148 Fun Facts About Donald Trump

In which New York City borough was Donald Trump born?

Queens was where his father Fred built houses and apartment blocks; Donald joined the firm after college, then steered it towards Manhattan skyscrapers.

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

Penn's Wharton School gave Trump his economics degree in 1968; press profiles long said he graduated first in his class, but the commencement program lists him among neither the honours graduates nor the prize winners.

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

New York Military Academy was his father's answer to schoolboy antics that had embarrassed the family: Fred sent him up the Hudson just before eighth grade, hoping its discipline would channel his energy.

What name did Donald Trump give the family real-estate business after his father made him its president?

The Trump Organization became his umbrella name for his father's string of companies in the 1970s, after Fred moved up to chairman and made Donald president.

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

The Commodore, shut since 1976 beside Grand Central, reopened in 1980 as the Grand Hyatt after Trump secured a 40-year tax abatement, the first New York City had granted on a commercial property.

On which Manhattan avenue does Trump Tower, his home and company headquarters, stand?

Fifth Avenue is the address of the 58-storey tower, yet its top floor is numbered 68: Trump skipped ten floor numbers, arguing that the soaring atrium was as tall as ten ordinary storeys.

Which 1987 bestseller, ghostwritten by Tony Schwartz, made Trump a household name?

The Art of the Deal sold Trump to the public as a master dealmaker, but Tony Schwartz, who wrote it, later called the book the greatest regret of his life and wished it were out of print.

Trump's hotel and casino companies filed for bankruptcy six times under which chapter of US law?

Chapter 11 lets a business keep operating while it renegotiates its debts; Trump's companies used it six times between 1991 and 2009, though he never filed for personal bankruptcy.

Which Northeast shuttle airline did Trump buy and relaunch under his own name in 1989?

The Eastern Air Lines Shuttle became Trump Shuttle in June 1989; it never made a profit and passed to its bank lenders after he defaulted on the loans.

Which beauty pageant organisation did Trump buy in 1996?

Trump bought the Miss Universe Organization, which then also ran Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, in 1996; NBC cut ties in 2015 over his campaign-launch remarks about Mexican immigrants, and he sold it within months.

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

Palm Beach's barrier island holds the estate, which runs from the Atlantic to Lake Worth Lagoon; Trump turned it into a private club in 1995 and switched his official residence there from New York in 2019.

Which gambling resort was home to Trump's casinos, including the Taj Mahal?

Atlantic City housed Trump Plaza, Trump's Castle and the Taj Mahal, which opened in 1990 on a mountain of high-interest junk bonds and sought bankruptcy protection the very next year.

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

Mark Burnett, the producer of Survivor, struck an unusual deal with his star: half the show's profits, which paid Trump nearly $200 million over 16 years.

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

'You're fired.' ended every boardroom showdown, and Trump kept using it off screen: when his successor as host quit in 2017, Trump insisted the man had been fired instead.

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

Arnold Schwarzenegger hosted The New Celebrity Apprentice for a single season in 2017, then quit after its ratings sagged and Trump, still an executive producer, mocked him for them in public.

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

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York shot in the Plaza Hotel, which Trump then owned; director Chris Columbus said the cameo was Trump's condition for filming there.

What was at stake in WrestleMania 23's 'Battle of the Billionaires' between Trump and Vince McMahon?

The loser's head would be shaved: each billionaire backed a wrestler, and when Trump's man won, Trump and Stone Cold Steve Austin shaved Vince McMahon bald in the ring.

Which wrestler fought for Trump in the 'Battle of the Billionaires' at WrestleMania 23?

Bobby Lashley, then ECW champion, beat Vince McMahon's pick Umaga before a record pay-per-view audience, and WWE went on to induct Trump into its Hall of Fame in 2013.

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

Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric are Ivana's children, and all three later sat beside their father as boardroom advisers on The Apprentice; Tiffany's mother is Marla Maples and Barron's is Melania.

Melania Trump was born in which country?

Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia, is where Melania was born Melanija Knavs in 1970; a wooden statue of her near her hometown of Sevnica was torched on July 4, 2020 and replaced with a bronze one.

Which Trump venture was renamed after New York said it was not an academic institution?

Trump University sold real-estate seminars for up to $35,000 and became the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative in 2010; days after his 2016 election win, Trump paid $25 million to settle fraud suits from former students.

