Donald Trump

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

Donald Trump
45th President of the United States (2017–2021)
Born	14 June 1946 Queens, New York City, U.S.
Nationality	American
Qualification	Economics (B.S.)
Profession	Businessman, Politician
Awards / Honours
Various national and international recognitions
Personal details
Organization's	Republican Party
Spouse	Melania Trump
Connect	Office of Donald J. Trump, Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
Websites	www.donaldjtrump.com
Citation/Legacy
Known for business career, political influence, and America First policies

Born into a wealthy family in New York City, Trump graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He became the president of his family's real estate business in 1971, renamed it the Trump Organization, and began acquiring and building skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He also launched side ventures, many licensing the Trump name, and filed for six business bankruptcies in the 1990s and 2000s. From 2004 to 2015, he hosted the reality television show The Apprentice, bolstering his fame as a billionaire. Presenting himself as a political outsider, Trump won the 2016 presidential election against Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton.

During his first presidency, Trump imposed a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, expanded the Mexico–United States border wall, and enforced a family separation policy on the border. He rolled back environmental and business regulations, signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and appointed three Supreme Court justices. In foreign policy, Trump withdrew the U.S. from agreements on climate, trade, and Iran's nuclear program, and initiated a trade war with China. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020, he downplayed its severity, contradicted health officials, and signed the CARES Act. After losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, Trump attempted to overturn the result, culminating in the January 6 Capitol attack in 2021. He was impeached in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and in 2021 for incitement of insurrection; the Senate acquitted him both times.

In 2023, Trump was found liable in civil cases for sexual abuse and defamation and for business fraud. He was found guilty of falsifying business records in 2024, making him the first U.S. president convicted of a felony. After winning the 2024 presidential election against then-Vice President Kamala Harris, he was sentenced to a penalty-free discharge, and two felony indictments against him for retention of classified documents and obstruction of the 2020 election were dismissed without prejudice.

Trump began his second presidency by initiating mass layoffs of federal workers. He imposed tariffs on nearly all countries at the highest level since the Great Depression and signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. His administration's actions—including targeting of political opponents and civil society, restrictions on transgender rights, deportations of immigrants, and extensive use of executive orders—have drawn over 300 lawsuits challenging the legality and constitutionality of the actions.

Since 2015, Trump's leadership style and political agenda—often referred to as Trumpism—have reshaped the Republican Party's identity. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racist or misogynistic, and he has made false or misleading statements and promoted conspiracy theories to a degree unprecedented in American politics. Trump's actions, especially in his second term, have been described as authoritarian and contributing to democratic backsliding. After his first term, scholars and historians ranked him as one of the worst presidents in American history.

Early life and education Main article: Early life and education of Donald Trump A black-and-white photograph of Trump as a teenager, smiling, wearing a dark pseudo-military uniform with three ribbons and a white shoulder strap At New York Military Academy, 1964 Donald John Trump was born on June 14, 1946, at Jamaica Hospital in the New York City borough of Queens, the fourth child of Fred Trump and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump.[1] He is of German and Scottish descent.[2] He grew up with his older siblings, Maryanne, Fred Jr., and Elizabeth, and his younger brother, Robert, in a 23-room mansion in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood of Queens.[3] Fred Trump paid his children each about $20,000 a year, equivalent to $265,000 a year in 2024. Trump was a millionaire in inflation-adjusted dollars by age eight.[4]

Trump attended the private Kew-Forest School through seventh grade. He was a difficult child and showed an early interest in his father's business. His father enrolled him in New York Military Academy, a private boarding school, from eighth to twelfth grade.[5] The academy pushed students into sports[6] and taught the imperative of winning.[7] In high school, he earned a B average.[8][a]

Trump considered a show business career but instead, to be closer to home, enrolled at Fordham University in 1964.[10] He participated in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps program during his first year, attending classes in a military uniform every Wednesday, but dropped it in his second year.[11] He dropped football after three or four weeks and was a mediocre squash and tennis player.[12] His Fordham friends introduced him to golf.[13] His junior year, he transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, most often commuting to his father's office on weekends, and graduating in May 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in economics.[14][15] In college[16] he was not the top student he sometimes claimed to be.[17] By the time he went to Wharton—where he does not appear in a list of those receiving honors[b]—he was eyeing a career in real estate.[16] He was exempted from the draft during the Vietnam War due to a claim of bone spurs in his heels.[18]

Growing up, he regarded his father and the family's pastor, Norman Vincent Peale,[19] as mentors.[20] His father told him repeatedly that he was "a king" and to be "a killer".[21]

