100 Fun Facts About Donald Trump

In which New York City borough was Donald Trump born?

He grew up in a 23-room house in Jamaica Estates, the fourth of Fred and Mary Anne Trump's five children.

Trump graduated in 1968 from the Wharton School, which is part of which Ivy League institution?

He spent his first two years at Fordham before transferring; he had considered film school in California.

Which boarding school did Trump's father send him to from eighth through twelfth grade?

He had attended the private Kew-Forest School through seventh grade before the move.

What new name did the family real-estate company get when Donald took over as its president in 1971?

Fred Trump's business managed middle-class apartments in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island; his son pushed it into Manhattan.

Trump's first big Manhattan project, opened in 1980, was the renovation of which derelict hotel by Grand Central?

It reopened as the Grand Hyatt with help from a $400 million city tax abatement arranged by his father.

How many storeys tall is Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue?

It opened in stages through 1983 next door to the Tiffany & Co. flagship, and its apartments sold out within months.

Who is credited as co-author of Trump's 1987 bestseller The Art of the Deal?

The ghostwriter later publicly regretted the book; it made Trump a national celebrity as a dealmaker.

How many times did Trump's businesses file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection between 1991 and 2009?

The filings covered the Plaza Hotel, the Atlantic City casinos and Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts; he never filed personally.

Which airline did Trump buy in 1988 and rename after himself?

Trump Shuttle was financed with $380 million in loans from 22 banks and passed to the lenders after he defaulted in 1991.

Which beauty pageant organisation did Trump buy in 1996?

The deal included Miss USA and Miss Teen USA; NBC dropped the pageants in 2015 after his campaign-launch remarks about immigrants.

In which Florida town is Mar-a-Lago, the estate Trump bought in 1985?

He turned it into a private club in 1995 and declared it his primary residence in 2019.

Which New Jersey resort town was home to Trump's casinos, including the Taj Mahal?

The Taj Mahal was his third venue there, bought in 1988 and financed largely with junk bonds.

Which reality-TV producer created The Apprentice, which Trump hosted from 2004?

The show ran on NBC, and its winners received a one-year $250,000 contract to promote a Trump property.

What was Trump's catchphrase for eliminating contestants on The Apprentice?

The New York Times called the show's version of him 'a highly flattering, highly fictionalized version' of himself.

Which former governor replaced Trump as host of The Apprentice after NBC cut ties in 2015?

NBC dropped Trump over remarks about Mexican immigrants in his June 2015 campaign announcement.

In which 1992 Christmas film does Trump appear as himself, giving directions in a hotel lobby?

According to director Chris Columbus, the cameo was the price of filming inside the Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned at the time.

At WrestleMania 23, what was at stake in the 'Battle of the Billionaires' between Trump and Vince McMahon?

Each man picked a wrestler to fight for him; Trump's man Bobby Lashley won and McMahon was shaved bald in the ring.

Which wrestler represented Trump in that WrestleMania 23 match?

Stone Cold Steve Austin was special guest referee, and the event set an all-time Ford Field attendance record of 74,287.

Trump's first wife Ivana was the mother of which three children?

Tiffany is his daughter with Marla Maples and Barron his son with Melania.

Melania Trump was born in which country?

Born Melanija Knavs in what was then Yugoslavia, she began modelling at 16 and married Trump in 2005.

Which company, cofounded in 2005, was renamed because New York said it was not an academic institution?

It sold real-estate seminars for up to $35,000, became the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative in 2010 and was sued by the state for $40 million in 2013.

In 2000, Trump briefly ran for the presidential nomination of which movement founded by Ross Perot?

He withdrew after three months; he had registered as a Democrat in 2001, a Republican in 2009 and unaffiliated in 2011 before settling as a Republican in 2012.

Which Republican nominee did Trump ask, via Lee Atwater in 1988, to make him his running mate?

Bush called the request 'strange and unbelievable'; a year earlier Trump had taken out full-page ads on foreign policy.

How many electoral votes did Trump win in the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton?

He was the fifth president elected while losing the popular vote, trailing Clinton by about 2.87 million votes.

Trump was the first president to have done neither of which two things before he was inaugurated?

Every previous president had at least one of the two on his resume; Trump campaigned explicitly as an outsider.

Who served as Trump's vice president during his first term?

The former Indiana governor later refused Trump's requests to reject electoral votes on January 6, 2021.