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

The Reform Party was tearing itself apart by 2000: Trump's ally Jesse Ventura walked out, and days later Trump quit too, saying its infighting left any nominee no chance of winning.

Whom did George H. W. Bush pick in 1988 after noting in his diary that Trump wanted the vice-presidential slot?

Dan Quayle, a young Indiana senator, got the job; Bush's diary called Trump's overture, relayed by strategist Lee Atwater, 'strange and unbelievable'.

What are electors called who break their pledge, as two Texans did to cut Trump's 2016 total to 304?

Faithless electors cost Trump two votes and Hillary Clinton five, leaving him ahead by 304 to 227; he was the fifth president elected while losing the popular vote.

Before Trump, every US president had brought which experience to the job?

Military or government service had been on the record of every earlier president; Trump, elected from real estate and television, had neither, which let him run as the outsider.

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

Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor, was vice president from 2017 to 2021 and refused Trump's demand 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 July 2019 call with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which Trump pressed for investigations of Joe and Hunter Biden, led to the impeachment; the Senate acquitted him in February 2020.

Which Republican senator voted to convict Trump at both of his impeachment trials?

Mitt Romney was the only Republican to vote guilty in 2020; six more joined him in 2021's 57–43 vote, the most bipartisan conviction vote in any presidential impeachment trial yet ten short of the 67 needed to convict.

What was the handle of Trump's personal Twitter account, banned in January 2021?

@realDonaldTrump had some 88 million followers when Twitter suspended it for good two days after the Capitol attack, citing the risk of further incitement; the account was restored in November 2022.

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

Truth Social launched on February 21, 2022, under Trump Media & Technology Group as Trump's own outlet after Twitter and Facebook banned him following January 6, 2021.

On how many felony counts did a Manhattan jury convict Trump in the hush-money case?

The Manhattan jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a hush-money payment; the judge imposed an unconditional discharge in January 2025.

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

The rally was at the Butler Farm Show grounds outside Butler, Pennsylvania; a bullet grazed Trump's right ear, and AP photographer Evan Vucci's picture of his raised fist became one of the campaign's defining images.

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

JD Vance, an Ohio senator and the author of Hillbilly Elegy, had called himself a 'never Trump guy' in 2016; picked on the convention's opening day, he became the first Marine veteran to serve as vice president.

Which western swing state did Trump carry in 2024, the first Republican to win it since 2004?

Nevada had last voted Republican for George W. Bush in 2004; winning it completed Trump's sweep of all seven battleground states, for 312 electoral votes to Kamala Harris's 226.

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

Freezing temperatures and high winds drove the ceremony into the Rotunda, the first inauguration moved indoors since Ronald Reagan's in 1985; supporters watched from Capital One Arena, which also hosted the parade.

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

'A small loan of a million dollars' was how Trump put it at a 2015 town hall; a 2018 New York Times investigation found his father's business had passed him at least $413 million in 2018 dollars.

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

John Barron was the 'spokesman' who phoned reporters through the 1980s to talk Trump up; he dropped the act after admitting under oath in 1990 that the name was his own, and later called his youngest son Barron.

How many golf courses did Trump own worldwide by 2016?

Trump owned seventeen courses by 2016, from his first, opened in Florida in 1999, to overseas resorts such as Doonbeg in Ireland, bought in 2014.

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

Scotland's Isle of Lewis was home to Mary Anne MacLeod, a Gaelic speaker who sailed for New York in 1930 and worked as a domestic servant before marrying Fred Trump.

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

Fordham University in the Bronx was Trump's college for two years from 1964; he left for Wharton in 1966, by then set on a career in real estate and already working summers for his father's firm.

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

Roy Cohn, once Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel, urged Trump to hit back when the government sued over housing discrimination in 1973, filing a $100 million countersuit that failed before the case was settled.

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

Jamaica Estates, an affluent enclave of detached houses, is where Fred Trump built the 23-room, nine-bathroom house on a lot beside the family's first home; the Trumps moved in around 1950.

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

Kim Jong Un met Trump in Singapore in June 2018, Hanoi in February 2019 and at the Korean DMZ in June 2019, the first meetings between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader; no denuclearization deal followed.

Which of these Supreme Court justices was appointed by Trump?

Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in October 2020 to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joining Trump's earlier picks Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh; all three were in the majority that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

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

Marjorie Merriweather Post willed the estate to the US government as a winter White House, but upkeep proved so costly that it was handed back to her foundation.

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

Bonwit Teller's flagship, a 1929 building at 56th Street, was demolished in 1980 for Trump Tower; Trump had promised its Art Deco limestone reliefs to the Metropolitan Museum but had them destroyed instead.

Trump's tallest building, the Trump International Hotel and Tower opened in 2008, is in which city?

Chicago's riverside tower was announced in 2001 as the future tallest building in the world, but its design was scaled back after the September 11 attacks that year.

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

Bahrain joined the UAE in signing the Abraham Accords with Israel at the White House on September 15, 2020; Sudan and Morocco announced their own normalization deals later that year.

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

Bone spurs in his heels won Trump a medical deferment in 1968, after graduation ended the four student deferments he had held through college; he was never drafted.

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

The 'Gulf of America' came from the January 20, 2025 executive order 'Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness', which 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?

Elon Musk fronted the Department of Government Efficiency as a special government employee from January 2025, cutting agency staff and contracts; he left at the end of May and fell out publicly with Trump within days.

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

Barack Obama released his long-form birth certificate in April 2011, yet Trump did not concede that he was born in the United States until September 2016, in the middle of his own campaign.

Trump has likened the human body to what, arguing that exercise only drains it?

A battery with a finite charge is how Trump pictures the body, so he skips workouts; he calls golf his 'primary form of exercise', though he usually rides in a cart.

The space service Trump created in 2019 was the first new US military branch since which one in 1947?

The Air Force, split from the Army in 1947, had been the youngest service for 72 years; the Space Force was in turn carved out of Air Force Space Command.

Which Danish territory did Trump say in 2025 the US must control, refusing to rule out military force?

Greenland had tempted Trump before: in 2019 he cancelled a state visit to Denmark after its prime minister called buying the island 'absurd'; in January 2025 he would not rule out military or economic coercion.

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

Jerusalem had been due a US embassy since a 1995 act of Congress, but successive presidents signed waivers every six months to delay it; Trump's embassy opened there on May 14, 2018, Israel's 70th anniversary.

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

'Liberation Day' was Trump's name for April 2, 2025, when he announced a 10% baseline tariff plus higher 'reciprocal' rates; markets plunged and on April 9 he paused the higher rates for 90 days.

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

The Paris Agreement withdrawal took effect in November 2020, Biden rejoined in February 2021, and Trump signed a second withdrawal order on January 20, 2025.

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

Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, was killed by a US drone strike on January 3, 2020, as his convoy left Baghdad airport; Iran retaliated with missile strikes on two Iraqi bases.

Which FBI director did Trump fire in May 2017?

James Comey learned of his firing from television screens while addressing FBI agents in Los Angeles; eight days later Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel to take over the Russia inquiry.

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

Milwaukee, chosen from four finalist cities, hosted the convention at Fiserv Forum from July 15 to 18; Trump accepted the nomination there five days after surviving a shooting at a Pennsylvania rally.

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

The golden escalator ride into the Trump Tower atrium opened his June 16, 2015 announcement and became shorthand for the whole campaign launch; the speech focused on immigration, trade and the national debt.

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

Ted Cruz visited all 99 Iowa counties and won 27.6%, beating polls that had pointed to a narrow Trump win; Trump then accused him of stealing the caucuses and demanded the result be thrown out.

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

Hurricane Dorian was by then forecast to miss Alabama, as the Birmingham weather office said within minutes of Trump's tweet; three days later he showed a map with the cone extended in black marker.

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

Reince Priebus, a former RNC chairman, served from January to July 2017 and was replaced by John Kelly after communications director Anthony Scaramucci publicly accused him of leaking.

Which tax did Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut to a flat 21%?

Corporate tax had been charged on a graduated scale; the Act, signed on December 22, 2017, replaced it with one flat rate and moved the US towards taxing only profits earned at home.

Trump's demand for funding of what led to the 35-day government shutdown of 2018–19?

A border wall was the sticking point: Trump wanted $5.7 billion for it and Congress refused, and the shutdown that followed stayed the longest on record until 2025's ran 43 days.