Business career Main article: Business career of Donald Trump Further information: Business projects of Donald Trump in Russia, Tax returns of Donald Trump, and The Trump Organization Real estate Starting in 1968, Trump was employed at Trump Management, his father's real estate company,[22] which managed the middle-class apartment complexes Fred had built in Queens, Staten Island, and Brooklyn.[23] His main tasks were collecting rent and making repairs[24] for about five years.[25] Captivated by its glamor and riches,[26] Trump asked his father to expand to Manhattan where prices were higher, but his father was content in the outer boroughs.[25] In 1971, he moved to Manhattan where he planned to move the business[27] and commuted to his father's office.[28] That year, his father made himself chairman and Trump president, overseeing 48 private corporations and 15 family partnerships.[16] Trump began using the Trump Organization as an umbrella for the corporate names of his father's businesses.[29]

Roy Cohn, Trump's most important early influence after his father,[30] was his fixer, lawyer, and mentor[31] for 13 years in the 1970s and 1980s.[32] Cohn taught Trump to think that life is transactional.[33] In 1973, Cohn helped Trump countersue the U.S. government for $100 million (equivalent to $708 million in 2024[34]) over its charges that Trump's properties had discriminated against Black applicants and tenants. Trump's counterclaims were dismissed, and the government's case was settled with the Trumps signing a consent decree agreeing to desegregate. Four years later, the Trumps again faced the courts when they were found in contempt of the decree.[35] Helping Trump projects,[36] Cohn was a consigliere whose Mafia connections controlled construction unions.[37] In 1979, Cohn introduced political consultant Roger Stone to Trump, who enlisted Stone's services to deal with the federal government.[38]

Trump moved from his studio to a penthouse with a view and got a real estate broker's license in the mid-1970s.[39] Before age thirty, he showed his propensity for litigation, no matter the outcome and cost; even when he lost, he described the case as a win.[40] Over three decades as of 2018, Trump had been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits,[41] liens, and other filings, often filed for nonpayment against him by employees, contractors, real estate brokers, and his own attorneys.[42] Between 1991 and 2009, Trump filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for six of his businesses: the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, the casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts company.[43][44]

In 1992, Trump, his siblings Maryanne, Elizabeth, and Robert, and his cousin John W. Walter formed All County Building Supply & Maintenance Corp, each with a 20 percent share. The company had no offices and is alleged to have been a shell company for paying the vendors providing services and supplies for Trump's rental units, then billing those services and supplies to Trump Management with markups of 20–50 percent and more. The owners shared the proceeds generated by the markups. The increased costs were used to get state approval for increasing the rents of his rent-stabilized units. In January 1994, the siblings formed Apartment Management Associates and took over the management fees formerly collected by Trump Management. As well as inflating rents, the schemes served to transfer assets from Fred Trump to his children and nephew and lower the tax burden.[45]

Manhattan and Chicago developments

In 1985 with a model of one of his aborted Manhattan development projects[46] Trump attracted public attention in 1978 with the launch of his family's first Manhattan venture: the renovation of the derelict Commodore Hotel, adjacent to Grand Central Terminal.[47] The financing was facilitated by a $400 million city property tax abatement arranged for him by his father who also, jointly with Hyatt, guaranteed a $70 million bank construction loan.[48][49] The hotel reopened in 1980 as the Grand Hyatt Hotel,[50] and that same year, he obtained rights to develop Trump Tower, a mixed-use skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan.[51] The building houses the headquarters of the Trump Corporation and Trump's PAC and was his primary residence until 2019.[52] In 1988, Trump acquired the Plaza Hotel with a loan from a consortium of 16 banks.[53] The hotel filed for bankruptcy protection in 1992, and a reorganization plan was approved a month later, with the banks taking control of the property.[54]

In 1995, Trump defaulted on over $3 billion of bank loans, and the lenders seized the Plaza Hotel along with most of his other properties in a "vast and humiliating restructuring" that allowed him to avoid personal bankruptcy.[55][56] The lead bank's attorney said of the banks' decision that they "all agreed that he'd be better alive than dead".[55] In 1996, Trump acquired and renovated the mostly vacant 71-story skyscraper at 40 Wall Street, later rebranded as the Trump Building.[57] In the early 1990s, he won the right to develop a 70-acre (28 ha) tract in the Lincoln Square neighborhood near the Hudson River. Struggling with debt from other ventures in 1994, he sold most of his interest in the project to Asian investors, who financed the project's completion, Riverside South.[58] Trump's last major construction project was the 92-story mixed-use Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, which opened in 2008. In 2024, The New York Times and ProPublica reported that the Internal Revenue Service was investigating whether he had twice written off losses incurred through construction cost overruns and lagging sales of residential units in the building he had declared to be worthless on his 2008 tax return.[59]