Trump's first impeachment in December 2019 arose from a phone call with the president of which country?

A whistleblower complaint said he had pressed Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden; the Senate acquitted him.

How many Republican senators voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial in February 2021?

The House had charged him with incitement of insurrection after the January 6 Capitol attack; he had already left office when the vote came.

Roughly how many times did Trump post on Twitter between 2009 and his ban in January 2021?

Twitter began fact-check labels on some of his posts in May 2020; he launched his own platform in February 2022 after being banned.

Which platform, owned by Trump Media & Technology Group, launched in February 2022?

It has been described as a Twitter clone and was created in response to his bans after January 6.

In May 2024 Trump became the first US president convicted of a felony. On how many counts?

The charges were falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment; he received an unconditional discharge in January 2025 and is appealing.

Near which Pennsylvania town was Trump shot in the ear at a rally on July 13, 2024?

Two days later the Republican convention formally nominated him; AP photographer Evan Vucci's picture of his raised fist became one of the images of the campaign.

Who was Trump's running mate in the 2024 election?

The Ohio senator and Hillbilly Elegy author became the first Marine Corps veteran to serve as vice president.

How many electoral votes did Trump win against Kamala Harris in 2024?

He swept all seven top swing states, including Nevada for the first Republican win there since 2004.

Trump is the second person to serve two non-consecutive terms as president. Who was the first?

Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president; Trump is the 45th and 47th.

Why was Trump's January 2025 inauguration held inside the Capitol Rotunda?

The ceremony fell on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, only the third inauguration to do so, and the parade moved to Capital One Arena.

According to Trump, his career began with what from his father?

Reporting later found he borrowed at least $60 million from his father and received about $413 million in today's money from the family business.

Under what pseudonym did Trump pose as his own spokesman when calling reporters?

His youngest son was later named Barron; 'David Dennison' was the alias in the Stormy Daniels agreement.

How many golf courses did Trump own worldwide by 2016?

He began building and buying courses in 1999; golf and real estate produced most of his business revenue in 2017.

Which country was the birthplace of Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod?

His paternal grandfather Friedrich came from Kallstadt in Germany and made money in the Klondike Gold Rush.

Which university did Trump attend for two years in 1964 before transferring to Wharton?

He had considered film school in California but stayed close to home, even joining ROTC for a year before dropping it.

Which lawyer was Trump's fixer and mentor for 13 years in the 1970s and 1980s?

Cohn, earlier chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy, helped Trump countersue the federal government for $100 million over housing discrimination charges in 1973.

In which New York neighborhood did Trump grow up in a 23-room mansion?

His father Fred paid each of the children about $20,000 a year, making Donald a millionaire in inflation-adjusted dollars by age eight.

Trump was the first sitting US president to meet which foreign leader, three times in 2018-19?

The summits in Singapore, Hanoi and at the Korean DMZ produced no denuclearization deal; talks broke down in October 2019.

Which of these Supreme Court justices was appointed by Trump?

Trump appointed 234 federal judges in his first term, and all three of his Supreme Court picks voted with the majority when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

Mar-a-Lago was built in the 1920s for which cereal-fortune heiress?

Post willed the estate to the US government as a Winter White House, but upkeep costs were so high that it was handed back to her foundation.

Trump Tower was built on the Fifth Avenue site of which department store's flagship?

Trump had eyed the corner since childhood; it sits next to Tiffany & Co., which he considered the best property in the city.

Trump's last big construction project, a 92-story tower opened in 2008, is in which city?

The Trump International Hotel and Tower on the Chicago River later drew IRS scrutiny over losses Trump claimed on units he had declared worthless.

The 2020 Abraham Accords normalized Israel's relations with the UAE and which other state?

Trump hosted the signing at the White House; Morocco and Sudan followed with their own normalization deals later that year.

Trump was exempted from the Vietnam-era draft on the basis of what medical claim?

The exemption came while he was at Wharton, where he had already set his sights on a real-estate career.

Trump's first-day 2025 order renamed the Gulf of Mexico the 'Gulf of' what?

The same order, 'Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness', also turned Denali back into Mount McKinley, its federal name from 1917 to 2015.

Which billionaire led Trump's Department of Government Efficiency in 2025?

DOGE teams were working inside eighteen departments and agencies within the administration's first month, including the Treasury's $5 trillion payment system.