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

Helsinki's Presidential Palace hosted the July 16, 2018 summit, where Trump and Putin met for two hours with only interpreters present; Trump then publicly doubted US intelligence on election interference.

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

Kellyanne Conway, a Republican pollster, became the campaign's third manager in August 2016 and went on to make the phrase 'alternative facts' famous as a White House counselor.

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

Billy Bush, then an Access Hollywood host, was chatting with Trump on the show's bus at NBC Studios before a Days of Our Lives cameo; NBC dropped Bush from Today after the tape surfaced.

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

ExxonMobil's chief executive from 2006 to 2016, Tillerson was an Eagle Scout who had served as national president of the Boy Scouts; Trump announced his firing on Twitter in March 2018.

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

Four Seasons Total Landscaping is in northeast Philadelphia, next to an adult bookstore and across from a crematorium; the November 7, 2020 event was widely assumed to be a mix-up with the city's Four Seasons hotel.

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

Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, repeatedly told Trump in the January 2, 2021 call that there had been no error; the hour-long recording was published the next day.

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

Operation Midnight Hammer sent seven B-2 bombers from Missouri to drop bunker-buster bombs on Fordow and Natanz on June 22, 2025, while a second group flew west over the Pacific as a decoy.

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

Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and 18 others in August 2023; after a court disqualified her, the prosecutor who took over dropped every charge in November 2025.

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

'covfefe' appeared in the May 31, 2017 tweet posted at 12:06 a.m. and deleted later that morning; it was presumed a typo for 'coverage' and became an instant meme.

Which USFL team did Trump buy in 1983?

The New Jersey Generals, who played at Giants Stadium, were Trump's USFL team; he pushed the league to move to a fall schedule against the NFL, and it never played another season after 1985.

Which group was Time's 2017 Person of the Year, after Trump said he had passed on the title?

The Silence Breakers, who spoke out about sexual harassment, took the 2017 title; Trump had tweeted that Time said he would 'probably' win again and that he declined, which the magazine denied.

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

Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointed district judge in Fort Pierce, dismissed the case on July 15, ruling that Jack Smith's appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional; the Espionage Act counts were never tried.

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

E. Jean Carroll, a longtime Elle advice columnist, won $5 million in May 2023 for sexual abuse and defamation and $83.3 million the following January for further defamation; the $5 million award was later upheld by a federal appeals court.

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

Doug Flutie, the 1984 Heisman winner from Boston College, signed for about $7 million over five years, then the richest deal in pro football; Trump soon floated the idea that the league's other owners should help pay it.

Which company released Trump: The Game in 1989?

Milton Bradley released Trump: The Game in 1989; it sold about 800,000 copies against a hoped-for two million, and Parker Brothers reissued it in 2004 to ride The Apprentice.

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

Ghosts Can't Do It gave Trump a cameo as himself; it shared Worst Picture and took Worst Actress and Worst Director too, and John Derek never wrote or directed another film.

Which 2000 Simpsons episode imagined Trump having been president?

'Bart to the Future', aired March 19, 2000, showed President Lisa Simpson inheriting 'quite a budget crunch from President Trump'; writer Dan Greaney called a Trump presidency 'the logical last stop before hitting bottom'.

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

The Old Post Office, an 1899 Romanesque Revival landmark with a clock tower, was leased from the federal government for 60 years; Trump sold the lease to CGI Merchant Group in 2022 and it reopened as a Waldorf Astoria.

Which Central Park rink did Trump take over repairing in 1986 and reopen that same year?

Wollman Rink had been shut since 1980 while the city's repairs dragged on for six years; Trump took the job on in mid-1986 and reopened it that November, ahead of schedule and under the estimate.

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

His older brother Fred Jr., a TWA pilot who had walked away from the family business, died in 1981 after years of alcoholism; Trump says watching it kept him from ever taking a drink.

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

Maryanne Trump Barry was a federal appeals judge on the Third Circuit, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1999; she took inactive status in 2017 and retired in 2019 as a misconduct inquiry into the family's tax practices ended.

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

'Trump Always Chickens Out' was coined as the 'TACO trade' by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong 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?

Crossfire Hurricane took its name from the opening line of the Rolling Stones' 'Jumpin' Jack Flash'; opened on July 31, 2016, it was folded into Robert Mueller's special counsel inquiry the following May.

