For more than 30 years Trump has worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers in North Carolina and throughout the country. An Air Force veteran, Trump holds a bachelor of arts in journalism and communications from Point Park University in Pittsburgh and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College in Baltimore. His book, Still & Barrel: Craft Spirits in the Old North State, (Blair Publishers) was released in spring 2017.

Trump received second place in the Serious Columns category in the 2019 N.C. Press Association’s Editorial and Advertising Contest and third place in the same category in the 2018 contest.