In 2011 Trump became the leading promoter of the 'birther' theory about which president?

He finally acknowledged Obama's US birthplace in September 2016, while falsely claiming Hillary Clinton had started the rumor in 2008.

Trump has called which activity his 'primary form of exercise'?

He usually rides a cart rather than walking the course, and has said the body is like a battery with a finite amount of energy that exercise depletes.

Which new US military service was established in December 2019, in Trump's first term?

It became the sixth armed service, and General Jay Raymond was its first member and chief of space operations.

Which Danish territory did Trump threaten to annex in 2025, even by military force?

He dropped the threats in January 2026, saying he had reached 'the framework of a future deal' with NATO.

In Dec 2017 Trump recognized which city as Israel's capital, moving the US embassy there?

The embassy was set up on the grounds of the former US Consulate General, relocating from Tel Aviv.

What did Trump call April 2, 2025, when he unveiled sweeping tariffs in the Rose Garden?

The announcement triggered the 2025 stock market crash, and the White House suspended the April 9 increases a week later to allow negotiations.

Which climate accord did Trump pull the US out of in both his first and second terms?

Biden rejoined in 2021; the first withdrawal briefly left the US as the only nation not party to the deal.

Which Iranian general died in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020?

He commanded the Quds Force and was travelling to meet Iraq's prime minister; both Bush and Obama had considered and rejected targeting him.

Which FBI director did Trump fire in May 2017?

Days later Trump said he had been thinking about Comey's role in the Russia investigations; the FBI then opened a second inquiry into Trump himself.

Which city hosted the July 2024 Republican National Convention that nominated Trump?

It ran July 15–18 at Fiserv Forum, beating Nashville, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City for the bid.

What did Trump ride down at Trump Tower to launch his 2016 campaign on June 16, 2015?

The ride has since become shorthand for the whole announcement; his speech focused on illegal immigration, offshoring and the national debt.

Who beat Trump in the 2016 Iowa Republican caucuses, the first contest of the primary?

Cruz visited all 99 Iowa counties and won 27.6 percent, outperforming polls that predicted a narrow Trump win.

In 2019 Trump showed a Sharpie-altered map putting Alabama in which hurricane's path?

His September 1 tweet had wrongly listed Alabama among states in danger; so many Alabamians called the weather service that it issued a correction.

Who was Trump's first White House chief of staff, lasting six months in 2017?

The former RNC chairman resigned in July 2017 after communications director Anthony Scaramucci publicly implied he was behind leaks.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act set a flat corporate tax rate of what?

It replaced a tiered structure that topped out at 39 percent and moved the US from a global to a territorial corporate tax system.

The 2018–19 government shutdown over border-wall funding lasted how many days?

It ended with no wall money; Trump later declared a national emergency to divert $6.1 billion to the barrier instead.

In which city did Trump hold his July 2018 summit with Vladimir Putin?

The two met in the Presidential Palace's Gothic Hall with only interpreters present, hosted by Finnish president Sauli Niinistö.

Who was the first woman to manage a winning US presidential campaign, for Trump in 2016?

She was the campaign's third manager, taking over from Paul Manafort in August and serving just ten weeks before election day.

The 2005 hot-mic tape released in October 2016 caught Trump talking with which TV host?

The two were on an Access Hollywood bus at NBC Studios, where Trump was about to tape a cameo on the soap opera Days of Our Lives.

Trump's first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, had been CEO of which company?

An Eagle Scout who had led the Boy Scouts, Tillerson never donated to Trump's campaign and had opposed sanctions on Russia in 2014.

Giuliani's Nov 2020 press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping was in which city?

The venue sits on the same block as a sex shop and across from a crematorium, and was widely assumed to be a mix-up with the Four Seasons hotel.

Which Georgia official did Trump ask to 'find 11,780 votes' in a January 2021 phone call?

The secretary of state repeatedly told him there had been no electoral error; the hour-long recording became public the next day.

What was the codename of the June 2025 US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites?

B-2 stealth bombers dropped fourteen 'bunker buster' bombs on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan while a submarine fired Tomahawk missiles.

Which leader was captured in a US military raid in January 2026 and flown to New York?

He was charged with drug trafficking; afterwards the US took de facto control of Venezuela's finances, foreign policy and oil revenues.

In which Georgia county was Trump indicted on racketeering charges in August 2023?

