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Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Hardcover – July 14, 2020
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Mary Trump spent much of 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 currently occupies 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.
- Print length240 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication dateJuly 14, 2020
- Dimensions6 x 1 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101982141468
- ISBN-13978-1982141462
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A revelatory portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, written by his only niece, a trained clinical psychologist.Popular highlight
A large minority of people still confuse his arrogance for strength, his false bravado for accomplishment, and his superficial interest in them for charisma.8,248 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Symptoms of sociopathy include a lack of empathy, a facility for lying, an indifference to right and wrong, abusive behavior, and a lack of interest in the rights of others.7,614 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
If he is afforded a second term, it would be the end of American democracy.6,981 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Donald today is much as he was at three years old: incapable of growing, learning, or evolving, unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, or take in and synthesize information.6,686 Kindle readers highlighted this
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Mesmerizing beach reading and a memorable opposition research dump...It is salacious, venomous and well-sourced...Yet the narrative remains compelling." —The Guardian
"A delicious tell-all that does in fact tell all in a way one longs for a tell-all to do.” —Vogue
"Dripping with snideness, vibrating with rage, and gleaming with clarity—a deeply satisfying read." —Kirkus (starred review)
"Mary Trump’s compelling saga of one very unhappy family does more than just provide probing insights into her uncle’s disturbing inner world. It’s also a first-rate primer on the chaotic inner workings of an administration that has shocked the world by failing to take the basic steps required to keep Americans safe during the coronavirus pandemic. —Boston Globe
"After many, many Trump books, this is an essential one." —Vanity Fair
"[A] deftly written account of cross-generational trauma...Mary Trump brings to this account the insider perspective of a family member, the observational and analytical abilities of a clinical psychologist and the writing talent of a former graduate student in comparative literature." —Washington Post
Mary’s clarity, training, discipline and sharp eye help make her a reliable narrator, and she’s a fluid, witty writer to boot…She’s a true insider in an era when “insider” accounts of the president are a dime-a-dozen — and that what she’s written is likely to be indelible.—Bloomberg
"Mary L. Trump comes closer than anyone to describing the making of a seemingly heartless person who won his way to the White House...[A]n insightful, well-crafted memoir"—CNN
"You can see why President Trump doesn’t want anyone to read this thing. It gives the lie to many of his most cherished myths about himself."—Los Angeles Times
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (July 14, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1982141468
- ISBN-13 : 978-1982141462
- Item Weight : 13.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 1 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #19,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #63 in US Presidents
- #96 in Political Leader Biographies
- #759 in Memoirs (Books)
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The clips from the book as presented in the media have been solid, but you’re still only getting the Spark Notes that way. Reading the entirety of the memoir– like delving into any long form piece – allows you an *experience*. For most of us, an experience living with the Trump family doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. But for me it was worth it because it allowed me to “be there,” and now I can see DT’s pathologies with a much clearer lens. I can actually picture him at two years old, his mother in the hospital for an extended period of time, a helpless child being raised by a sociopathic father. If it weren’t for all the people he has harmed, I would actually feel bad for the guy. And if you were ever to wish a sentence of hell-on-earth to anyone, it would be that they would have to live Donald Trump’s life. It’s the worst imaginable existence, and so sad.
I’ve long believed that the discipline of psychology needs to be much more heavily emphasized when examining topics in any field of study. Its absence from our examination of disciplines such as politics, economics, philosophy, and literature weakens our understanding of said disciplines. Why the omission? The Goldwater rule? Because psychology is still largely a soft science? There’s no good reason. Psychology requires that we understand the underpinnings of human behavior, including human motivation. It takes us to the roots, the fundamentals, and the barest bones of who we are. Like this book, it provides answers.
Over the past few years, I’ve been frustrated to watch even the most astute of political pundits offer psychology-free observations of the Trump presidency. Let’s go back to 2016 – how many people thought DT would “pivot” to greater reasonableness once he was in office? Those not dialed in to the basics of human psychology did. The rest of us recognized we were watching an emotionally damaged three year old who would never recover from his hour long temper tantrum. How about the failure of trickle down economics? You could spend years studying economic theory without uncovering the fundamental psychological truth that when rich people get money they simply don’t shower it down on everyone else. The field of psychology understands this ; the field of classical economics had no ability to figure it out.
That is, in my view, Mary Trump’s great contribution to the historical study of Donald Trump and his presidency. She is a psychologist, and she implicitly makes the argument that an educated citizenry views systems through the lens of psychology. (I don’t know if she would share this view ; early in the book she criticizes armchair psychologists – among others – for “missing the mark” and using easy labels like “malignant narcissism.”) If future televised political round tables increasingly include someone who can invite us to view our political system psychologically (and I don’t mean Dr. Phil types… I mean those who are actually qualified to do so), then we will be an improved culture and a wiser democracy. I hope schools will better emphasize the teaching of psychology to students, both as a required subject as well as a lens through which to view all other subjects.
