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 … her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, New York, 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 occupied the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald.
A firsthand witness to countless holiday meals and interactions, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humor 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 regifting to her grandmother’s frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump’s favorite 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.
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A family member does what so many fail to understand: explain Donald Trump. When she was on Cuomo the other night, it was obvious he didn’t get what she’d written.
Trump is a profoundly broken man. Mary says that given his upbringing, he’s been institutionalized all his life. He has little concept of the real world and that plays out in all aspects of his life and now ours. He truly believes the lies he spews because his reality is our reality.
Even now, as hundreds of thousands die under his watch, he repeats the same false reality over and over: “Best testing in the world” “If we did half the tests, less people would have it”. But he also is cunning and he is very, very good at blackmail.
This is a must read for both those who oppose and those who support the president. One might believe it’s some “Deep State” propaganda but balance the words against the reality of everything Trump has said and done and you see the absolute truth in the book.
I read a ton of memoirs about broken minds and dysfunctional families, in part because I’m always looking for the light and the hope–the explanations of why people do what they do. This was a compelling read about an extremely messed-up family. There is no silver lining, but it’s a quick, fascinating read. Somewhat disturbing, but very well written.
The book tells us what we already knew: that Donald Trump is a bully, lacking compassion and empathy. It does, however, offer insight into the family dynamics that contributed to the monster he is today. What this book underscored for me, though, is the fact that he has always been as you see him NOW, in all his disgusting, sad, and despicable glory. And I continue to wonder how he continues to be supported and enabled. Just how low is the bar set?
Well-written, the sad true story of a pathological family, and a great way for the author to avenge her father who was destroyed by his own parents. While it pulled back the curtain on why the current occupant of the White House grew up to be who he is, there wasn’t much revealed that we didn’t already know about him. Still, it was interesting to see it from a family insider with the psychological knowledge and insight to give the monster context.
Mary L Trump gives us insight into her uncles world of deceit,paranoia and vengeance .The author tells us while thousands of Americans die of COVID we are repeatedly told of his wonderful leadership.The writer shares with us after the election Putin ,Kim Jong-un and Mitch McConnel all who resemble his father all who bear more than a psychological resemblance to Fred his father recognized in a way others should have but did not that Donald’s checkered personal history and unique personality flaws make him extremely vulnerable to manipulation by smarter , more powerful men.His pathologies have rendered him so simple-minded that it takes nothing more than repeating to him the things he says to himself dozens of times a day -he’s the smartest , the greatest , the best -to get him to do what they want , whether it’s imprisoning children in concentration camps,betraying allies ,implementing economy -crushing tax cuts,or degrading every institution that’s contributed to the United States rise and the flourishing of liberal democracy The writer also informs us The events of the last three years ,however,have forced my hand I can no longer remain silent .If he is afforded a second term it would be the end of this democracy. Perhaps it is time to replace The art of the deal with the art of the real
This is the only Trump book I’ve read to date, because it explains who he is and how he got that way. Great read and well-written to boot.
Read it.
The book is part clinical psychology, part melodramatic soap opera, part political, and part warning. Mary effectively mixes those together—the story is a quick and interesting read.
Mary is a capable writer, in addition to being a PhD psychologist. The clinical psychology bits never become too heavy-handed and are sprinkled among a soap opera kind of melodrama about a cruel, dysfunctional family. The characters seem too over-the-top, almost comical, but yet we know they are real. Mary has a unique perspective, since she is a relative and a trained clinician.
For those of us paying attention, there aren’t many revelations in the book that we didn’t know—the cheating, the fraud, the lying, the cruelty, the corruption . . . We knew most of it. Some of us care, and some of us do not. Our character defines us, and Mary emphasizes that point again and again.
A majority of the book is about Mary’s father, Freddy—Donald’s older brother. I found the descriptions of his love of aviation and his rise to become an airline pilot, despite the objection and ridicule of his father, to be heartbreaking on a personal level. My late husband was a pilot; I’m a pilot, and that love of aviation is difficult to explain to a non-pilot. That Freddy was forced to give it up brought me to tears (interestingly, I used that exact plot point with my protagonist’s love interest and his father in my young adult fiction trilogy). Mary isn’t a pilot, but she gets it.
