What Denomination is Donald Trump?
History
Donald J. Trump is a famous American businessman, television personality, and former president. While he inherited his real estate empire from his father, his religious guidance came from his mother, who was a devout Presbyterian. Trump was raised and confirmed in the Presbyterian church, but in his late teens, his parents instead began attending Marble Collegiate Church, a Reformed church pastored by Norman Vincent Peale, famous for his best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking.
Trump continued attending that church for many years and was married therein for his first and second marriages in 1977 and 1993. His third marriage took place at an Episcopal church in Florida where Trump got an exemption from the church's required religious instruction.
However, Trump rarely talked about God throughout his life. Throughout his life, Trump was instead known as the embodiment of pride. Essentially the earliest he began to claim the name of Christ was in 2011 when he began toying with the idea of running for president. Realizing the Republican party was largely tied to evangelical Christianity, he began to open up about his faith. He said he was a Presbyterian Christian then, that he was superstitious about mistreating a Bible, and that he went to church "as much as [he] can. Always on Christmas. Always on Easter. Always when there's a major occasion. And during the Sundays. I'm a Sunday church person. I'll go when I can."
He continued claiming that he was a Presbyterian and that he attended Marble Collegiate Church into his candidacy in 2015. However, the church quickly retorted and noted that Trump was not in fact a member of the church. As his candidacy went from a joke to a serious contender, Trump's religion or lack thereof became a major talking point. He then connected with Paula White, a non-denominational prosperity gospel televangelist who became his personal pastor. She claimed that Trump was not a Christian at all prior to meeting him but that she had led him to Christ.
During his presidency, Trump walked away from the Presbyterian church and began considering himself a non-denominational Christian.
Beliefs
Despite his religious claims and connections, Trump has demonstrated a lack of familiarity with the Bible. He infamously called Second Corinthians "Two Corinthians" and failed to name a favorite verse. Later he said his favorite verse was "an eye for an eye," part of Leviticus 24:20 which Jesus said Christians should repudiate in Matthew 5:38.
Certainly throughout his life, Trump has demonstrated a lack of Christian values. He has been married three times, cheated on each of his wives, bragged about sexually assaulting women, and raped at least one woman. He is a convicted felon for committing fraud in the process of bribing a pornographic actress to keep his affair with her secret from the public. His business practices have been mired by fraud. He has been unapologetically greedy his whole life. Pride is probably the single best word to describe him.
Trump famously said he did not think he ever asked God for forgiveness, one of the key components of repentance and therefore salvation. After being confronted about it numerous times and denying any need for forgiveness, he eventually said, "I will be asking for forgiveness, but hopefully I won't have to be asking for much forgiveness."
Even if Trump just became a Christian after he started running for office, no change became apparent in his life. Analysts note that Mr. Trump has been shown to publicly lie thousands of times per year. Unlike both his predecessor and successor, Trump never attended church while in office aside from holidays and campaign photoshoots. Trump's theme for his second term campaign has largely been revenge. This is in direct opposition to scripture.
Conclusion
Donald Trump has no formal denominational affiliation. It would appear he is not well-versed enough in Scripture to articulate any doctrinal positions, so a denomination cannot really be approximated. One would assume whatever beliefs he has are somewhere between Presbyterianism and the heresy of the prosperity gospel as those are his two many influences. However, he has a history of maintaining a façade of Christianity while consistently living in opposition to Christ. Only God knows his heart, but Scripture says that we will know a tree by its fruit. Trump's consistent life of sin shows that he is not a Christian in any respect.
1 John 3:7–10 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.