June 14, 1946: Future late-show punch line Donald Trump is born in Queens, N.Y. Trump got his start in the real estate business by working in his father’s company and quickly became adept at finding buildings to cover with his name. His career has been a roller-coaster, with towering peaks of success followed by dark valleys of bankruptcy. The one comforting constant in Trump’s life as been an intense drumbeat of ridicule from cartoonists, comedians and former wives. Periodically, he has attempted to set forth his philosophy of business and living through a series of “Art” books: The Art of the Deal, The Art of Survival, The Art of the Comeback and The Art of Repetitive Book Titles. While these tomes are, for the most part, unreadable, several have hit the best-seller lists largely on their usefulness as gag gifts. Today, Trump is best known as the star of “The Apprentice”—a reality show in which he fires a series of groveling job candidates in a ritual that has become his trademark: Ripping out and eating the unlucky contestant’s spleen.—
Jeffrey Kanige
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