Trump briefly considered a career in show business but ultimately chose to enroll at Fordham University in 1964. Two years later, he transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in May 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics.

In 1968, he started working at Trump Management, his father's real estate firm. Just two years later, he invested $70,000 to earn billing as a co-producer of a Broadway comedy.

In 1971, his father appointed him president of the company, and he began using the Trump Organization as an umbrella brand. This set the stage for the launch of his family’s first venture in Manhattan: the renovation of the 2,000-room Commodore Hotel at 109 East 42nd Street, adjacent to Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. In 1978, it was transformed into the 1,400-room Grand Hyatt New York.

The hotel reopened in 1980, and that same year, he acquired the rights to develop Trump Tower, a 58-story, 663-foot-tall mixed-use condominium skyscraper located at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by Der Scutt of Swank Hayden Connell Architects, the tower was developed by Donald Trump, now an iconic real estate developer.

In September 1983, he purchased the New Jersey Generals, a team in the United States Football League. The following year, he founded Harrah’s, a hotel and casino at Trump Plaza. He later acquired the Atlantic City Hilton Hotel, which was still under construction, and renamed it Trump Castle. Trump and his Plaza Hotel hosted several boxing matches at the Atlantic City Convention Center Hall.

In 1985, he acquired the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, converting it into a private club and designating a wing of the house as his residence. In 1988, Trump also acquired the Plaza Hotel and the Trump Taj Mahal, marking his third venture in Atlantic City. This project ended with an expenditure of $1.1 billion. During this period, Trump purchased Eastern Air Lines’ Shuttle and renamed it the Trump Shuttle. He also associated his name with the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia to create an American counterpart to the Tour de Trump, a cycling stage race.

In the early 1990s, he secured the right to develop a 70-acre tract in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan’s Upper West Side. In collaboration with six civic associations, the $3 billion Riverside South project, which included multiple residential towers, replaced the New York Central Railroad’s 60th Street Yard. This skyscraper was later renamed the Trump Building, a key property in the Wall 3 Street Historic District and a recognized landmark on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Together with his siblings, Maryanne, Elizabeth, and Robert, as well as Cousin John W. Walter, Trump founded All County Building Supply & Maintenance Corp in 1992. His other ventures included the Trump Shuttle airline, a luxurious yacht named the Trump Princess, which was leased to his casinos and remained docked, Trump University, and the Miss Universe pageants, featuring Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. Additionally, he was involved in consumer products and services, covering food items, clothing, educational courses, and home furnishings.

Trump has authored 19 books. His first book, The Art of the Deal (1987), became a New York Times bestseller and was recognized by The New Yorker for making Trump famous as an emblem of the successful tycoon. He has made appearances in numerous films and television shows. He has been a guest on the nationally syndicated Howard Stern Show 24 times, hosted a talk radio program called Trumped, and served as a guest commentator on Fox & Friends.

A television celebrity, Trump hosted “The Apprentice” and its spin-off, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” attracting millions of viewers nationwide. In the show, he portrayed a wealthy CEO who eliminated contestants with the iconic phrase, “You’re fired.” In 2007, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his role as producer of the Miss Universe pageant.

Trump registered as a Republican in 1987, joined the Independence Party (the New York state affiliate of the Reform Party) in 1999, switched to the Democratic Party in 2001, rejoined the Republican Party in 2009, became unaffiliated in 2011, and returned to the Republican Party in 2012. In 1987, Trump placed full-page advertisements in major newspapers to express his views on foreign policy and to propose solutions for addressing the federal budget deficit. Three years later, he was a candidate in the 2000 Reform Party presidential primaries for three months before withdrawing in February 2000. He spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, delivered speeches in states with early primaries, and later announced that he would not be running for the office.

Trump declared his candidacy for the 2016 election in June 2015, became the Republican front-runner in March 2016, and was announced as the presumptive Republican nominee in May. In mid-July, he selected Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, and they were officially nominated at the 2016 Republican National Convention. After participating in three presidential debates 4 with Hillary Clinton in September and October 2016, Trump was elected president in November of that year and inaugurated on January 20, 2017.

Trump announced his reelection candidacy just hours after being sworn in as president in 2017 and held his first reelection rally less than a month after taking office. In a competitive primary that featured the most candidates for any political party in the modern era of American politics, Trump secured renomination in August 2020, garnering a total of 2,549 delegates, one of the highest totals in presidential primary history, in the Republican primaries. The presidential elections were held on November 3, 2020, featuring incumbent President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence against the Democratic candidates, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The Trump campaign declared victory the morning after the election, but his win was challenged days later, and Biden was announced as the winner despite allegations of election fraud. Trump did not formally concede, and his allies submitted multiple legal challenges to the results.

When the Supreme Court declined to hear a case seeking to overturn the results, Trump held a rally on January 6, 2021, at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., where he urged the election be overturned. Despite the frigid temperatures, his supporters marched to the Capitol just as Congress was about to certify the presidential election results. The process was interrupted, resulting in the evacuation of Congress. Some protesters and police officers sustained injuries, and five individuals lost their lives either during or after the demonstration.

When Congress later reconvened and confirmed Biden’s victory in the early hours of January 7, Trump left the White House, refused to attend Biden’s January 20 inauguration, and vowed to fight against the rigged election. This angered his critics, who worried about a potential comeback.

Trump began living at Mar-a-Lago, establishing an office there as provided for by the Former Presidents Act. Not long afterward, FBI agents searched the residence of the 45 th President of the United States, and he was sued for virtually everything. From unpaid wages and violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act to defamation, battery, sexual misconduct, harassment, and assault; falsifying business records; inflating the Trump Organization’s value; racketeering; obstructing an official proceeding; conspiring to defraud the United States; inciting insurrection; and breaching the Espionage Act (among others), Trump’s life was intertwined with the 5 judicial system. He pleaded not guilty and accused his opponents of election interference.

In November 2022, Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. A year later, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that he was disqualified from the Colorado Republican primary due to his involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress. However, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reinstated his name on the ballot, ruling that Colorado lacks the authority to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which would have prevented him from holding federal office.

While campaigning, Trump was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania. Two days later, he was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate for 2024, with Senator JD Vance as his running mate. In September, he faced another assassination attempt in Florida.

In the November 2024 election, Trump secured 312 electoral votes, defeating incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris, who received 226 votes. This victory makes him the second U.S. president, following Grover Cleveland, to achieve a non-consecutive second term in office. After winning the popular vote, multiple media sources described his landslide election victory as the most remarkable comeback in US history.

President Trump has five children: Barron, Don Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany, and ten grandchildren. He is married to First Lady Melania Trump.