A quick guide to Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Republican Donald Trump, 78, is running again for the White House. Here’s all you need to know.

He stunned the world when he won the presidency in 2016

Many didn’t take Trump’s first bid for president seriously - he was, after all, best known as a businessman and reality TV star.

But, against all odds, he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, former US secretary of state and wife of former president Bill Clinton.

He introduced major change while in the White House

Tightening immigration was a key campaign promise. He cracked down on travel from several Muslim-majority countries and strengthened part of the southern border.

He made the top court in the US more conservative, withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement and started a trade war with China.

He was an unconventional - and sometimes controversial - president

Part of his appeal to voters was that he didn’t speak or act like other politicians. And winning the White House did not change that - he fired off tweets at all hours.

His final months in office were dominated by one story - the Covid-19 pandemic. His critics say he heightened divisions over masks, lockdowns and vaccines.

Trump lost in 2020 against Joe Biden but refused to accept defeat

His first term in office ended with bitterness and violence when he made unfounded claims that he had lost the election unfairly.

His supporters stormed the US Capitol after he gave a speech in the centre of Washington DC. The riot placed lawmakers and his own vice-president in danger.

Now Trump is running again - for a third time

It’s been over 100 years since a defeated president won re-election. If he beats Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris, he would also make history as the oldest president, aged 82 at the end of his term.

His family were migrants from Germany and Scotland

The fourth of five children, Trump was born in Queens, New York, in 1946 to a Scottish mother and Fred Trump, the son of German immigrants.

His father was a real estate tycoon in New York and his son’s inspiration. Donald joined the family business and became its president in 1971.

His name is on eye-catching buildings around the US

In the 1980s, his business invested in several big real estate projects in New York, including Manhattan glass skyscraper, Trump Tower.

As his real-estate empire grew, so did his celebrity status, helped by his 1987 book The Art of The Deal.

In 1988, Forbes magazine estimated his net worth to be $1bn. But tax returns obtained by the New York Times showed Trump lost more than $1bn between 1985 and 1994, as businesses collapsed or were sold.

He's been down the aisle three times and has five children

He had three children - Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric - with his first wife Ivana. His second marriage to actress Marla Maples came two months after the birth of their daughter, Tiffany.

Trump married Slovenian model Melania Knauss in 2005, his current wife and the former first lady. The couple have an 18-year-old son, Barron.

The Apprentice US made Trump a reality TV star

Trump has made several on-screen cameo appearances, including in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Home Alone 2.

However, The Apprentice - which he hosted from 2004 to 2015 - made Donald Trump a household name.

Trump faces four separate criminal investigations

In a New York trial, the former president was convicted of falsifying business records in a case about hush-money payments to silence a porn star before the 2016 election.

Three other criminal trials - including two for his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election result - have been delayed until after this election.

Trump survived two assassination attempts this year

A gunman fired shots at him in Pennsylvania in July, one of the bullets grazing his right ear. One spectator was killed.

Another alleged attempt on his life two months later was thwarted by Secret Service agents at Trump’s Florida golf course.

“God has now spared my life… not once, but twice,” he told a rally in New York.

His two big pledges are curbing immigration and boosting the economy

He says he will secure the southern border and enact the biggest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in US history.

Trump wants to introduce a tax on imported goods, tariffs, to help US firms flourish but analysts warn that could increase prices.

The tariffs, he says, can help pay for big tax cuts for workers and businesses.

In foreign policy, the former president wants fewer US military commitments overseas and he has been very critical of US aid going to Ukraine since the invasion by Russia.

Who else is in the running?

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