President-elect Donald Trump has pulled off a victory few predicted, twice defying pundits to win the Republican nomination and now the Presidency of the most powerful nation on earth.
Trump announced his campaign in spectacular fashion in June last year, making headlines around the world with strong anti-immigration rhetoric.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said at the time.
“They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
“And some, I assume, are good people,” he added.
Although written off as a novelty candidate, Trump’s ability to dominate media coverage and demolish opponents with stinging critiques saw him grow increasingly popular.
Expected front-runner Jeb Bush – who Trump branded a ‘low-energy’ guy – dropped out in February 2016.
Senator Marco Rubio followed, the much-vaunted star was branded ‘little Marco’ by Trump and self-destructed under the pressure of the debates.
Senator Ted Cruz remained the final serious challenger, but he too dropped out in early May.
That left Trump with clear air for his assault on Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton, who returned fire producing a gruelling, negative campaign.
One by one, Trump demolished his competition in the Republican primaries. Source: AAP
Related Reading:
Trump has won: Here's what that means for Australia
Clinton branded Trump inexperienced and temperamental, misogynist and racist, unfit for office and access to the nuclear codes.
Trump branded Clinton as corrupt and out of touch, part of an elitist establishment which had been ripping-off the middle class and playing by their own set of rules.
Trump's 'Argument for America'
Trump’s campaign was battered by a series of poor debate performances.
The campaign’s lowest point came with the release of previously unseen footage which featured Trump bragging that he was so famous he could force himself on women, even “grab ‘em by the pussy'”.
That led to many establishment Republicans publicly rejecting and distancing themselves from their own nominee.
The vast majority of polls showed Clinton with a meaningful lead for the entire campaign, dipping only in the final weeks as the FBI announced it would investigate a new batch of emails it had uncovered in the long-running Clinton private email server scandal.
The infamous Access Hollywood tapes were a blow to the campaign, but Trump remained resilient. Source: Access Hollywood / Washington Post
Even going into Election Day, most were predicting a relatively easy Clinton victory.
That didn’t happen.
Forecasts were rapidly remade as Trump showed unexpected gains across the electoral map, eventually clawing his way to the crucial margin of 270 electoral votes.
His win has brought ecstasy to his supporters, who long railed against the polls, media and forecasters who said it couldn’t happen.
Global markets, however, were amid fears of instability and a Trump-fuelled global trade war.
Trump's candicacy ignited a revolution from disaffected voters around the country.
So just who is Donald Trump?
Donald J Trump was born in Queens, New York, in 1946, his father one of the biggest real-estate developers in New York City.
From a young age, Mr Trump said he paid attention to his father’s business dealings.
“And I watched. And it wasn't that I even watched consciously,” he said.
“I'd be sitting on the floor playing with blocks as a three-year-old baby, and he'd be on the floor talking to contractors about price and elevators and wood.
“And by the time I'm 16-years-old, I sort of like knew everything about building buildings."
His parents instilled in their five children an ethic of hard work, but a young Donald Trump was playing around at school, so, at the age of 13, he was sent to a military academy - and he flourished.
He was given control of his father's business at the age of 25 and he set about shaping the skyline of Manhattan by building skyscrapers.
In 1977, he married a model from the former Czechoslovakia, Ivana Winklemyer Zelnickova, and they had three children together.
While their marriage did not last, she speaks of him with high praise.
"Donald is just a wonderful human being,” she said.
Related reading
US election day: everything you need to know
“He's giving, and he's warm. And all those people, they look at him as a tough businessman, which he is, but, if you're good to him, he's good to you.
“If you're not good to him, you're dead - because, sooner or later, he outsmarts you somewhere."
In 1981, he opened Trump Tower, followed by the Trump Plaza.
Casinos and golf courses came next, and his net worth jumped from the millions into the billions.
In the late 1980s, Mr Trump's first marriage broke up after he met a young model named Marla Maples.
He later married her, and they had a daughter.
She, too, speaks well of him.
US business magnate Donald Trump poses for a photo in front of the Sydney Opera House, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Source: (AAP Image/James Morgan)
"Believe me, I tried, and he tried, for many years to fight the connection that we have,” she said.
“I think, when you have a bond with another person, sometimes you just have to see it through and see what it's about."
The idea of "Trump for President" was first raised 28 years ago, when Donald Trump was campaigning for George Bush Senior.
An NBC reporter in the United States asked, in 1988, if there was a possibility Mr Trump would run for president in the future.
Related reading
Comment: Translating Trump for Spanish-speaking Americans
Even then he talked up his prospect of victory.
“I think I'd have a very good chance. I mean, I like to win,” he said.
“When I do something, I like to win, I like to do well, and I think I probably would have a pretty good chance.”
But the next few years were tough for him.
He filed for bankruptcy four times in the early '90s, but still managed to buy the Miss Universe franchise in 1996, only selling it in 2015.
And then in 2004, he became a reality-television star with The Apprentice.
The show continued for 14 series, including seven seasons of The Celebrity Apprentice.
In 2005, Donald Trump married his third wife, Slovenian model Melania Knauss.
They had a son a year later.
After two more bankruptcies, in 2004 and 2009, Mr Trump once again recovered to launch his greatest gamble yet – and won.
Related reading
10 unforgettable moments of the US election campaign