Atlantic City casinos The entrance of the Trump Taj Mahal, a casino in Atlantic City. It has motifs evocative of the Taj Mahal in India. Entrance of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City In 1984, Trump opened Harrah's at Trump Plaza, a hotel and casino, with financing and management help from the Holiday Corporation.[60] It was unprofitable, and he paid Holiday $70 million in May 1986 to take sole control.[61] In 1985, he bought the unopened Atlantic City Hilton Hotel and renamed it Trump's Castle.[62][63] Both casinos filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1992.[64] Trump bought a third Atlantic City venue in 1988, the Trump Taj Mahal. It was financed with $675 million in junk bonds and completed for $1.1 billion, opening in April 1990.[60] He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1991. Under the provisions of the restructuring agreement, he gave up half his initial stake and personally guaranteed future performance.[65] To reduce his $900 million of personal debt, he sold the Trump Shuttle airline; his megayacht, the Trump Princess, which had been leased to his casinos and kept docked; and other businesses.[66] In 1995, Trump founded Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (THCR), which assumed ownership of the Trump Plaza.[67] THCR purchased the Taj Mahal and the Trump Castle in 1996 and went bankrupt in 2004 and 2009, leaving him with 10 percent ownership.[60] He remained chairman until 2009.[68]

Golf clubs In 1985, Trump acquired the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.[69] In 1995, he converted the estate into a private club with an initiation fee and annual dues. He continued to use a wing of the house as a private residence.[70] He declared the club his primary residence in 2019.[52] He began building and buying golf courses in 1999, owning 17 golf courses by 2016.[71]

Licensing the Trump name See also: List of things named after Donald Trump The Trump Organization often licensed the Trump name for consumer products and services, including foodstuffs, apparel, learning courses, and home furnishings.[72] Over 50 licensing or management deals involved Trump's name, generating at least $59 million for his companies.[73] By 2018, only two consumer goods companies continued to license his name.[72] During the 2000s, Trump licensed his name to residential property developments worldwide, 40 of which were never built.[74]

Side ventures See also: Donald Trump and American football Trump, Doug Flutie, and New Jersey Generals head coach Walt Michaels standing behind a lectern with big, round New Jersey Generals sign, with members of the press seated in the background 1985 New Jersey Generals press conference in Trump Tower In 1970, Trump invested $70,000 of his father's wealth to receive billing as coproducer of a Broadway comedy—and lost the money.[75] After making low-ball bids for the New York Mets and the Cleveland Indians baseball teams, in 1983 for about $6 million, he purchased the New Jersey Generals, a team in the United States Football League.[76] The league folded after the 1985 season, largely due to his attempt to move to a fall schedule (when it would have competed with the National Football League for audience) and his attempt to force a merger with the NFL by bringing an antitrust suit.[77] Trump and his Plaza Hotel hosted several boxing matches at the Atlantic City Convention Hall.[60][78] In 1989 and 1990, he lent his name to the Tour de Trump cycling stage race, an attempt to create an American equivalent of European races such as the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia.[79]

From 1986 to 1988, he purchased significant blocks of shares in various public companies while suggesting that he intended to take over the company and then sold his shares for a profit,[80] leading some observers to think he was engaged in greenmail.[81] The New York Times found that he initially made millions of dollars in such stock transactions, but "lost most, if not all, of those gains after investors stopped taking his takeover talk seriously".[80]

A red star with a bronze outline and "Donald Trump" and a TV icon written on it in bronze, embedded in a black terrazzo sidewalk Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame In 1988, Trump purchased the Eastern Air Lines Shuttle, financing the purchase with $380 million (equivalent to $1.01 billion in 2024[34]) in loans from a syndicate of 22 banks. He renamed the airline Trump Shuttle and operated it until 1992.[82] He defaulted on his loans in 1991, and ownership passed to the banks.[83] In 1996, he purchased the Miss Universe pageants, including Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.[84] Due to disagreements with CBS about scheduling, he took both pageants to NBC in 2002.[85][86] In 2007, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work as producer of Miss Universe.[87] NBC and Univision dropped the pageants in June 2015 in reaction to his comments about Mexican immigrants.[88]

In 2005, Trump cofounded Trump University, a company that sold real estate seminars for up to $35,000. After New York State authorities notified the company that its use of "university" violated state law (as it was not an academic institution), its name was changed to the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative in 2010.[89] In 2013, the State of New York filed a $40 million civil suit against Trump University, alleging that the company made false statements and defrauded consumers. Additionally, two class actions were filed in federal court against Trump and his companies. Internal documents revealed that employees were instructed to use a hard-sell approach, and former employees testified that Trump University had defrauded or lied to its students.[90] Shortly after he won the 2016 presidential election, he agreed to pay a total of $25 million to settle the three cases.[91]