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

Drumpf was the family name until the 17th century; biographer Gwenda Blair traced the line to Hanns Drumpf, a lawyer who settled in Kallstadt in 1608, the spelling shifting to Trump during the Thirty Years' War.

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

He had dodged military service by emigrating at 16 without telling the authorities, so a 1905 royal decree gave him eight weeks to leave Bavaria; he sailed back to New York, where Donald's father Fred was born that October.

With Trump an owner, the USFL won its antitrust case against the NFL but was awarded how much in damages?

The jury found the NFL an unlawful monopoly but set damages at a token $1, trebled under antitrust law to $3; the USFL never played its planned 1986 fall season.

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

Adnan Khashoggi had the yacht built in 1980 as the Nabila; it played the villain's ship in the Bond film Never Say Never Again before Trump bought it from the Sultan of Brunei for $29 million.

What did the 23-year-old Trump put $70,000 into in 1970?

A Broadway comedy, Paris Is Out!, took $70,000 from Trump in 1970 and credited him alongside its producer; it closed after 96 performances and he never invested in another Broadway show.

Who signed Executive Order 11246, the federal-contractor affirmative-action order Trump rescinded in 2025?

Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order 11246 on September 24, 1965, requiring federal contractors to take affirmative action against discrimination; Trump revoked it on January 21, 2025, after nearly 60 years.

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

Michael Spinks, unbeaten and the lineal champion, lasted just 91 seconds against Tyson on June 27, 1988, in the Convention Hall beside Trump Plaza; it was then the richest fight in boxing history.

What was the original name of Trump's 1985 plan for the West Side rail yards?

Television City, unveiled in 1985 for the old rail yards between 59th and 72nd Streets, proposed a 150-storey world's-tallest tower and a new NBC headquarters; it was renamed Trump City before becoming Riverside South.

What does the call button in a wooden box on Donald Trump's Resolute Desk bring when pressed?

A Diet Coke is what the button summons. He told one reporter that everyone who sees it thinks it is the nuclear button.

For which restaurant chain did Donald Trump and his ex-wife Ivana film a 1995 stuffed-crust commercial?

Pizza Hut cast the divorced couple to promote stuffed crust, which it had launched that March. The new pie was the creation of Patty Scheibmeir.

Donald Trump's uncle, an MIT professor, was asked in 1943 to examine the papers of which late inventor?

Nikola Tesla had died that January, and officials feared his belongings hid plans for a death ray. After three days the professor reported nothing of use to an enemy.

Which spirit did Donald Trump, who does not drink alcohol, put his own name on in the mid-2000s?

Vodka bearing his name was distilled first in the Netherlands and then in Germany. It ceased production in 2011 after sales missed the distributor's threshold.

Which talk-show host did Donald Trump name in 1999 as his ideal vice-presidential running mate?

Oprah Winfrey was his choice as he explored a run for the White House. He added that he would marry girlfriend Melania Knauss at once so the country had a First Lady.

Donald Trump's June 14 birthday falls on which annual American observance marking a 1777 act of Congress?

Flag Day is also the birthday of the US Army, founded in 1775. That overlap put an Army parade in Washington on the day he turned 79 in 2025.

Which college football champions did Donald Trump serve a fast-food banquet at the White House in January 2019?

Clemson Tigers players got burgers and fries because a government shutdown had sent home the residence staff who would normally cook for them.

Which Back to the Future character did writer Bob Gale say in 2015 was partly inspired by Donald Trump?

Biff Tannen in the 1989 sequel is a gambling magnate in an alternate timeline. The character was named for a studio executive, Ned Tanen, who had once raged at a script pitch.

Which coin did Donald Trump order the Treasury to stop minting in February 2025, citing its production cost?

The penny had become too expensive to produce, he said. The last one made for general circulation was struck that November.

Which everyday greeting has Donald Trump called barbaric, a view commentators link to a fear of germs?

The handshake became a talking point of his presidency all the same: one clasp with France's Emmanuel Macron in July 2017 lasted 29 seconds.

For decades Donald Trump's father Fred hid his German roots by claiming the family came from which country?

Sweden was the cover story from the Second World War into the 1980s, and The Art of the Deal repeated it. Fred had grown up speaking mostly German until he was ten.

