Mary L. Trump reiterates what we already have concluded about her uncle, Donald Trump.
Bully, narcissist, misogynist, unfocused, poor attention span, poorly read, incapable of leadership, a business failure, cheat, greedy, selfish…the list of character flaws and personality deficiencies is endless. Choose a human failure, frailty, or flaw and Donald Trump likely has it according to the psychologist, author, and niece of the president.
Synopsis
In this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald’s only niece, shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric.
Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald.
A first-hand witness to countless holiday meals and family interactions, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humour to sometimes grim, often confounding family events. She recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald’s place in the family spotlight and Ivana’s penchant for re-gifting to her grandmother’s frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump’s favourite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer’s.
Numerous pundits, armchair psychologists, and journalists have sought to parse Donald J. Trump’s lethal flaws. Mary L. Trump has the education, insight, and intimate familiarity needed to reveal what makes Donald, and the rest of her clan, tick. She alone can recount this fascinating, unnerving saga, not just because of her insider’s perspective but also because she is the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families.
Richard’s comments
Mary Trump’s book is worth reading, particularly if you are not a supporter of Donald Trump. It is amazing Donald Trump did not find ways to prevent the publication of the book.
Sociopath?
Mary’s professional conclusion is that Donald Trump’s father, Fred, was a high-functioning sociopath and by inference implies Donald Trump is also. Symptoms of a sociopath include “a lack of empathy, a facility for lying, indifference to right and wrong, abusive behaviour, and a lack of interest in the rights of others.”
Trump’s father was a devastatingly destructive influence on the development of his children, Donald especially, as the father pinned all hopes of dynasty perpetuation on this son.
The “Not enough” of the title is Mary’s conclusion that the children did not receive enough maternal affection from their mother to the detriment of their upbringing while the “Too much” is her conclusion that they received too much negative impact on their development from their father.
The good
Mary Trump’s book is very good from the view of readability. A professional psychologist, Mary never drops into that role in writing her book. Her writing style is direct, straightforward and elementary, never inserting her professional capacity into the verbal narrative.
Donald’s flaws are blamed on the negative upbringing of his father as well as his mother. As all the children were raised in the same negative way, the circle of negative influence on Donald was constantly reinforced and inescapable.
The bad
Mary’s narrative is a recollection of incidents and events of her family tree, with the emphasis on the negative aspects and the detrimental impact they had on each of the descendants from father to Donald and his siblings.
Mary finds the roots of why Donald has never served in the military, why he is a misogynist, why he abhors paying taxes of any kind, why he is bombastic and tends to hyperbolize everything. She shines the light of the personal insecurity of the father and how it is evident in Donald.
She explains how Trump’s constant lying is an inescapable legacy of being constantly brow beaten by Trump Sr., something all the siblings learned, practiced and consolidated within themselves as they grew up.
Donald Trump grew up in an atmosphere of constant punishment and no reward. The inevitable development must be that the man cannot help being self-centred, defensive, constantly on the defensive and on the attack as a self-protective mechanism.
Mary Trump covers a tremendous number of personality flaws evident in her uncle, bolstering and supporting her labelling with the recollection of events and incidents from the family history.
It is easy to agree that living in the environment in which Donald was raised would have very severe, serious and lasting negative impacts on anyone. That Donald attained power positions throughout his life is very frightening. But even these achievements are rationalized by Mary as not being due to Donald’s efforts but by the powerful influence and connections of his father.
The ugly
Mary has an axe to grind. She blames the early death of her father on Trump Sr.’s neglect and negative impact on his son. Fred cut her father out of the family will and almost no money trickled down to help her and her family. Surprisingly, when she was asked to write Donald’s biography, she never read either of his books believing that they likely were filled with falsifications and inaccuracies. Donald cancelled her contract for the book.
Mary seems to relish and revel in putting Donald down in any way she can from his lack of education to his illiteracy, all of which seem to be constantly repeated in her book.
Even if what Mary writes is to be believed in the least, growing up as a normal, wholesome human being in this family would have been impossible. The whole atmosphere in the family home was one of contempt and scorn. Mary never misses the opportunity of revealing the sleazy or seedy side of the family or even extended family such as Jared Kushner’s father Charles and the prostitute hiring story. Tawdry, sordid writing perhaps but it clearly shows how Donald Trump’s development was destructive to personality growth.
Mary Trump’s book is very readable. Even if the facts are to wholly accurate, there is enough there to confirm what many of us already believe about Donald Trump.
Mary Trump’s anger with the Trump family may be justified. Her financial suffocation was unjustified given the family wealth. However, her rationalization in writing the book as a defence of American democracy is a stretch. More likely, she wrote the book for the money.
Is it a good read? Yes, from the readability aspect. However, be aware that it is gossiping and tawdry revelations about the Trump family. If you want to feel like a reporter for the National Enquirer, this is your kind of book. If you are a critic of Trump, his presidency, his personality, this is your kind of book.
The book has arguable depth. Its author is a professional who may be leaning on her education and training a lot, but more likely she is simply angry with Donald Trump and the Trump family as a whole. However, she may be justified in her anger and for what she has written.
There is an interesting followup to this book by a British journalist and author, JOHN SELF. A 5 minute read but worth it.