Foundation Main article: Donald J. Trump Foundation The Donald J. Trump Foundation was a private foundation established in 1988.[92] From 1987 to 2006, Trump gave his foundation $5.4 million, which had been spent by the end of 2006. After donating a total of $65,000 in 2007–2008, he stopped donating any personal funds to the charity,[93] which received millions from other donors, including $5 million from Vince McMahon.[94] The foundation gave to health- and sports-related charities, conservative groups,[95] and charities that held events at Trump properties.[93] In 2016, The Washington Post reported that the charity had committed several potential legal and ethical violations, including self-dealing and tax evasion.[96] Also in 2016, the New York attorney general stated the foundation had violated state law by soliciting donations without submitting to required annual external audits and ordered it to cease its fundraising activities in New York immediately.[97] Trump's team announced in December 2016 that the foundation would be dissolved.[98] In June 2018, the New York attorney general's office filed a civil suit against the foundation, Trump, and his adult children, seeking $2.8 million in restitution and additional penalties.[99] In December 2018, the foundation ceased operation and disbursed its assets to other charities.[100] In November 2019, a New York state judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million to a group of charities for misusing the foundation's funds, in part to finance his presidential campaign.[101]

Legal affairs and bankruptcies Main article: Personal and business legal affairs of Donald Trump According to a review of state and federal court files conducted by USA Today in 2018, Trump and his businesses had been involved in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions.[41] While he has not filed for personal bankruptcy, his over-leveraged hotel and casino businesses in Atlantic City and New York filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection six times between 1991 and 2009.[44] They continued to operate while the banks restructured debt and reduced his shares in the properties.[44] During the 1980s, more than 70 banks had lent Trump $4 billion.[102] After his corporate bankruptcies of the early 1990s, most major banks, with the exception of Deutsche Bank, declined to lend to him.[103] After the January 6 Capitol attack, the bank decided not to do business with him or his affiliated company in the future.[104]

Wealth Main article: Wealth of Donald Trump Ivana Trump and King Fahd shake hands, with Ronald Reagan standing next to them smiling Trump (rightmost) and wife Ivana at a 1985 state dinner for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia with President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan Trump has said he began his career with "a small loan of a million dollars" from his father and that he had to pay it back with interest.[105] He borrowed at least $60 million from his father, largely did not repay the loans, and received another $413 million (2018 equivalent, adjusted for inflation) from his father's company.[106][45] Posing as a Trump Organization official named "John Barron", Trump called journalist Jonathan Greenberg in 1984, trying to get a higher ranking on the Forbes 400 list of wealthy Americans.[107] Trump self-reported his net worth over a wide range: from minus $900 million in 1990[108] to $10 billion in 2015.[109] In 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth at $4.5 billion, based on interviews with more than 80 sources.[110] In 2025, the magazine estimated his net worth at $5.1 billion and ranked him the 700th wealthiest person in the world.[111]

Media career Main article: Media career of Donald Trump See also: Bibliography of Donald Trump Trump has published 19 books under his name, most written or cowritten by ghostwriters.[112] His first book, The Art of the Deal (1987), was a New York Times Best Seller, and was credited by The New Yorker with making Trump famous as an "emblem of the successful tycoon".[113] The book was ghostwritten by Tony Schwartz, who is credited as a coauthor. Trump had cameos in many films and television shows from 1985 to 2001.[114] Trump acquired his style of politics from professional wrestling—with its staged fights and name-calling.[115] He sporadically appeared for the professional wrestling company WWE from the late 1980s including WrestleMania 23 in 2007.[116][117] Starting in the 1990s, Trump appeared 24 times as a guest on the nationally syndicated Howard Stern Show.[118] He had his own short-form talk radio program, Trumped!,  from 2004 to 2008.[119] From 2011 until 2015, he was a guest commentator on Fox & Friends.[120] In 2021, Trump, who had been a member since 1989, resigned from SAG-AFTRA to avoid a disciplinary hearing regarding the January 6 attack.[121] Two days later, the union permanently barred him.[122]

The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice Main articles: The Apprentice (American TV series) and The Celebrity Apprentice Producer Mark Burnett made Trump a television star[123] when he created The Apprentice, which Trump hosted from 2004 to 2015 (including variant The Celebrity Apprentice). On the shows, he was a superrich chief executive who eliminated contestants with the catchphrase "you're fired". The New York Times called his portrayal "a highly flattering, highly fictionalized version" of himself.[124] The shows remade Trump's image for millions of viewers nationwide.[124][125] With the related licensing agreements, they earned him more than $400 million.[126]