Donald Trump's grandfather Friedrich made his fortune running a restaurant for miners during which gold rush?

Klondike prospectors ate at the restaurant he ran in Whitehorse, in Canada's Yukon. He went home to Kallstadt in 1901 and married Elisabeth Christ the following year.

Which actress, the mother of Tiffany Trump, became Donald Trump's second wife in December 1993?

Marla Maples married him two months after their daughter was born, before a reported 1,000 guests. The couple separated in 1997 and divorced in 1999.

Which sport did Donald Trump's first wife Ivana compete in for Czechoslovakia's junior national team?

Skiing let her travel beyond the Iron Curtain as a teenager. Her later claim to have been an Olympic alternate in 1972 is disputed: the country sent no women alpine racers.

Which relative of Donald Trump wrote the 2020 bestselling family memoir Too Much and Never Enough?

His niece Mary, who holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, sold nearly a million copies on the day of release. He sued her and The New York Times the following year.

Which senior White House adviser in Donald Trump's first term was also the president's son-in-law?

Jared Kushner took the job despite questions over a 1967 anti-nepotism law that bars officials from hiring relatives. He also ran the Office of American Innovation.

Which folk singer, a 1950s tenant of Donald Trump's father Fred in Brooklyn, wrote bitter lyrics about his landlord?

Woody Guthrie signed his lease at the Gravesend complex in 1950 and protested segregation there. His handwritten verses were only unearthed in an archive in 2016.

In which Protestant denomination was Donald Trump confirmed in 1959 at his parents' New York church?

Presbyterian was still how he described himself in 2016. In 2020 he said he had become a nondenominational Christian.

Before Melania Trump, who was the only other First Lady of the United States born abroad?

Louisa Adams, the wife of John Quincy Adams, was born in England and did not set foot in the United States until she was an adult.

What two-word name did Melania Trump give her 2018 campaign on children's wellbeing and online bullying?

Be Best was a name she came up with herself. The campaign ran until 2021 and resumed in 2025, when it widened to cover revenge porn and children in foster care.

Which landmark hotel on Central Park South did Donald Trump buy in 1988 and use for his 1993 wedding?

The Plaza cost him $407 million in borrowed money. He sold a controlling stake in April 1995 to a partnership that included the Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.

Which gilded product did Donald Trump launch at $399 in February 2024, selling 1,000 within hours?

Sneakers called the Never Surrender High-Top sold out within hours. His launch appearance at a footwear convention met a mixture of applause and disdain.

Donald Trump held a half share from 1994 to 2002 in the land beneath which New York skyscraper?

Empire State Building land was his joint venture with Japanese hotelier Hideki Yokoi. Their attempt to break the lease and take the tower itself failed, and they sold in 2002.

Which gadget retailer's catalogue and stores carried Trump Steaks when the brand launched in May 2007?

The Sharper Image dropped the steaks after just two months of poor sales. They had also been pitched to viewers of the QVC shopping channel.

Which NFL team did Donald Trump bid for in 2014, losing out to natural-gas businessman Terry Pegula?

Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson had died that March, putting the team up for sale. Pegula, who already owned hockey's Sabres, won with a bid of $1.4 billion.

The Tour de Trump cycling race of 1989 and 1990 was later renamed after which chemical company?

DuPont took over as sponsor, and the route kept passing near its headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, until 1996. Lance Armstrong won it twice.

Which airliner, once flown for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, became Donald Trump's private jet in 2011?

Boeing 757 replaced the 727 he had flown since 1997. The jet's nickname plays on the name of the presidential plane.

Which Ayrshire resort, a four-time host of the Open Championship, did Donald Trump buy in 2014?

Turnberry cost him $60 million. Its Ailsa Course staged the 1977 Open, where Tom Watson edged out Jack Nicklaus.

In which township is the Donald Trump country club where his first wife Ivana was buried in 2022?

Bedminster is also his warm-weather retreat. He has said staying there is cheaper and less disruptive than returning to Trump Tower.

Which German financial giant kept lending to Donald Trump after his 1990s corporate bankruptcies scared off its rivals?

Deutsche Bank eventually walked away too, deciding after the January 6 Capitol attack to do no more business with him or his company.

Which actor won a 2017 Emmy for playing Donald Trump in sketches on Saturday Night Live?