Regarding the book itself, it’s not solely about Donald Trump. It’s about the family, and it stars as its three principle characters Fred the father, Freddie the sympathetic son, and Donald the unholy spirit. In fact (plot spoiler here, if there is such a thing), the first half of the book is much more Freddie’s story than it is Donald’s. It often reminded me of Tara Westover’s memoir *Educated*. Unlike the Trumps, the real-life characters in Westover’s family memoir are not famous, and yet the family’s story of dysfunction is no less gripping. In fact, if Mary Trump’s book were a work of fiction it would still be a fascinating story and imagined case study.
I am must struck by the hollowness of the Trump family. Note that I used the word hollow, not shallow. Shallow indicates that there’s at least *something* there even if it doesn’t run too deep, whereas hollow is the sound of a chest rattling with bronchitis. I’ve noticed this with Donald Trump’s speeches for a while – he riffs, but not with the brilliance of Robin Williams. Trump just doesn’t seem to talk about anything. It’s an engine revving with no gas. Interests and hobbies in the family? Nothing. Everyone I’ve ever met has a plate of interests, be it music, the outdoors, building things, watching sports, exploring astronomy… something. Not Fred and Donald. Nothing. Nada. Nada again. They just float from phone call to meeting to cruelty to philandering to minimal sleep to more of the same the next day. They are the hollow men. If you are a conscientious person sickened by how vapid many powerful people can be, you’ll definitely feel that nausea when reading these pages.
I’ve also been impressed by Mary Trump’s interviews. Her facts are consistent, she comes across as credible, and she doesn’t seem to have worked with some PR firm to look and sound like a celebrity. She reveals herself as truthful, natural, unvarnished, and maybe even a bit socially awkward. Refreshing qualities actually.
Kudos also to Mary Trump for not being talked into writing a 400 page book, which she may have been tempted to do and probably could have done. The approximately 200 pages was the perfect size – rich information but not overburdened by detail.
I did find some areas that could have been better edited and probably would have been had the book not been pushed out far sooner than originally planned. These are small glitches like unclear pronouns or areas requiring re-reading because the chronology becomes confusing.
Questions I would ask Mary Trump if I could :
1) When did you form a full awareness of how dysfunctional your family was, and why?
2) If Donald could have been adopted on the day he was born, how do you think he would have turned out differently? How much of his emotional damage is a result of his upbringing (nurture) and how much is a result of his temperament (nature, yet nature too since he nevertheless inherited the DNA from his parents).
3) Since you so dislike Donald and voted for Hillary Clinton, I’m confused at to why you attended the family dinner at the White House in April of 2017 and told Donald (of his critics) “don’t let them get you down.” Those sound like the words of a supporter.
4) Acting as objectively as possible, how would you assess your father Freddie’s character? He certainly seems morally stronger than others in the family, but I still found myself questioning whether he possessed core decency.
5) Why do you think you “survived” this family? What allowed you to develop morally, intellectually, and emotionally despite all of the dysfunction?
So this is a must-read. When you’re done, you may be reminded of these words from F. Scott Fitzgerald : “They were careless people… they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
My husband and I had several books about Trump, which he largely read out loud to me, but since his death I have gotten rid of most of them and have not ordered more. No need to go there. We all see the truth daily and I wallow in despair about him enough.
I ordered this book and will read it because it was a chance to find some truth, written by someone who actually knows things and is trained to assess them. I hoped that it was not written as an act of revenge, at least not entirely. I needed to understand what has happened to us all and a country about which I care.
I have read the prologue and will finish the book.
I am writing to say that, while some revenge may linger around the edges, this is a book worthy of reading, written by an educated fellow traveller on our disastrous trip. We should all read it because then we can at last know and understand what has happened to us.
My husband, a psych major, and I, always curious about why people act as they do, spent hours discussing what made Trump Trump. Well, here are the answers and they are more complicated than the bits of it reported in the press can explain.
It is well written, tries to be honest, and is a fascinating study of a deeply flawed "sick" man who has changed our country for good and, sadly, bad. Most importantly it answers our collective question, How Could This Have Happened.
Mary writes from our own sad point of view, with more knowledge than we possess, and with more pain than we possess, and that is saying something.
I hope you read it.
