Trump’s niece has an ax to grind, but she seems on target about his bullying behavior | Opinion
President Trump’s niece Mary Trump’s recently released tell-all book about her uncle has made big headlines with allegations that Trump paid somebody else to take his SAT and that he embraced “cheating as a way of life.” But what I found most interesting are her psychological insights into the leader of the free world.
I interviewed Mary Trump a few days ago, amid the racial demonstrations in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Portland, Oregon. Many criticized Trump for refusing to condemn the deaths of two people reportedly killed by a far-right extremist, while the president lashed out against Black Lives Matter’s largely peaceful protesters.
Asked whether Trump is a racist, or just a politician trying to please far-right groups within his base, Mary Trump told me, “He’s definitely a racist.”
She told me that uttering racist comments “was not uncommon in my family. You know, to use the “n-word” or to speak of Black people in general in derogatory terms, or to use anti-Semitic language — all of that was fairly common.” As for Trump’s suggestions that Black Lives Matter protests help create “anarchy” in America, Mary Trump told me that, “It’s primarily a means of distraction.”
She added that, “We’re essentially living through several horrific crises at once, every single one of which is, to some extent or another, Donald’s responsibility.” She cited the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed a world record of more than 180,000 Americans, the worst unemployment numbers since the 1930s Depression and civil strife like we haven’t seen in this country in decades.
She told me that her book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” relies mostly on interviews with family members and her own memories. The book sold 1.3 million copies in its first week, according to its publisher.
She secretly taped 15 hours with Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry, who is quoted as saying that the president is “a man without principles,” and “somebody you can’t trust.” Among other family stories, Mary Trump cites the one of Trump’s alleged payments to a friend to take his SAT.
Trump has denied that he asked anyone to take his SAT, has called the book a pack of lies and has branded Mary Trump “an unstable niece.” We may never know the truth about Trump’s SAT, because, among other things, one of the possible suspects alleged to have taken the test for Trump is long dead.
Still, what I found most significant about the book, and in what she told me, is her analysis of the president’s personality.
Mary Trump, who has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, told me that Trump was essentially “abandoned” by his mother for about a year when he was two and a half years old, a key moment in any child’s life.
That made Trump a “very lonely, very afraid, very uncared for” and very insecure boy. So he created defense mechanisms to protect himself from those those feelings, like “the bullying, the incapacity to admit he’d made mistakes.”
Years later, Trump’s father would not let him manage his real-estate business, but rather had him as his company’s public-relations person. Again, Trump compensated for his insecurity by trying to adopt a “killer” personality, she told me. She added that, in essence, “Donald is one of the weakest people you will ever meet.”
Granted, Mary Trump has an ax to grind. She was among the Trump relatives who sued him in 2000 for allegedly not getting what they considered to be their fair share of her grandfather’s fortune. And she is also profiting handsomely from her book.
But that doesn’t invalidate her story. Regardless of whether you like Trump or not, any president should be transparent.
If Trump did not cheat on his SAT and was a brilliant student, as he claims, why does he refuse to release his college scores? If he didn’t cheat on his taxes, why does he not release his tax statements, as most of his predecessors have done?
And if he didn’t do anything improper in his businesses, why are his attorneys trying to block New York banks from giving data about Trump’s companies to prosecutors?
If Trump keeps hiding data about himself, others should fill those information gaps. Mary Trump deserves credit for trying to do that.
Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show at 8 p.m. E.T. Sunday on CNN en Español. Twitter: @oppenheimera