Early political aspirations Further information: Political career of Donald Trump Trump registered as a Republican in Queens in 1969 and in Manhattan in 1987;[16][127] a member of the Independence Party, the New York state affiliate of the Reform Party, in 1999; a Democrat in 2001; a Republican in 2009; unaffiliated in 2011; and a Republican in 2012.[128]

Trump, leaning heavily onto a lectern, with his mouth open mid-speech and a woman clapping next to him Speaking at CPAC, February 2011 In 1987, Trump placed full-page advertisements in major newspapers[129] expressing his views on foreign policy and how to eliminate the federal budget deficit.[130] In 1988, he approached Lee Atwater, asking to be put into consideration to be Republican nominee George H. W. Bush's running mate. Bush found the request "strange and unbelievable".[131][132] Trump was a candidate in the 2000 Reform Party presidential primaries for three months before he withdrew in February 2000.[133][134][135] In 2011, Trump considered challenging President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. He spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February and gave speeches in states with early primaries.[136][137] In May 2011, he announced that he would not run.[136]

2016 presidential election Main article: 2016 United States presidential election Further information: Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, and First presidential transition of Donald Trump Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 election in June 2015.[138][139] He campaigned as a rich, successful businessman and an outsider without political experience,[140][141][142] and claimed media bias against him.[143][144] His campaign statements were often opaque and suggestive,[145] and a record number were false.[146][147][148] He became the Republican front-runner in March 2016[149] and was declared the presumptive Republican nominee in May.[150]

Trump speaking in front of an American flag behind a lectern, wearing a black suit and red hat. The lectern sports a blue "TRUMP" sign. Campaigning in Arizona, March 2016 Trump described NATO as "obsolete"[151][152] and espoused views described by The Washington Post as noninterventionist and protectionist.[153] His campaign platform emphasized renegotiating U.S.–China relations and free trade agreements such as NAFTA and strongly enforcing immigration laws. Other campaign positions included pursuing energy independence while opposing climate change regulations, modernizing services for veterans, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, abolishing Common Core education standards, investing in infrastructure, simplifying the tax code while reducing taxes, and imposing tariffs on imports by companies that offshore jobs. He advocated increasing military spending and extreme vetting or banning of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries.[154] He promised to build a wall on the Mexico–U.S. border and vowed that Mexico would pay for it.[155] He pledged to deport millions of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S.,[156] and criticized birthright citizenship for incentivizing "anchor babies".[157] According to an analysis in Political Science Quarterly, Trump made "explicitly racist and sexist appeals to win over white voters" during his 2016 presidential campaign.[158] In particular, his campaign launch speech drew criticism for claiming Mexican immigrants were "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists";[159] in response, NBC fired him from Celebrity Apprentice.[160]

Trump's FEC-required reports listed assets above $1.4 billion and outstanding debts of at least $315 million.[161][162] He did not release his tax returns, contrary to the practice of every major candidate since 1976 and his promises in 2014 and 2015 to do so if he ran for office.[163][164] He said his tax returns were being audited, and that his lawyers had advised him against releasing them.[165] After a lengthy court battle to block release of his tax returns and other records to the Manhattan district attorney for a criminal investigation, including two appeals by Trump to the U.S. Supreme Court, in February 2021 the high court allowed the records to be released to the prosecutor for review by a grand jury.[166][167] In October 2016, portions of Trump's state filings for 1995 were leaked to a reporter from The New York Times. They show that he had declared a loss of $916 million that year, which could have let him avoid taxes for up to 18 years.[168]

Trump won the election with 306 pledged electoral votes versus 232 for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. After elector defections on both sides, the official count was 304 to 227.[169] The fifth person to be elected president despite losing the popular vote,[c] he received nearly 2.9 million fewer votes than Clinton, 46.3% to her 48.25%.[170] He was the only president who neither served in the military nor held any government office prior to becoming president.[171] His election marked the return of a Republican undivided government.[d][172] Trump's victory sparked protests in major U.S. cities.[173][174]

First presidency (2017–2021) Main article: First presidency of Donald Trump For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the Donald Trump presidencies. Trump, with his family watching, raises his right hand and places his left hand on the Bible as he takes the oath of office. Roberts stands opposite him administering the oath Taking the oath of office, administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., on January 20, 2017 A head-and-shoulders portrait of Trump beaming in front of the U.S. flag, wearing a dark blue suit jacket with American flag lapel pin, white shirt, and light blue necktie. Official portrait, 2017 Early actions See also: First 100 days of the first Trump presidency Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017. The day after his inauguration, an estimated 2.6 million people worldwide, including 500,000 in Washington, D.C., protested against him in the Women's Marches.[175] During his first week in office, Trump signed six executive orders, including authorizing procedures for repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"), withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, advancement of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipeline projects, and planning for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.[176]

