Donald Trump Biography

Donald J. Trump (June 14, 1946 - ) is the second person to serve two non-consecutive terms as President, serving as both the 45th and 47th President of the United States of America. (The first was Grover Cleveland.)

Trump first became President on January 20, 2017, with Michael Pence as his Vice President. Previously known as a business tycoon and reality TV star, Trump’s celebrity translated to politics when he successfully ran for the Presidency. This was Trump’s first time holding elected office.

Then, after having lost the 2020 election, Trump won re-election decisively in 2024, with JD Vance as his running mate. He was inaugurated for his second term on January 20, 2025.

Born in New York on June 14, 1946, Trump earned an economics degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, and then joined his family’s real estate development business, which specialized in construction across the east coast of the US. His commercial successes have included the Grand Hyatt hotel, the Trump Tower, Atlantic City’s Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, and the Trump Organization has spread out into many other business activities as well.

In 2004, Trump starred in The Apprentice, a reality TV series where he became infamous for firing contestants as they sought a job in his corporation. In a stunning twist, he was able to parlay his fame into political success. He did so by running for President in 2016 as a Republican. He was notable for having not been previously elected to office and for making his prime campaign platform a promise to shake up the stagnant politics of DC. Though he is a wealthy businessman, he appealed to a populist streak in voters.

On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump won a majority of the Electoral College, winning the US presidential election, although his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, won the popular vote. He was inaugurated as President of the United States on January 20, 2017. At the same time, Mike Pence became his Vice President. The President’s wife Melania Trump, from Slovenia, is the second First Lady to be born outside the territory of the United States.

In a remarkable comeback, Trump won a second term as President in the election of 2024, again as a Republican, after having lost to Joe Biden four years earlier, in 2020. This time he won both the electoral college and the popular vote, defeating Democrat Kamala Harris, the sitting Vice President. Trump’s Vice Presidential running mate for his second term was Senator JD Vance of Ohio.