One of the starting points for this contemporary history is June 16, 2015. Donald Trump glides down the golden escalator in his Manhattan skyscraper Trump Tower, in front of the flashing cameras of the press corps.
The businessman and TV personality is holding an event to confirm his candidacy in the presidential election the following year. He exclaims that it's wonderful to stand in front of so many people – "Thousands!" – and claims that he got a larger audience than the other presidential candidates had when they launched their candidacies.
He goes on to say that the USA needs to start winning again. He asserts that other countries are letting in rapists as migrants across the USA's borders and that the country needs "a leader who wrote 'The Art of the Deal'" – his (ghostwritten) bestselling biography from 1987.
These are themes that will be familiar from Donald Trump's subsequent political career: audience numbers and popularity, immigration criticism, and the art of negotiation.
Wins over "ordinary" Americans
With his straightforward rhetoric, Donald Trump quickly wins over many "ordinary" Americans – those who are tired of what is described as a political elite, dominated for decades by dynasties like Kennedy, Bush, and Clinton.
With a campaign promising to "drain the swamp" in Washington and an ability to emerge unscathed from several scandals, Trump defeats the Democrats' Hillary Clinton – something few professional pundits had predicted.
The first controversy of many during his presidency comes immediately after the inauguration, when Trump's staff claims that the audience at the ceremony was record-breaking. When journalists point out that it's not true, one of the most influential phrases in modern American politics is established: Trump's press secretary had simply presented "alternative facts".
Convicted of crime
The battle against truth reaches its climax towards the end of Trump's four years in the White House, when he disputes the 2020 election won by Joe Biden. On January 6, he urges his supporters to "fight like hell". Parts of the crowd that hear him take the message literally, and the deadly storming of the Capitol is written into the dark chapter of the USA's democratic history.
Since then, several legal processes have followed. The only court case that has been completed, the one where he was charged with accounting fraud in connection with payments to a porn actress, led to a guilty verdict.
With that, the millionaire son, New York icon, builder, businessman, former and future president added another title to his list: federal criminal. As many times before, he got off lightly. In light of his soon becoming the country's head of state, the court decided that he would neither receive prison time nor fines.
Born in 1946 in Queens, New York, where he also grew up. Has an economics degree with a focus on real estate from the University of Pennsylvania.
When Trump was 25 years old, he took over as CEO of the family business Elizabeth Trump & Son, which was later renamed The Trump Organization. The family's wealth had been founded by his German-born grandfather Frederick Trump, who started his career as a brothel owner during the gold rush of the 1890s.
When Donald Trump took over, the business empire comprised over 500 companies in areas such as construction, aviation, real estate, and media.
Is the father of five children and married for the third time. His current wife is Melania Trump, born in 1970 in the city of Novo Mesto in what was then Yugoslavia, now Slovenia.
Donald Trump was the 45th President of the USA from 2017 to 2021. The outspoken Republican won the presidential election in 2016 with the promise to "make America great again". Failed to be re-elected in November 2020, but after the election victory in 2024, he is now the country's 47th president.
Was the first president who did not have prior experience as an elected politician or military officer.
Source: NE, TT