Conflicts of interest See also: First presidency of Donald Trump § Ethics Before being inaugurated, Trump moved his businesses into a revocable trust,[177][178] rather than a blind trust or equivalent arrangement "to cleanly sever himself from his business interests".[179] He continued to profit from his businesses and knew how his administration's policies affected them.[178][180] Although he said he would eschew "new foreign deals", the Trump Organization pursued operational expansions in Scotland, Dubai, and the Dominican Republic.[178][180] Lobbyists, foreign government officials, and Trump donors and allies generated hundreds of millions of dollars for his resorts and hotels.[181] Trump was sued for violating the Domestic and Foreign Emoluments Clauses of the U.S. Constitution, the first time that the clauses had been substantively litigated.[182] One case was dismissed in lower court.[183] Two were dismissed by the Supreme Court as moot after his term.[184]

During the campaign, Trump had pledged to donate his presidential salary[185] and profits from foreign patronage[186] to the U.S. government. He donated his salary to federal agencies and publicized each donation until July 2020. Federal agencies surveyed by The Washington Post in July 2021 reported not having received any gifts after that month.[187] Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported in 2024 that he had donated $448,000 of an estimated $13.6 million in payments from foreign governments in his first term.[188]

Domestic policy Main articles: Domestic policy of the first Trump administration, Economic policy of the first Trump administration, Environmental policy of the first Trump administration, and Social policy of the first Trump administration Trump took office at the height of the longest economic expansion in American history,[189] which began in 2009 and continued until February 2020, when the COVID-19 recession began.[190] In December 2017, he signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. It reduced tax rates for businesses and individuals and eliminated the penalty associated with the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate.[191][192] The Trump administration claimed that the act would not decrease government revenue, but 2018 revenues were 7.6 percent lower than projected.[193] Under Trump, the federal budget deficit increased by almost 50 percent, to nearly $1 trillion in 2019.[194] By the end of his term, the U.S. national debt increased by 39 percent, reaching $27.75 trillion, and the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio hit a post-World War II high.[195] Trump also failed to deliver on his campaign promise of a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan.[196]

He rejects the scientific consensus on climate change.[197] He reduced the budget for renewable energy research by 40 percent and reversed Obama-era policies directed at curbing climate change.[198] He withdrew from the Paris Agreement, making the U.S. the only nation to not ratify it.[199] He aimed to boost the production and exports of fossil fuels.[200][201] Natural gas expanded under Trump, but coal continued to decline.[202][203] He rolled back more than 100 federal environmental regulations, including those that curbed greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, and the use of toxic substances. He weakened protections for animals and environmental standards for federal infrastructure projects, and expanded permitted areas for drilling and resource extraction, such as allowing drilling in the Arctic Refuge.[204]

Trump dismantled federal regulations on health,[205][206] labor,[206] the environment,[207][206] and other areas, including a bill that revoked the Obama-era regulation restricting the sale of firearms to severely mentally ill people.[208] During his first six weeks in office, he delayed, suspended, or reversed ninety federal regulations,[209] often "after requests by the regulated industries".[210] The Institute for Policy Integrity found that 78 percent of his proposals were blocked by courts or did not prevail over litigation.[211] During his campaign, Trump vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.[212] In office, he scaled back the Act's implementation through executive orders.[213][214] He expressed a desire to "let Obamacare fail"; his administration halved the enrollment period and drastically reduced funding for enrollment promotion.[215][216] In June 2018, the Trump administration joined 18 Republican-led states in arguing before the Supreme Court that the elimination of the financial penalties associated with the individual mandate had rendered the Act unconstitutional.[217][218] Their pleading would have eliminated health insurance coverage for up to 23 million Americans, but was unsuccessful.[217] During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised to protect funding for Medicare and other social safety-net programs. In January 2020, he expressed willingness to consider cuts to them.[219]

