page_title: Donald Trump
section_title: Political activities up to 2015
hierarchical_section_title: Donald Trump / Political career / Political activities up to 2015
caption_attribution_description: English: Donald Trump shaking hands with Bill Clinton at Trump Tower in 2000
context_page_description: Donald John Trump is the 45th and current president of the United States. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality.
  Trump was born and raised in Queens, a borough of New York City. He attended Fordham University for two years and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He became president of his father's real-estate business in 1971, renamed it The Trump Organization, and expanded its operations to building or renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. Trump later started various side ventures, mostly by licensing his name. He bought the Miss Universe brand of beauty pageants in 1996 and sold it in 2015. Trump and his businesses have been involved in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six bankruptcies. He produced and hosted The Apprentice, a reality television series, from 2003 to 2015. As of April 2020, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $2.1 billion.
  Trump's political positions have been described as populist, protectionist, and nationalist.
context_section_description: Trump's political party affiliation changed numerous times. He registered as a Republican in Manhattan in 1987, switched to the Reform Party in 1999, the Democratic Party in 2001, and back to the Republican Party in 2009.
  In 1987, Trump placed full-page advertisements in three major newspapers, advocating peace in Central America, accelerated nuclear disarmament talks with the Soviet Union, and reduction of the federal budget deficit by making American allies pay "their fair share" for military defense. He ruled out running for local office but not for the presidency.
caption: Trump and President Bill Clinton in June 2000
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