The 13-count case was dismissed in November 2025 after a new prosecutor declined to pursue it.

Trump's midnight tweet of May 2017 read 'Despite the constant negative press' what?

Posted six minutes after midnight and deleted six hours later, it was presumed a typo for 'coverage' and became an instant meme.

Which USFL team did Trump buy in 1983 for about $6 million?

He had first made low-ball bids for the Mets and Cleveland Indians; the league folded after 1985, largely over his push to move to a fall schedule.

Trump was Time's Person of the Year in 2016 and again in which year?

In 2017 he claimed Time had told him he would 'probably' win again if he sat for an interview; the magazine denied it and named him runner-up.

Which Florida judge dismissed the classified-documents case against Trump in July 2024?

She ruled that Jack Smith's appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional; the 31 Espionage Act counts were never tried.

Which writer won $5 million and $83.3 million verdicts against Trump in 2023 and 2024?

Federal appeals courts upheld both awards, and the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump's appeal in the first case.

Which Heisman-winning quarterback did Trump's USFL team sign in 1985 for $7 million?

The five-year personal-services deal made him the highest-paid player in pro football and the highest-paid rookie in any sport.

Which company released Trump: The Game in 1989?

Trump called it 'the Rolls-Royce of game companies'; the game sold 800,000 copies against a hoped-for two million before a 2004 re-release.

Trump won a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor for a cameo in which 1989 Bo Derek film?

The film also took Worst Picture, Worst Actress and Worst Director at the 11th Golden Raspberry Awards.

Which 2000 Simpsons episode imagined Trump having been president?

Writer Dan Greaney said a Trump presidency 'seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom'; after 2016 a chalkboard gag read 'Being right sucks'.

Trump's D.C. hotel (2016–22) occupied which historic Pennsylvania Avenue building?

The 60-year federal lease was sold in 2022 to CGI Merchant Group, and the property reopened as a Waldorf Astoria.

Which Central Park rink did Trump take over repairing in 1986 and finish in four months?

The city had been at it since 1980; Trump brought in a Canadian ice-rink maker and came in $775,000 under his $3 million ceiling.

Trump says he avoids alcohol partly because of the death of which relative from drinking?

Freddy, a TWA pilot who left the family business, died of a heart attack at 42 in 1981; Trump says he was lectured daily never to take a drink.

Trump's eldest sister Maryanne held what job until retiring in 2019?

She sat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and took inactive status in 2017, the year her brother took office.

What does TACO, a Wall Street term coined in 2025 about tariff reversals, stand for?

Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined the 'TACO trade' in May 2025, arguing markets had learned the administration backs off when tariffs bite.

What was the FBI codename for its 2016 investigation of Trump campaign–Russia links?

It was later absorbed into Robert Mueller's special counsel inquiry, whose 2019 report 'did not establish' a conspiracy with Russia.

According to biographer Gwenda Blair, the Trump family's surname was originally what?

The family traces to an itinerant lawyer who settled in Kallstadt in 1608; the name changed during the Thirty Years' War.

Why did Bavaria strip Trump's grandfather Friedrich of citizenship in 1905?

He had left for the US at 16 without doing his mandatory service; ordered out, he returned to New York with his family, where Fred was born.

Trump's USFL won its antitrust case against the NFL but was awarded how much in damages?

The league, down to seven franchises, folded soon after; Trump had pushed it into a fall schedule against the NFL.

Trump's 1980s yacht Trump Princess was originally built for which Saudi arms dealer?

As the Nabila it played the villain's ship in the Bond film Never Say Never Again; Trump bought it for $29 million from the Sultan of Brunei.

In 1970 Trump lost $70,000 of his father's money on his first investment, in what?

He paid for billing as coproducer; his first Manhattan real-estate deal did not come until later in the decade.

Who signed Executive Order 11246, the 1965 affirmative-action order Trump rescinded?

The order had required federal contractors to take affirmative action against racial discrimination for six decades.

Trump paid a record $11 million site fee to stage Mike Tyson's 1988 fight against whom?

Billed 'Once and For All', it was held at Convention Hall next to Trump Plaza and was then the richest fight in boxing history.

What was the original name of Trump's 1984 mega-development plan for the West Side?

Later renamed Trump City, it promised 8,000 apartments and a tower twice the height of its neighbors; celebrity opposition turned it into Riverside South.