In response to the opioid epidemic, Trump signed legislation in 2018 to increase funding for drug treatments, but was widely criticized for failing to make a concrete strategy.[220] He barred organizations that provide abortions or abortion referrals from receiving federal funds.[221] He said he supported "traditional marriage", but considered the nationwide legality of same-sex marriage "settled".[222] His administration rolled back key components of the Obama administration's workplace protections against discrimination of LGBTQ people.[223] His attempted rollback of anti-discrimination protections for transgender patients in August 2020 was halted by a federal judge after a Supreme Court ruling extended employees' civil rights protections to gender identity and sexual orientation.[224] Trump has said he is opposed to gun control, although his views have shifted over time.[225] His administration took an anti-marijuana position, revoking Obama-era policies that provided protections for states that legalized marijuana.[226] He is a long-time advocate of capital punishment,[227][228] and his administration oversaw the federal government execute 13 prisoners, more than in the previous 56 years combined, ending a 17-year moratorium.[229] In 2016, he said he supported the use of interrogation torture methods "a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding".[230][231]

Race relations Unite the Right rally comments Trump's comments on the 2017 Unite the Right rally, condemning "this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides" and stating that there were "very fine people on both sides", were criticized as implying a moral equivalence between the white supremacist demonstrators and the counter-protesters.[232] In a January 2018 discussion of immigration legislation, he reportedly referred to El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and African nations as "shithole countries".[233] His remarks were condemned as racist.[234]

With a group of officials and advisors walking from the White House to St. John's Church, following the forced removal of protesters at Lafayette Square In July 2019, Trump tweeted that four Democratic congresswomen—all minorities, three of whom are native-born Americans—should "go back" to the countries they "came from".[235] Two days later the House of Representatives voted 240–187, mostly along party lines, to condemn his "racist comments".[236] White nationalist publications and social media praised his remarks, which continued over the following days.[237] He continued to make similar remarks during his 2020 campaign.[238] In June 2020, during the George Floyd protests, federal law-enforcement officials used tear gas and other crowd control tactics to remove a largely peaceful crowd of lawful protesters from Lafayette Square, outside the White House.[239][240] Trump then posed with a Bible for a photo-op at the nearby St. John's Episcopal Church,[239][241][242] with religious leaders condemning both the treatment of protesters and the photo opportunity itself.[243] Many retired military leaders and defense officials condemned his proposal to use the U.S. military against anti-police-brutality protesters.[244]

Pardons and commutations Further information: List of people granted executive clemency in the first Trump presidency During his first term, Trump granted 237 requests for clemency, fewer than all presidents since 1900 with the exception of George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.[245] Only 25 of them had been vetted by the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney; the others were granted to people with personal or political connections to him, his family, and his allies, or recommended by celebrities.[246][247] In his last full day in office, he granted 73 pardons and commuted 70 sentences.[248] Several Trump allies were not eligible for pardons under Justice Department rules, and in other cases the department had opposed clemency.[246] The pardons of three military service members convicted of or charged with violent crimes were opposed by military leaders.[249]

Immigration and family separation Main articles: Immigration policy of the first Trump administration and Mexico–United States border crisis § First Trump administration (2017–2021) Further information: Travel bans under the Trump administrations, Trump administration family separation policy, and Mexico–United States border wall § First Trump administration (2017–2021) As president, Trump described illegal immigration as an "invasion" of the United States[250] and drastically escalated immigration enforcement.[251][252] He implemented harsh policies against asylum seekers[252] and deployed nearly 6,000 troops to the U.S.–Mexico border to stop illegal crossings.[253] He reduced the number of refugees admitted to record lows, from an annual limit of 110,000 before he took office to 15,000 in 2021.[254][255][256] Trump also increased restrictions on granting permanent residency to immigrants needing public benefits.[257] One of his central campaign promises was to build a wall along the U.S.–Mexico border;[258] during his first term, the U.S. built 73 miles (117 km) of wall in areas without barriers and 365 miles (587 km) to replace older barriers.[259] In 2018, Trump's refusal to sign any spending bill unless it allocated funding for the border wall[260] resulted in the longest-ever federal government shutdown, for 35 days from December 2018 to January 2019.[261][262] The shutdown ended after he agreed to fund the government without any funds for the wall.[261] To avoid another shutdown, Congress passed a funding bill with $1.4 billion for border fencing in February.[263] Trump later declared a national emergency on the southern border to divert $6.1 billion of funding to the border wall[263] despite congressional disagreement.[264]

In January 2017, Trump signed an executive order that denied entry to citizens from six Muslim-majority countries for four months and from Syria indefinitely.[265][266] The order caused many protests and legal challenges that resulted in nationwide injunctions.[265][266][267] A revised order giving some exceptions was also blocked by courts,[268][269] but the Supreme Court ruled in June that the ban could be enforced on those lacking "a bona fide relationship with a person or entity" in the U.S.[270] Trump replaced the ban in September with a presidential proclamation extending travel bans to North Koreans, Chadians, and some Venezuelan officials, but excluded Iraq and Sudan.[271] The Supreme Court allowed that version to go into effect in December 2017,[272] and ultimately upheld the ban in 2019.[273]

