Mogul waded murky waters of tax fraud and sexual assault claims to become president

When America’s President-elect Donald John Trump, on June 16, 2015 declared he was in the White House race, he appeared aware of the arduous task ahead.

He was particularly aware of the journey he had travelled in life to become a billionaire in New York, the skeletons in his cupboard and the loads of dirty allegations that would be thrown against him.

He had been written off by political spin doctors as a man who could not run for the American presidency — he was just not made for it. He remembered that his father, Fred Trump — a real estate developer and philanthropist — had advised him against mixing it up with the wealth moguls of Manhattan.

He quoted his father imploring him: “We don’t know anything about that (the big league of Manhattan).” However, being Donald Trump, he shot back in defiance: “I’ve got to go into Manhattan. I’ve got to build those big buildings. I’ve got to do it, Dad. I’ve got to do it.”

Manhattan, the most populated borough in New York, is one of the world’s major commercial, financial and cultural centres, boasting of skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building, the neon-lit Times and the Broadway theatres.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE

This streak of defiance saw Mr Trump not only build skyscrapers such as the Trump World Towers in Manhattan, but join the presidential race and win the Republican Party’s ticket, against the will and support of its insiders.

And on Wednesday, he brought the world to a standstill when he defied the odds of pollsters and media predictions to hand Democratic Party’s Hillary Clinton a defeat and become America’s 45th president.

The New York Times could not have summed it better than this: “Donald John Trump defied the sceptics who said he would never run, and the political veterans who scoffed at his slapdash campaign. He attacked the norms of American politics, singling out groups for derision on the basis of race and religion and attacking the legitimacy of the political process. He ignored conventions of common decency, employing casual vulgarity and raining personal humiliation on his political opponents and critics in the media.”

Aided by his brawling tongue, the Trump juggernaut rumbled on, through a labyrinth of sexual assault allegations, crude speeches and denigrating tweets to shock the world with a victory that will shake the political establishment in Washington — both Republican and Democrat — as well as spread anxiety across the globe.

TOTALLY OPPOSED

Pundits were on Wednesday piecing together the reasons behind the victory, with some arguing that an army of less educated whites who were badly hit by economic reforms and who were totally opposed to the immigration wave handed Mr Trump the victory.

Mr Trump had destroyed his opponents in the Republican nominations by describing Jeb Bush, a former Florida governor and son of former president George H W Bush as “low energy”, Ted Cruz as “Lyin Cruz” and Marco Rubio as “little”. This sharp tongue pushed former President George W Bush and his father George H W Bush to withdraw their support.

After winning the Republican ticket, he turned his focus on Mrs Clinton, labelling her “crooked Hillary” in all his campaign speeches. Basically, no living former American president supported Mr Trump, making him an outcast.

Mr Trump employed invectives to fight allegations of past romantic escapades and business failures he encountered as he grew up in business. This included rape allegations, which emerged in the divorce of his first wife, Ivana, and the mafia dealings in business undertakings.

Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playboy playmate of the year, claimed in the media that she was involved in a 10-month sexual relationship with Mr Trump while he was married to Melania, his current and third wife.

'WORKED ILLEGALLY'

He was also faced with allegations that Melania worked as a model in the US illegally before she acquired a visa. Three women, including New York Times reporters, claimed that Mr Trump had touched them inappropriately. Ms Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks alleged that the president-elect had either groped or kissed them in the past.

Times reporter Natasha Stoynoff claimed Mr Trump physically attacked her at Mar-A-Lago in December 2005 while she was profiling his first anniversary with Melania. A woman who alleged Mr Trump raped her several times when she was 13 years, dropped her suit due to threats.

The Washington Post ran stories revealing that Mr Trump, through the Trump Foundation, avoided paying taxes and created a false impression that he was a philanthropist.

Some former contestants in the beauty pageants he organised in the past raised allegations that Mr Trump used to barge into their rooms while they were naked. In a 1992 clip which surfaced during the campaigns, Mr Trump is captured saying of a 10-year old girl at his Trump Tower: “I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?”