Donald Trump



A famous (sic) real estate mogul known for slapping his name on the front of his innumerable hotels, casinos, resorts and golf courses. He also hosts a TV program you might've heard about.

Most of his capital is rooted in New York City, where he owns several million square feet of property, including half of the Empire State Building. But this is a secondary achievement to Donald's hairstyle, which rivals any architecture he's built.

In The Seventies, Trump inherited his real estate business from his father Fredrick (rechristening it "The Trump Organization", natch). Following a five-year apprenticeship under his dad, Donald relocated to New York City to begin his career in earnest. He went on to gather up Manhattan's most profitable properties like so many vacant Monopoly squares.

Had IM Db existed in The Eighties, Trump would already have had an entry on it. His 1987 semi-autobiographical book, The Art of the Deal, sold extremely well as people began to identify him with American entrepreneurship and shrewed power brokering. It was around this time that Trump started to appear As Himself in television Dom Coms and films, including Home Alone 2 and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, where the characters invariably treat him with a reverence usually reserved for royalty. His golden boy image took a beating in The Nineties as the result of bankruptcies, a much-publicized extramarital affair, and mounting debt (partly as a result of the 1980s recession), but he managed to bounce back.

Since 2004, Trump stars in The Apprentice, his own reality TV series (created by Mark Burnett, the brains behind Survivor) on NBC. The show consists of a selection of candidates competing against each other for an open slot in one of Trump's companies. The program was wildly successful and remains one of the highest-rated reality shows to date. Since then, Donald Trump's mug has been pretty much impossible to avoid.

He also holds joint-ownership over the Miss Universe pageant, also encompassing Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. Not bad work if you can get it.

In 2011, Trump briefly ran in the Republican presidential nomination primary for the 2012 election, seen by some as a ratings stunt. He was a proponent of the "birther" theory, so his campaign was ended after the birther train was stopped for good by Barack Obama providing his long-form birth certificate.

Donald Trump provides examples of:

 * Arch Enemy: He's hosted two Wrestlemanias and been an active participant in WWE promos, highlighted by his "feud" with rival CEO Vince McMahon.
 * Not content with prime time, Trump took daytime TV by storm when a tabloid war erupted between himself and Rosie O'Donnell, then-host of the American morning talk show The View.
 * After Rosie, Barack Obama was this to him somewhat briefly.
 * Awesome McCoolname: Might also be interpreted as a Prophetic Name, given his knack for trumpeting himself.
 * Brooklyn Rage: Made efforts to cultivate this image over the years, despite not being native. Trump's persona is that of a straight-talking, tough New Yorker whose face resembles a pit bull in repose.
 * Catch Phrase: "You're fired." Inverted regularly in the season finales of The Apprentice, when he announces "You're hired."
 * Does This Remind You of Anything: Trump's resurgence in business which was symbolized by the, erm...erection of a 68-story Trump Tower in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Trump was so happy with the finished product, he sprouted more "Trump Towers" in major cities throughout the U.S., including one which looms directly over the U.N. Headquarters. Now you can't ignore his girth.
 * Egopolis: Trump 'brands' his buildings with the Trump name displayed prominently, often placing large gold "T" symbols throughout the interior rooms. He probably has a caped uniform with a "T" on its chest in his closet, too.
 * Humiliation Conga: Trump was on the receiving end of this from Barack Obama at the end of April 2011. On Wednesday, after Trump jumped on the "birther" issue, Obama released the long sought after "long form birth certificate", making Trump look somewhat foolish (though Trump boasted about how proud he was of getting the certificate released; he probably still didn't believe it). On the Saturday, Trump was the subject of more roasting than the President at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. And finally, on the Sunday night, just to make a bad week worse for Trump, Celebrity Apprentice was interrupted for the news that Obama had ordered a successful raid and killing on Osama bin Laden.
 * Improbable Hairstyle: Apparently a mixture of a cross-grid combover and three cans of hairspray.
 * Metaphorgotten: He opposes gay marriage because of new trends in golf putter preference.
 * Self Deprecation: You've got to admit he can laugh at himself like at his roast and originally at the White House Correspondent's Dinner before the jokes against him got more scathing, which is unusual for someone so card-carryingly vain.
 * Self Made Man: In the sense that he inherited his business, went broke (bankrupting a casino is, as many have noted, no mean feat), and then rebuilt himself.
 * Spell My Name With a The: Nicknamed "The Donald", after his first wife Ivana Trump referred to him as such in an interview.
 * Terrified of Germs: Avoids pressing the call buttons on elevators, or even shaking hands. (Which would make him an interesting head of state.)