Children, sleeping mats, and foil blankets in wire mesh compartment, Ursula detention facility, June 2018 From 2017 to 2018, the Trump administration had a policy of family separation that separated over 4,400 children, some as young as four months old,[274] from migrant parents at the U.S.–Mexico border.[275][276] The unprecedented[277] policy sparked public outrage in the country.[278] Despite Trump initially blaming Democrats[279][280] and insisting he could not stop the policy with an executive order, he acceded to public pressure in June 2018 and mandated that illegal immigrant families be detained together unless "there is a concern" of risk for the child.[281][282] A judge later ordered that the families be reunited and further separations stopped except in limited circumstances,[283][284] though over 1,000 additional children were separated from their families after the order.[276] By April 2024, 1,360 children had not been confirmed as reunified with their families.[274]

Foreign policy Main articles: Foreign policy of the first Trump administration and Tariffs in the first Trump administration Further information: Russia–United States relations § First Trump administration (2017–2021), China–United States relations § First Trump administration (2017–2021), 2017–2018 North Korea crisis, and 2018–19 Korean peace process A group of seven men and one woman, sitting at a round conference table. Trump wears a dark blue suit, white dress shirt, and light blue necktie. A small sign reading "G7 France Biarritz 2019" hangs on the wall behind them. G7 leaders at the 45th summit in France, 2019 Trump described himself as a "nationalist"[285] and his foreign policy as "America First".[286] He supported populist, neo-nationalist, and authoritarian governments.[287] Unpredictability, uncertainty, and inconsistency characterized foreign relations during his tenure.[286][288] Relations between the U.S. and its European allies were strained under Trump.[289] He criticized NATO allies and privately suggested that the U.S. should withdraw from NATO.[290][291] Trump supported many of the policies of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[292] In 2020, Trump hosted the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize their foreign relations.[293]

Shaking hands with Russian president Vladimir Putin during the 2018 summit in Helsinki, Finland Trump began a trade war with China in 2018 after imposing tariffs and other trade barriers he said would force China to end longstanding unfair trade practice and intellectual property infringement.[294] Trump weakened the toughest U.S. sanctions imposed after the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea.[295][296] Trump praised and, according to some critics, rarely criticized Russian president Vladimir Putin,[297][298] though he opposed some actions of Russia's government.[299] He withdrew the U.S. from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, citing alleged Russian noncompliance,[300] and supported Russia's possible return to the G7.[301] As North Korea's nuclear weapons were increasingly seen as a serious threat,[302] Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader, meeting Kim Jong Un three times: in Singapore in June 2018, in Hanoi in February 2019, and in the Korean Demilitarized Zone in June 2019.[303] Talks in October 2019 broke down and no denuclearization agreement was reached.[304][305]

Personnel Main articles: Political appointments of the first Trump administration and First cabinet of Donald Trump Further information: Hiring and personnel of Donald Trump By the end of Trump's first year in office, 34 percent of his original staff had resigned, been fired, or been reassigned.[306] By July 2018, 61 percent of his senior aides had left[307] and 141 staffers had left in the previous year.[308] Both figures set a record for recent presidents.[309] Close personal aides to Trump quit or were forced out.[310] He publicly disparaged several of his former top officials.[311]

Trump had four White House chiefs of staff, marginalizing or pushing out several.[312] In May 2017, he dismissed FBI director James Comey, saying a few days later that he was concerned about Comey's role in the Trump–Russia investigations.[313][314] Three of Trump's 15 original cabinet members left or were forced to resign within his first year.[315][310] Trump was slow to appoint second-tier officials in the executive branch, saying many of the positions are unnecessary. In October 2017, there were hundreds of sub-cabinet positions without a nominee.[316] By January 8, 2019, of 706 key positions, 433 had been filled and he had no nominee for 264.[317]

Judiciary Further information: List of federal judges appointed by Donald Trump and Donald Trump judicial appointment controversies Trump appointed 226 federal judges, including 54 to the courts of appeals and three to the Supreme Court: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.[318] His Supreme Court appointments politically shifted the Court to the right.[319][320][321] In the 2016 campaign, he pledged that Roe v. Wade would be overturned "automatically" if he were elected and given the opportunity to appoint two or three anti-abortion justices. He later took credit when Roe was overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022; all three of his Supreme Court nominees voted with the majority.[322][323] Trump disparaged courts and judges he disagreed with, often in personal terms, and questioned the judiciary's constitutional authority. His attacks on courts drew rebukes from observers, including sitting federal judges, concerned about the effect of his statements on the judicial independence and public confidence in the judiciary.[324][325]