Donald Trump declared ‘Presumptive GOP Nominee’

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Washington – Presidential hopeful Donald Trump was declared the “presumptive GOP nominee” by Republic National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Tuesday after his sweeping victory in Indiana forced his main rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, out of the race.

Born on June 14, 1946 in New York, Trump started his career in his father’s real estate firm in 1968 after graduation from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and was given control of the company in 1971, when he renamed the company “The Trump Organisation”.

Since then, Trump expanded the business by building casinos, golf courses, hotels and other properties and started marketing his name on a number of building projects and commercial products and services.

He was also famous as a reality television star through his 14-season run as the host of “The Apprentice”.

Trump announced his presidential candidacy in June 2015, portraying himself as a Washington outsider.

The announcement ended his long history of presidential flirtations that started in 1987 and were revived in 1999, 2004, 2008 and 2012 elections.

During his announcement speech, Trump famously said: “I’m really rich,” adding that he was the right person to replace the current “loser” to run the country. His campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again”.

Though Trump claimed in July 2015 that his net worth was “in excess of” $10 billion, Forbes estimated that the real estate mogul’s net worth stood at $4.5 billion.

Trump drew widespread criticism when he said in his presidential announcement speech that Mexico was sending “rapists” and drug dealers to the US.

Since that, the New York property developer had repeatedly vowed, if elected president, to deport about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

In another outburst of emotional remarks, Trump called for a “total and complete” ban on Muslims entering the US in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13 last year.

However, his blunt and sometimes incendiary remarks about Latino immigrants and Muslims never seemed to take its toll in his polling numbers.

Since last September, Trump has stood atop virtually all Republican polls. According to the latest RealClearPolitic polling average, Trump now enjoyed 45.4 percent of national support within the party, compared to his only rival Ohio Governor John Kasich’s 20.2 percent.

According to a Washington Post analysis released in December, Trump’s support skewed male, white, poor and uneducated Americans.

Trump has married thrice and has five children.