Alec Baldwin's impression earned him a third Primetime Emmy, after two for playing network boss Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock.

Which actor earned an Oscar nomination for playing a young Donald Trump in the 2024 film The Apprentice?

Sebastian Stan plays him as a New York property man of the 1970s and 1980s. The film drew an eight-minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere.

Which entrepreneur did Donald Trump hire over Kwame Jackson in the 2004 finale of The Apprentice's first season?

Bill Rancic won after a 14-week on-air job interview. For his final task he ran a celebrity sports outing while his rival managed a Jessica Simpson concert.

Which British broadcaster won the first season of The Celebrity Apprentice, hosted by Donald Trump, in 2008?

Piers Morgan beat country singer Trace Adkins in the final, having raised more money than all the other contestants combined.

In which 1994 family film did Donald Trump play the oil-tycoon father of a rich kid named Waldo?

The Little Rascals was one of a run of screen cameos that also took in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Nanny and Sex and the City.

Which host of The View began a long public feud with Donald Trump in December 2006?

Rosie O'Donnell was the show's moderator at the time. The feud never cooled: in July 2025 he threatened to revoke her citizenship after she had moved to Ireland.

Which Saturday Night Live head writer mocked Donald Trump to his face at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner?

Seth Meyers, the night's keynote speaker, joked about Trump's talk of running for president. Many later quipped that the ribbing was the reason for the 2016 campaign.

Which talk-show host did Donald Trump sue in 2013 over a $5 million wager involving an orangutan joke?

Bill Maher had offered the money to charity if he could prove he was not an ape's son. Trump sent a birth certificate, sued when no payment came, then withdrew after eight weeks.

Which 1978 Village People hit did Donald Trump adopt as the closing song of his rallies in 2020?

Y.M.C.A. was back on top in 2024: 46 years after its release it spent six weeks at No. 1 on a Billboard dance sales chart.

Which classic film's hero does Donald Trump's biographer Tim O'Brien say he is fascinated by and identifies with?

Citizen Kane's press baron, Charles Foster Kane, is the hero in question. The 1941 film is also reported to be one of Trump's favourites.

Which woman received the $130,000 payment at the centre of Donald Trump's 2024 criminal trial in Manhattan?

Stormy Daniels took the witness stand on May 7, 2024. The money had changed hands in October 2016, shortly before the presidential election.

Which special counsel brought two federal indictments against Donald Trump in 2023, then resigned in January 2025?

Jack Smith was appointed three days after the 2024 campaign was announced. He filed his final report and quit before the inauguration.

Which New York attorney general won a civil fraud ruling against Donald Trump in February 2024?

Letitia James secured penalties of more than $400 million. On review in 2025, a divided court upheld the liability finding but threw out the sum as excessive.

Which financier lasted less than two weeks as Donald Trump's White House communications director in July 2017?

Anthony Scaramucci's stint was so brief that commentators began measuring other short political careers in units of Scaramuccis.

In which capital did Donald Trump place his hands on a glowing orb during his first overseas trip as president?

Riyadh staged the scene in May 2017, when he, King Salman and Egypt's president touched the globe to open a counter-extremism centre. The internet dubbed it the Orb.

Alongside a Bible from his mother, Donald Trump took the 2017 oath on one first used by which president?

Abraham Lincoln borrowed it from a Supreme Court clerk for his 1861 inauguration. Bound in burgundy velvet, it came out again for the second Trump inauguration in 2025.

As what was Donald Trump registered to vote from 2001 until he rejoined the Republicans in 2009?

A Democrat for eight years, he changed his registration at least five times in all. He spent 2011 unaffiliated before returning to the Republicans in 2012.

Which Manhattan pastor and bestselling self-help author officiated at Donald Trump's first wedding in 1977?

Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking, led Manhattan's Marble Collegiate Church for 52 years. Fred Trump took his family to hear him preach there.

Which Secret Service code name was assigned to Donald Trump when he first received protection as a candidate?

Mogul was paired with Muse for Melania, because a family's code names traditionally start with the same letter. Candidates choose from a list kept by a White House agency.

Outside which Washington landmark did Donald Trump hold up a Bible for the cameras on June 1, 2020?

St. John's Church sits beside Lafayette Square, a block from the White House. His daughter handed him the Bible, which she had carried over in her handbag.