Donald Trump
He's a real estate mogul who's had hit TV shows and branded goods in the country's biggest retail chains. He continually ranks on Forbes's list of the richest people on the planet. Now he's the president-elect of the United States.
So how much do you really know about Mr. Trump? Click through this slideshow to brush up on some of his best (and worst) moments in the spotlight.
In this photo, President-elect Trump addressing his election night rally in New York City pm November 9, 2016
Mr. Trump and the press
Mr. Trump has gotten in many spats with the press.
During his first post-election news conference, he refused to take a question from CNN, calling the network “fake news.” Trump was unhappy with CNN’s reporting about a dossier detailing explosive but unverified allegations over his ties to Russia.
Going to war with a war hero
Trump sparked immediate backlash from his fellow Republican candidates, July 18, 2015, when he appeared to mock Senator John McCain’s military record during a speaking engagement at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said when moderator Frank Luntz brought up McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Then, qualifying his original statement, he said, “He’s a war hero ‘cause he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK?”
Trump likely lashed out against McCain in response to the senator saying he “fired up the crazies” at a rally in Phoenix on July 11, 2015.
When asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” whether he felt Trump owed him an apology, Senator McCain responded “I don’t think so. I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country.”
Wealth
When Trump announced his candidacy for President on June 16, 2015, he declared, “I’m really rich... That’s the kind of thinking you need for this country ... Because you’ve got to make the country rich.”
So, just how rich is he?
Trump published a balance sheet, which estimates his personal net worth as of June 30, 2014 at $8.7 billion. That’s $9.2 billion in assets minus $500 million in liabilities. Translation: Really rich.
Wealth
Forbes, however, disagrees with that figure; estimating Trump’s net worth as of July 10, 2015 at a significantly lower $4.1 billion.
His holdings
In the document he published, Trump attributes his fortune primarily to his personal assets (aircraft, land, golf courses, resorts, etc.), real estate holdings, real estate licensing deals and branded content.
He also factored in the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA Pageants at around $15 million.
Setbacks
There have been setbacks for Trump and several of his businesses.
Univision, NBCUniversal, Macy’s and Serta all cut ties with the business mogul, after he referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists in his presidential announcement speech, June 16, 2015.
That means no more Trump brand neckties, cuff links and men’s dress shirts at Macy’s. No more Trump brand mattresses at Serta ... and no more pageants on NBC.
On July 12, 2015, the cable channel Reelz aired the Miss USA pageant with new hosts, new judges, and Trump was not present.
Pageants
Trump, in turn, sued Univision for $500 million for dropping his pageants and got into a heated Twitter war with the current Miss Universe, Paulina Vega.
Amidst all of the controversy, however, Trump continued to defend his inflammatory comments about immigrants.
On July 8, 2015, he told NBC, “You wouldn’t even be hearing about the word immigration if it wasn’t for Donald Trump ... I will win the Latino vote because I’m going to put them to work.”
Hair
Trump is famous for his constantly evolving hairstyle. He’s gone from brown to red to blonde to gray, and back again -- sometimes within the span of a single year.
NIMBY
In 2003, Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group proposed the construction of an offshore wind farm in the waters near Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which could provide the country with up to 100 megawatts of green energy.
In 2006, Trump went to bat against the 11 proposed wind turbines, due to their proximity to his golf course on the east coast of Aberdeenshire. “I am not thrilled - I want to see the ocean. I do not want to see windmills,” he told BBC News on a visit to the site in May 2006.
To combat the project, Trump accused Scottish ministers of illegally agreeing to license the wind farm near the grounds of his golf course and proposed resort. In June 2015, three senior judges in Edinburgh ruled that Trump had no grounds for the accusation.
Wife No. 1
Trump has been married three times and divorced twice. The first of those marriages was to Ivana (Zelnicek) Trump. It lasted from 1977 to 1990.
Here, the couple arrives at a social engagement in New York, December 4, 1989.
Wife No. 2
Trump’s second marriage was to actress Marla Maples. It lasted from December 1993 to June 1999.
Here, the couple poses before Maples’ appearance in the Broadway musical “The Will Rogers Follies,” April 7, 1993.
Wife No. 3
Trump married model Melania (Knauss) Trump on January 22, 2005. They are still together.
Here, the couple poses ringside at the much anticipated Mayweather/Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas, May 2, 2015.
Children
Trump has five kids: three with Ivana, one with Marla, and one with Melania.
Here, Trump and Marla Maples confirm published reports that the actress is pregnant with his child, April 7, 1993.
Children
The three children Trump shares with his first wife, Ivana — Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr. — all appear regularly on Trump’s show, “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Films
Trump has appeared in a number of films and TV shows over the years, including: “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” “The Jeffersons,” “The Little Rascals,” “The Nanny,” “Sex and the City,” and “Zoolander.”
Films
He even won a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor in 1990 for his cameo in the movie “Ghosts Can’t Do It.”
