The Disturbing, Fascinating Story Behind Donald Trump's Historic Rise

Before he was the president of the United States, Trump was the son to Frederick, a real estate developer, and Mary Trump, a New York socialite and philanthropist. His father, Frederick, was a builder and a real estate developer specializing in constructing and operating middle-income apartments in Queens, Staten Island, and Brooklyn. His mother, Mary, immigrated from Tong, Scotland, in 1929. The couple married in 1936. Frederick died in 1999; Mary in 2000.

Did you know Trump is the fourth of five children?

The former president tends to brag about his college degree from University of Pennsylvania, but he actually spent the first two years of undergrad at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY. A regular commuter from Queens, Trump was reportedly not very close to his college schoolmates. One Fordham alumnus said “He was a bit of a loner all those years ago and I really can’t recall his being close with anyone,” according to the Fordham Ram.

There’s still much speculation around how Trump ended up at the University of Pennsylvania. We know he graduated with a degree in economics, but journalist Michael Wolff said, “I’ve spoken to friends of Trump from that time, and this was a guy that was obviously not interested in school and possibly never read a book in his life.” He continued to the Philadelphia Magazine, “For everyone that had known him then and years afterward, the assumption was that he had terrible grades, he was a lackluster student at best.”

After college, Trump decided to maintain his family’s real estate business. Even though the former president has said his father gave him a “very small loan” of a million dollars to start his own business moves, it was more like $60 million in loans, according to CNBC.

Trump married his first wife, Ivana, in 1977. She was a New York fashion model and had even been an alternate on the 1972 Czech Olympic Ski Team. Together they had three children: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka and Eric. In 1992, the couple divorced, which sent shock waves to New York City elites.

“In 1989, the Central Park 5 — consisting of four Black teens and one Latino teen— were accused of attacking and raping a white woman in New York City. Trump took out ads in newspapers that read: ‘BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!’ The teenagers later had their convictions overturned, but Trump never apologized for his actions,” The Root reported.

It didn’t take Donny long to move on. In 1993, he married actress Marla Maples. The couple gave birth to their daughter, Tiffany, but in 1997, Trump filed for a highly publicized divorce from Maples. It was finalized in June 1999. In accordance to their prenup, Trump had to pay $2 million to his ex-wife.

The billionaire developed a history with Playboy Magazine, which helped make pornography mainstream. Trump was an occasional guest at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion, and he even made several cameos in soft-core films produced by the company. This was all before his political run, but as we all know, it would later come back to bite.

In 2005, Trump shocked the world and married his third wife, Melania. Their wedding was so lavish, even former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, were in attendance. The supermodel is 23 years his junior and together, they have a son, Barron.

Trump’s reality TV show, “The Apprentice” ran for 10 seasons from 2004 to 2010. The series was set in New York and followed candidates who all competed for a job with Trump, himself.

The year was 2011. Former Barack Obama was in office. Trump, who was highly critical of Obama and even began spewing lies about his ethnic identity, sat in the audience of the 2011 annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. During the night, Obama cracked a few jokes about Trump’s ridiculous and racist comments. It’s been rumored that this interaction is exactly what set Trump on his campaign for presidency.

Trump’s 2016 run against former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was one for the history books. His “Make America Great Again” slogan sparked controversy, but ultimately, Trump with his former running mate Mike Pence made history.

This go round proved different for the GOP nominee. Going up against former Vice President Joe Biden was no easy feat, and it all came to a head when Biden and his VP, Kamala Harris, claimed victory in 2020.

Trump is a sore loser... we all know that. What we didn’t know is he would incite an attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Several died and dozens more were injured as MAGA supporters stormed the building hoping to prevent the certification of the 2020 election.

Following the insurrection, Trump was banned from the platform. After his buddy, Elon Musk, bought out Twitter and changed its name to X, he reinstalled Trump’s tweeting capabilities.

We thought that 2020 loss might mean the end of Trump... but oh no. He’s back and with a vengeance. He announced Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, and since then, the duo have been on a roll.

“A jury found Donald Trump liable Tuesday for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million,” according to AP News.

Earlier this year, jurors in the New York criminal trial against former President Trump convicted him of 34 felony counts of falsified business records... who saw that one coming?

Trump has racked up a number of endorsements from musicians and other celebrities. People like Kodak Black, Waka Flocka Flame, Kanye West, and Amber Rose have thrown Trump their support.

Back in July, a gunman took aim at the former president’s head. Although Trump walked away with just a scratch, this moment will now go down in American history.

Before Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, it was looking like Trump would become the next president with ease.... but then came Harris. The vice president made the the race competitive again, energizing the Democratic party unlike anything the country had ever seen before.

He did it. Donald Trump fought his way back to the White House. He swept in, painting the map red and grabbing key states. And although we all thought the race might be too close to call on night one, Trump and his MAGA movement were able to quickly secure the lead to walk away with 295 electoral votes.

The MAGA victor has big plans for the country’s future, all of which can be summed up in the form of Project 2025. This GOP playbook is designed to get rid of the Department of Education, finish Trump’s immigration wall, and even dismantle the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

With the country clearly divided, there seems to be more questions than answers about what to do next. The best course of action is to stick together and regroup. We have the next four years to get through, but like always, the country will prevail.