WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump has not changed much since he first ran for office in 2016. The conventional wisdom has been that he is unpredictable, but his stated key goals remain rather intact.

Trump, born in New York to a real estate tycoon, will be the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House.

The 78-year-old Republican has built his political identity on a view of the United States as a once-great country in severe decline. He has long blamed factors such as globalization and unauthorized immigration for various economic and social problems, especially those affecting working-class white people.

His "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan has endured, epitomizing almost his entire approach to politics. He and those in his so-called MAGA movement look to "America First" policies as a remedy for everyday difficulties and a way to reverse what they perceive as the country's downfall.

Even before entering politics, Trump was a household name, known for his business empire and for hosting a popular reality TV show.

He followed in his father's footsteps to become a real estate developer after earning a degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Wharton, the world's first collegiate business school, is where Elon Musk, one of Trump's biggest supporters and the owner of companies such as Tesla Inc. and X Corp., also studied decades later.

Trump's first term in the White House from 2017 to 2021 was marked by an unusually high turnover of senior officials, with many being fired or stepping down due to disagreements with him and conflicts within his team.

As has been true since his earliest days of campaigning, Trump's often angry and hateful rhetoric causes controversy while fueling his popularity.

He was the first U.S. president without prior experience in elective office or the military. He broke with precedent in many respects, such as abruptly making important announcements on Twitter, as the social media platform X was then known.

Trump was also the first leader in the country's history to be impeached twice. The first impeachment in 2019 was over allegedly seeking a personal political favor in negotiations with Ukraine, while the second took place in the closing days of his administration over the deadly Capitol riot, with the Senate acquitting him in both cases.

After leaving office, he became the first former U.S. president ever to be criminally indicted. Of his four federal or state indictments, two accuse him of having attempted to overturn his narrow 2020 presidential election loss.

Turning to his approach to foreign affairs, his style is highly transactional. He has shown confidence in his ability to make deals with foreign leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During his presidency, Trump engaged in unprecedented summit diplomacy with Kim, holding in-person talks three times in a bid to persuade North Korea to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Among world leaders, he was on particularly good terms with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who joined him for golf on multiple occasions. After winning the 2016 race, then President-elect Trump chose Abe, who had pledged to "bring back a strong Japan," for his first meeting with a foreign leader.

Married three times, Trump is the father of five. His current wife, Melania, is a former model born in Slovenia, with whom he tied the knot in 2005.