Wrestling
After winning a bet as part of WWE’s 2007 Battle of the Billionaires, Trump shaved WWE chairman Vince McMahon’s head on-air from the Wrestlemania ring.
Wrestling
Ever the showman, Trump was then taken to the mat by Stone Cold Steve Austin at WWE Wrestlemania in Detroit, Michigan, April 1, 2007.
The event drew more than 80,000 wrestling fans.
Trump University
In 2005, Trump opened a for-profit, non-accredited school, called Trump University, where students could pay $35,000 to learn his real estate investing secrets and techniques.
The school ultimately closed its doors in 2011, however, after four students sued over the University’s inability to deliver on its widespread marketing campaign: “Just copy exactly what I’ve done and get rich.” What’s more, the students accused Trump U. of “offering classes that amounted to extended ‘infomercials” and ‘taking advantage of these troubled economic times to prey on consumer’s fears.”
Two years later, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a separate $40 million lawsuit against Donald Trump, Trump University and its former president Michael Sexton for allegedly defrauding its more than 5,000 customers.
In April 2015, a judge rejected Trump’s attempts to have the lawsuit dismissed and ruled the dispute will go to trial.
Walk of fame
On January 16, 2007, Trump received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
No alcohol
Trump’s older brother, Fred, struggled with alcoholism and ultimately died from the disease. As such, Donald Trump does not drink alcohol.
Being a teetotaler, however, didn’t stop the Donald from marketing and selling a line of Trump vodka back in 2006, with the slogan, “Success distilled.”
At the time, he predicted the T&T (Trump and Tonic) would become one of the most requested drinks in America. When that failed to happen, Trump vodka ceased production in 2011.
On stage
On September 18, 2005, Trump performed the “Green Acres” theme song with actress Megan Mullally onstage at the 57th Annual Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
Bankruptcies
While Trump told a New Jersey bankruptcy courtroom in 2010 that he doesn’t “like the B word,” his companies have filed for corporate bankruptcy several times.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, for example, filed for bankruptcy in 1991, 2004, 2009, and then again in 2014.
In 2004, Trump even had to cough up $72 million of his own money to keep the business afloat.
Trump, The Game
In 2004, Trump released a board game, called “Trump, the Game,” which Amazon describes as a game in which you “Do whatever it takes to turn $500 million seed money into billions.”
Here, the real estate mogul poses in his office at Trump Tower on a giant letter “T,” May 8, 1996.
Birther critic
In 2011, Trump was one of the most vocal critics of President Obama’s birthplace, feeding heavily into the ”birther” controversy stoked by conservatives as evidence of Obama’s ineligibility for the role of President.
So, when President Obama finally released his long-form birth certificate in April of that year, he strode into the White House briefing room and said, “We’re not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.”
Many people believe that statement was aimed directly at the Donald.
Trump & PGA
In May 2014, the PGA of America announced that it had entered a new partnership with The Trump Organization, selecting the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles as the site of its 2015 PGA Grand Slam of Golf, the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. as the site of its 2022 PGA Championship and the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C. as the site of its 2017 Senior PGA Championship.
On July 7, 2015, however, the PGA backtracked from this agreement in the aftermath of Trump’s controversial comments about immigration, releasing the following statement:
“The PGA of America met with Donald J. Trump yesterday and the parties mutually agreed that it is in the best interest of all not to conduct the 2015 PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Trump National -- Los Angeles. The PGA of America is in the process of exploring options, including a venue for its annual PGA Junior League Golf Championship, and will comment further at the appropriate time.”
The Apprentice
Trump’s show “The Apprentice” premiered on NBC in January 2004 with Trump acting as its host. In January 2008, the show returned to NBC, rebranded as “Celebrity Apprentice.”
This show is yet another profitable enterprise that Trump’s run for president has cost him. On June 29, 2015, after Trump’s election speech called Mexicans rapists, NBC released a statement saying it was cutting all business ties with Trump and exploring ways to continue “Celebrity Apprentice” without him.
Trump said he was giving up the show to run for president.
“I had one of the top shows on television, ‘The Apprentice,’ and I decided not to do it because I wanted to do this,” Trump then told Fox News on July 4, 2015 in an interview addressing the recent spate of businesses that have severed their relationships with his brand. “I give up hundreds of millions of dollars of deals where I’m doing this. Then you hear about NASCAR, and you hear about NBC, and you hear about, you know, different people that drop Trump because Trump wants safety in the United States. If you think of it, what am I doing? I say let’s make our country safe, and people are offended. It’s incredible to me.”
Olympic torch
On June 19, 2004, Trump was given the honor of running the Olympic Flame down New York’s Fifth Avenue, during day 15 of the 2004 Athens Torch Relay.
Election Day
Mr. Trump casts his ballot at a school in Manhattan on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2016.
Inauguration
Mr. Trump will be sworn into office on Jan. 20.
Here, Donald Trump chocolate bars are seen for sale on the store shelf of the Stars and Stripes store in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 13.
