The 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump was a celebrity real-estate developer, TV personality, and tabloid mainstay before assuming the presidency in 2016. 

Born in Queens in 1946, Trump’s real estate empire, three marriages, affairs, and flashy antics within the New York social scene garnered him a celebrity status that culminated in his reality TV show The Apprentice, which ran from 2004-2017. 

Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican nomination while descending an escalator at Trump Tower in New York. He maligned immigrants, minorities, women, and his opponents throughout his campaign, but still won the nomination and went on to narrowly defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the general election — although he lost the popular vote.

Trump’s presidency was characterized by right-wing extremism and the rapid degradation of American political norms. Hallmarks of his time in office include the appointment of three Supreme Court judges (and the end of federal abortion rights as a result), hardline policies against immigration, a nationalistic approach to foreign policy, two impeachments, a disastrous response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and cozy relationships with authoritarian foreign leaders. 

Perhaps the most infamous marker of Trump’s time in office was his refusal to leave it. After losing reelection to President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump falsely claimed the election had been fraudulently rigged against him. He declared victory and leveled a slew of legal challenges in various states in an attempt to overturn the will of voters. Ultimately, a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College vote. 

Trump continues to insist the 2020 election was stolen from him, and despite currently facing a slew of criminal charges — both at the federal and state level — is the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination. —Nikki McCann Ramirez