Mary L. Trump’s portrait of her grandparent’s dysfunctional family dynamic is compelling. As a psychotherapist, I was curious to learn what features in this family system led to such a powerfully narcissistic individual as Donald Trump. Mary Trump has deep insight into what caused her own father’s downfall as the eldest brother of Donald. There is a combination of nature vs nurture (or lack thereof) at play in this family which culminated in the enormous pain of her father and the willful delusions of her uncle. Add hundreds of millions of dollars to the mix and the illness has a greater has greater impact by adding dysfunction to the larger orbit of the country and the world. (In fact money is of great detriment to dysfunctional people because it means they do not ever have to be accountable for what they say and do and can buy their way out of real feedback that can potentially spark emotional growth and personal insight. )
According to Mary Trump, the Fred Trump Sr family was cold, competitive and calculating and lacked the kind of love that warms, comforts and infuses grace into a family system. Mary Trump’s grandmother (also named Mary) was often ill and was absent in Donald’s life between ages 2-3. According to “attachment theory”, this age is when a small child develops a core and integrated identity by attaching to a caretaker who acts as the “self-object” that healthy identity is built upon. There was no reliable caregiver at that time for DJT—just a series of housekeepers and big sister’s help after-school. When Mary (Sr) was home, she looked to her children for her own comfort rather than the other way around. Fred (Sr) was often at work and did not take part in any child-rearing duties—other than bestow criticism at the dinner table. The currency for gaining respect and value was money and physical beauty. Note: The range of human emotions is not allowed and is shamed in most dysfunctional family structures, it is a pendulum that swings between chaos and extreme order (authoritarianism). If one ventures outside the will of the leader, in this case a patriarch (Fred Sr), one will be disinherited and painfully shunned. Democracy in the family does not exist. Favoritism is bestowed upon those who follow the rules and bring outward appearances of success to the family’s “image”. Image is everything. If the truth does not reflect the image, it is denied. Lying is a way of life because truth is arbitrary in this system of images defined by the “leader”. This is the heart of of tragic neurosis. An example of deception is the SAT that Mary Trump says Donald paid someone else to take. The admission to the Wharton School at Penn that resulted from a false SAT score and the help to get in from a family friend allowed DJT to promote the lie that he was a "genius". The reality is that Trump did not enjoy his academic journey at Penn, by his own admission, but recounted that it gave him the “image” he needed to acquire respect from the business community. ( In one report, a former professor at Penn recounted that Trump was one of the stupidest students he had ever had and Dean’s List records from that time period certainly do not contain Donald’s name. Source: https://www.studyinternational.com/news/trump-student-wharton/). So the image of Donald being the “smartest” in his class is another delusion and lie.
Mary’s description of Donald Trump’s nature as a youth, indicates an extreme form of ADHD, possibly some dyslexia (Trump has an aversion to reading which would make sense) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (he was sent away to military school because no one in the family wanted to deal with his disordered behavior anymore). In a healthy family, there would be more guidance, attention, specialized tutoring to overcome these natural tendencies. Intense engagement with a child that has these challenges vs washing one’s hands of them for a while. Trump simply hit hard at the world and overpowered others in order to cope with these challenges (bullied his siblings and other students at the military school). He learned that hitting back hard earned him power and this his been his coping mechanism since. Careful analysis and problem solving was never in his wheelhouse. His father came to like Donald’s “fighter” bravado. He provided him with so much funding (400 million) for Manhattan real estate projects in the 1980s that it allowed him to claim to have a kind of business competence that actually belonged to his father. Fred Trump Sr viewed Donald as an extension of himself and reveled in his son’s fame. The family image was looking good from the outside. So much money was generated that it allowed Donald to hire others to get jobs done and yet due to his lack of comprehension of basic business practices, he drove his company into the ground in the 1990s. Donald Trump has been propped up by the smoke and mirrors of an enormous amount of money and those wishing to gain favor from their association with him.
So, how does a man this deeply flawed become POTUS? Blame money. Blame the charisma and raw will power that Narcissists evoke. Blame the rot in D.C. Blame the right-wing media. The propaganda machine in the US is very powerful. They can craft narratives to make Donald Trump appear as a flawed but forgiven Christian-doing Jesus’ will and narratives to make moderates on right and left the terrible, evil bad-guys and operators of the devil. They can make the Trump family appear to be the pinnacle of the white American dream that so many in hurting rust-belt communities might aspire to. There’s the illusion of Trump as a self-made man, a fighter, a king (compared to Cyrus in the Christian right). People from chaotic-authoritarian family systems will find him very familiar and sympathetic as they are probably used to propping up this kind of dysfunction in their own family systems. Then there are old-timer Republicans who still think the GOP is the party of Eisenhower. They believe their Fox News. The honest conservatives will have to fight to win their party back from the Trumpists and insist that truth still matters and the ‘images” crafted by right-wing media are sandcastles that wash away in waves of truth.
Mary Trump’s narrative is a bit like a series of index cards taped together…so, I must reserve 5 stars for a kind of excellence in writing which this book needs more editing...at times, MTrump has great insight and at others her memories appear scattered like wounds often do when they’re unresolved. Growing up in a family in which emotional insight doesn’t exist and children aren’t encouraged to define reality, it takes a lifetime for these people to integrate the memories into a narrative that is resolved. Ms. Trump is still quite wounded which is understandable. I hope that one day, she can find peace and shake off the chains that her family dysfunction burdened her with. I hope she’ll have no apologies—find deep value in herself, confidence in that esteem and then…finally, peace. She was incredibly courageous to write this book.