. Kelly (2017), Kirstjen Nielsen (2017-2019)
The following people held other important jobs in the executive branch. They are also selected by the president.
- White House Chief of Staff: Reince Priebus (2017), John F. Kelly (2017-2019), Mark Meadows (2020-2021)
- United States Trade Representative: Robert Lighthizer
- Director of National Intelligence: Dan Coats (2017-2019), John Ratcliffe (2020-2021)
- Ambassador to the United Nations: Nikki Haley (2017-2019), Kelly Craft (2019-2021)
- Director of the Office of Management and Budget: Mick Mulvaney (2017-2020), Russell Vought (2020-2021)
- Director of the Central Intelligence Agency: Mike Pompeo (2017-2018), Gina Haspel (2018-2021)
- Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Scott Pruitt (2017-2018), Andrew R. Wheeler (2019-2021)
- Administrator of the Small Business Administration: Linda McMahon (2017-2019), Jovita Carranza (2020-2021)
Tenure
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As president, Trump ordered a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim countries. He diverted military funding toward building a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border, and implemented a family separation policy.
He also weakened environmental protections, rolling back more than 100 environmental policies and regulations. He signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which cut taxes.
On May 4, 2017, the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA) was passed narrowly to replace and repeal Obamacare by the United States House of Representatives with a vote of 217 to 213, sending the bill to the Senate for voting.
Trump reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic and ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials.
In foreign affair, Trump initiated a trade war with China and withdrew the U.S. from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal. He met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times but made no progress on denuclearization.
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Allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election
In January 2017, American intelligence agencies—the CIA, the FBI, and the NSA, represented by the Director of National Intelligence—jointly stated with "high confidence" that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election to favor the election of Trump. In March 2017, FBI Director James Comey told Congress, "[T]he FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. That includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts."
Trump claimed there was no collusion and no obscruction and on May 9, 2017, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey after he reportedly asked for more information and funding for the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. The White House stated that this was not true and that Trump fired Comey in order to end the investigation.
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On July 12, 2017, California Representative Brad Sherman formally introduced an article of impeachment, H. Res. 438, accusing the president of obstructing justice regarding the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
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Mueller investigation
In May 2017, Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Mueller special counsel for the Department of Justice (DOJ), ordering him to "examine 'any links and/or coordination between the Russian government' and the Trump campaign".
In March 2019, Mueller gave his final report to Attorney General William Barr, which Barr purported to summarize in a letter to Congress. The report revealed sweeping Russian interference and detailed how Trump and his campaign welcomed and encouraged it, believing it would benefit them electorally.
The House of Representatives subsequently launched an impeachment inquiry following the Trump–Ukraine scandal, but did not pursue an article of impeachment related to the Mueller investigation.
Several Trump associates pleaded guilty or were convicted in connection with Mueller's investigation and related case.
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First impeachment
On December 18, 2019, the House of Representatives voted to have Trump impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. On February 5, 2020, the Senate found Trump not guilty of all charges.
2020 re-election bid
Trump announced his plans to run for a second term by filing with the FEC within a few hours of assuming the presidency. This transformed his 2016 election committee into a 2020 reelection one.
In the 2020 primaries, Trump faced primary challenges from former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld and former U.S. Representatives Joe Walsh. Former South Carolina Governor and former U.S. Representative Mark Sanford also campaigned against him, but withdrew from the race.
Defeat and attempts to overturn results
On November 7, Trump was defeated by former Vice President Joe Biden after Trump lost Pennsylvania and Nevada. Trump claimed voter fraud through the mail-in voting and threatened to use the United States Supreme Court to stop the states from counting the vote. He had unsuccessfully sued many states trying to make him the winner in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia.
Many Republican representatives and senators planned to object the United States Congress's formally recognizing Biden's electoral college victory on January 6, 2021. In early January 2021, Trump made a phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in an attempt to find "11,780 votes" trying to remove Biden's victory in the state.
U.S. Capitol riots
On January 6, 2021 while the United States Congress were certifying the election results, rioters stormed the United States Capitol in violent protests across Washington, D.C..
After this, Trump got his Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts deleted. On January 8, 2021, Trump was banned from Twitter. The events from the Capitol riots led to new efforts to impeach Trump from the presidency
2024 presidential campaign
On November 15, 2022, Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 United States presidential election and set up a fundraising account.
Attempted assassination
Trump was injured in the ear in an assassination attempt while at a campaign rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. After the shooting, Trump raised his fist in the air as he was ushered away by the Secret Service. He was later given medical attention at a local medical facility, where it was announced that he was fine. A rally attendee was struck by gunfire and killed, and two others were left in serious condition. The shooter was also shot and killed by the Secret Service at the scene. Officials announced that the shooting was being investigated as an attempted assassination. The FBI has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania as the shooter in the assassination attempt.
Presidential transition
Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States in November 2024, defeating the incumbent vice president Kamala Harris. He became the second president in U.S. history to serve non-consecutive terms after former president Grover Cleveland, who won re-election in 1893. The Associated Press and BBC described it as an extraordinary comeback for a former president. He was also projected to become the first Republican in two decades to secure the popular vote in the US presidential elections. Trump received congratulatory messages from politicians all over the world.
Wealth
Forbes estimated Trump's net worth dropped by $1.4 billion between 2015 and 2018. In their 2024 billionaires ranking, Trump's net worth was estimated to be $2.3 billion (1,438th in the world).
Personal life
Trump has five children by three marriages, and has ten grandchildren. Trump is a Presbyterian. As a child, he began going to church at the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens.
Marriages
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Trump married his first wife, Czech model Ivana Zelníčková, on April 7, 1977, at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. They had three children: son Donald Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977), daughter Ivanka (born October 30, 1981), and son Eric (born January 6, 1984). Ivana became a naturalized United States citizen in 1988. By early 1990, Trump's troubled marriage to Ivana had been reported in the tabloid press. They were divorced in 1992.
Trump married his second wife, actress Marla Maples in 1993. They had one daughter together, Tiffany (born October 13, 1993). The couple were separated in 1997 and later divorced in 1999. In 1998, Trump began a relationship with Slovene model Melania Knauss, who became his third wife. They were engaged in April 2004 and were married on January 22, 2005, at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, in Palm Beach, Florida. In 2006, Melania became a naturalized United States citizen. On March 20, 2006, she gave birth to their son, whom they named Barron Trump.
Health habits
Trump sleeps about four or five hours a night. He has called golfing his "primary form of exercise" but usually does not walk the course. He considers exercise a waste of energy, because he believes the body is "like a battery, with a finite amount of energy" which is depleted by exercise. In 2015, Trump's campaign released a letter from his longtime personal physician, Harold Bornstein, stating that Trump would "be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency".
See also
In Spanish: Donald Trump para niños