She is honest about her father’s descent into alcoholism and his failings as a father. She blames her grandfather, and to some extent, Donald. I say “some” because if Donald were not the president, we the readers would probably feel sorry for the small child that endured such trauma and abuse. But he is the president, and Mary does not give him a pass (she uses several clichés, generally a no-no, but her voice works).
Parts of the book were written recently since the author discusses the pandemic. In one section she says, “While thousands of Americans die alone, Donald touts stock market gains. As my father lay dying alone, Donald went to the movies. If he can in any way profit from your death, he’ll facilitate it, and then he’ll ignore the fact that you died.”
I found myself reading with my mouth hanging open at times, horrified. Mary traces the family dysfunction and the enablers, beginning with her grandfather, that allowed Donald to get away with everything in his life, without ever once paying the consequences of his actions. She reminds us, while expressing confusion, about the people who are still doing it. She points out that the very people who worship him are people he would never, ever choose to be around.
Mary uses a quote from “Les Misérables” in the introduction. “If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” And that’s the entire point of the book.
Just goes to show how parents can destroy a child. Unfortunately, this book does not make me like him any more than I did before which was not at all. This man should not be president.
Mary Trump did a great job of compiling family history into a very readable book.
Such a dysfunctional family. I can now see why he is the way he is, it is always ‘what about me”? Me me me. The father Fred was a very not nice person so I can understand where Trump got it from. A family that let Trump do whatever he wanted with no consequences. His mother was not much better.
I am glad I read the book, is all of it believable? Who knows? The book gives the reader a glimpse into the Trump empire.
agh this website is misleading it says that you can read books for free
not all are free
An interesting read into the history of the Trump Dynasty and how it led to the thing that currently lurks in the Oval Office.
While at times the book is disjointed with it’s various recollections, at it’s heart, we get insight into what made Trump who he is today. Mainly, a terrified little boy with serious daddy issues. A bully who is always right, because admitting otherwise is a sign of weakness. A boasting incompetent charlatan who owes all his success to his father’s money and support along with the media and banks that propped him up and never questioned his tall tales, lack of business acumen or common decency.
An interesting insight into dysfunctional family dynamics that prevail across cultures and countries
To learn more about him
All I can say is, read this book then watch him on TV. You can see what the author is talking about and where some of his personality traits come from. Interesting.
An interesting view of a dysfunctional family from someone who knows it best – the nice of Donald Trump. As a psychologist, her insight is amazing. I found it both fascinating and disturbing, but it’s something everyone should read.
This book really isn’t about Donald Trump, but more so the family patriarch of Fred Trump Sr and the cruel effects that it had on his children even after his passing. It ranges from the author’s father drinking himself to death, siblings fighting over family fortunes, to an a narcissist being allowed to fail upwards.
Ultimately this book serves two purposes. First and foremost is the plea to the reader not to re-elect Donald Trump as President. Check! Second is to clinically diagnose Donald Trump as mentally ill by going to the family history and how it was developed. Didn’t need a professional to tell me, it is quite apparent when he is in front of the cameras. Third is to humiliate her relatives for all the wrong dong especially to her, her brother’s family, and mother while making a nice buck. There is nothing altruistic about the author and it is self evident that she has an axe to grind. Personally, after reading this book I think she should spend a few sessions on the couch herself if she hasn’t already.
The book is fascinating and cruel at the same time. It is a damning portrait of her family although her conclusion range from clinical to mean spirited because it is hard to divorce yourself of personal interest.
i dont know yet
Wow! This definitely puts the last four years in perspective.
It gave an honest and truthful claim
regarding our President.
I read the book. Nothing new here. He is what he is.
I cannot stand Donald Trump and I was so glad that his niece, Mary L. Trump, Ph.D., decided to write this book in order to try to shed some light into how this monster came to be. This is a very well-written book with a lot of information about the whole Trump family. Mary and her family spent a lot of holiday dinners and other family functions at the home of Fred Trump, Sr., Donald’s father. After reading this book, it is clearly evident that Donald Trump is just like his sociopathic father and the acorn did not fall from from the tree. Everyone should read this book and I feel it is an accurate account of the Trump family dynamics.