185 Comments
User's avatar
Ann Panda's avatar

Your poor dad, Mary. I always feel so sad for him. It seems he was the only nice one of the bunch.

Expand full comment
Steve Doll's avatar

Except for Mary, of course.

Expand full comment
Sandra Lea (AI image)'s avatar

And brother, nephew and daughter as well as others who we wouldn't know about.

Expand full comment
Leslie Goodman-Malamuth's avatar

We never hear a word from the surviving sibling, Elizabeth Trump Grau. I don’t blame her a bit for maintaining no profile in Florida. Maryanne seems to have gotten all the attention Fred Sr. had to give to girls, apart from the ones he discreetly pursued.

Expand full comment
Kathy Hughes's avatar

Mary describes in her first book how Fred, Sr. raised the sons, while Mary Anne raised the daughters. Maryanne did not want to work for Trump Enterprises and especially not with Donald.

Expand full comment
Leslie Goodman-Malamuth's avatar

Donald got the proceeds from laundry machines in family properties, says the NYT team that also wrote LUCKY LOSER. Struggling to feed herself and her son, law student Maryanne accepted the Crisco cans filled with with coins from the washers and dryers that were furtively brought by Mary Ann in her Bentley.

Expand full comment
Kathy Hughes's avatar

Not surprised. Maryanne’s first husband was a drunk, and she wound up leaving because he refused to dry out. Maryanne got a divorce from her first husband and I presume had her marriage annulled. She remarried a man named Barry.

Expand full comment
Sandra Lea (AI image)'s avatar

I don’t know what to make of her. I have no information other than what little you find online. Mary is the one to ask about who she is, what kind of person she is and why she seems to be hiding away in Florida.

Expand full comment
Leslie Goodman-Malamuth's avatar

Maryanne greased Donald’s entry into Fordham, and he got his sister a Reagan-ascension to the federal bench. She stepped down in 2019 rather than address financial improprieties. Dr. Mary taped her aunt’s numerous astringent assessments of family behavior.

Expand full comment
Jennie Edwards's avatar

It's really cool he was a pilot! ✌🏼😊

Expand full comment
Leslie Goodman-Malamuth's avatar

Freddy Jr. earned rock star status in the mid-sixties as TWA hires him on his first try, assigns coveted Logan-LAX route. This-is-your-captain-speaking demigods near LAX observed the no-drinking hours, otherwise partied at the beach like Led Zep at the Riot House, inland. Fred Sr., Donald call Freddy Jr. “a bus driver in the sky.”

Expand full comment
Jennie Edwards's avatar

Not a good role model as a father, Freddy Sr. 😱

Expand full comment
Pasqual Allen's avatar

And Moms trumps mom was great Mary’s grandmother.

Expand full comment
John Flaherty's avatar

Seems that way

Expand full comment
Deb Vitkova's avatar

Mary, How did you escape the clutches of your family to become the warrior for Democracy that you are? Does your book tell of that journey? Stay strong, thank you for everything you are doing for this country.💜

Expand full comment
Mike Palazzini's avatar

Keep telling the truth Mary. It will always win over darkness and lies.

Expand full comment
Valerie's avatar

How you have stayed as grounded and sane as you are is a remarkable feat Dr. I'm so glad you continue to speak out regarding the dark, ugly underbelly of your family's history. It has to be both infuriating and a kind of salve for you to help others understand what is going on in this broken, grifting, corrupt, cruel administration that we're all stuck in at the moment. From the bottom of my heart thank you thank you thank you. You are a gem. We will get thru it with the help of people like you. xoxoxoxo

Expand full comment
Linda McCaughey's avatar

"Too Much and Never Enough" was an eye-opener and one helluva read. Not sure how it will all come to an inevitable end....

Expand full comment
Janet's avatar

Maybe when Donald eats one too many cheeseburgers? That can't happen too soon. Mary, you're a true warrior!

Expand full comment
ANTIFA Libbey Dem's avatar

REALLY hoping that Argentinian beef is going to his favorite Mickey D's. 😃

Expand full comment
Melissa's avatar

I did read that they have recurrent problems in Argentina with hoof-and-mouth disease. Also that much imported beef arrives here as ground beef. Hmmm.

Expand full comment
ANTIFA Libbey Dem's avatar

Parasitic worms is what I read and probably why it comes here already ground. Like that's going to stop people from getting sick and dying.

Expand full comment
Melissa's avatar

Libbey Dem: I saw that about Mexican ground beef.

Expand full comment
ANTIFA Libbey Dem's avatar

I wouldn't doubt it. Neither country has the regulations that we have with our food. The USDA and the FDA were two of the greatest accomplishment of presidents Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover.

Expand full comment
Claudia Robinson's avatar

Fingers crossed!

Expand full comment
Francis/Clare's avatar

I couldn't believe all the details that Mary remembered. I had to quit after awhile. Has anyone read it to Donny, I wonder, no doubt the least self-aware president we've ever had.

Expand full comment
Kathy Hughes's avatar

Mary’s book features a lot of detail about the business and Trump family dynamics in “Too Much and Never Enough.” After I read it, I understood why Donald is the way he is. His sister Maryanne did his homework for him, and Donald paid someone to take his SATS for him. Fred Sr. helped to make.Donald into a sociopath, while Roy Cohn gave Donald advanced lessons in sociopathy.

Expand full comment
Francis/Clare's avatar

Yes, I got that much from it. I would have thought the SATs were more secure. I read most of it. He's a horribly destructive con who should have been locked up years ago. Our fair system of justice isn't very fair at all and now hangs by a thread.

Expand full comment
Debra LaPuma's avatar

It would have been a waste of time. As my mom used to say, it would have been "in one ear and out the other"!

Expand full comment
Francis/Clare's avatar

Exactly

Expand full comment
PlasticFish's avatar

It had a considerable effect on me. In general, it had the ring of truth to it. More specifically, it aligned closely with much of my own experience in having to deal with someone in my own family who's not so different from Donald. I've not yet bought or read Mary's second book, but doing so is definitely on my to-do list.

Expand full comment
Citizennnn1's avatar

My only comment is that I strongly object to the words "Donald" and "honestly" in the same sentence. Other than that, I have no doubt that your story is spot on, sorry to say. I even remember reading recollections and articles printed about the mean, reprehensible, UNNECESSARY destruction of the irreplaceable Art Deco facade of the original Bonwit Teller Building. So sad.....so Donald.

Expand full comment
Juli Brussell's avatar

His promises mean less than nothing. Then and now… how to convince his loyalist

diehards that their welfare is meaningless to him?

Expand full comment
Kathy Hughes's avatar

One qualification, if he threatens to do something evil, amoral, or against the law and commit mean and nasty acts toward certain members or against people he regards as enemies, rest assured he’ll try it. Masha Gessen warned us to take the dictator at his,word where Putm concerned, and the same advice is true for Donald Trump.

Expand full comment
Merry's avatar

Exactly. My initial response -

Thank you, Mary, for sharing these insights about your family history.

“At least Donald comes by it honestly”

Maybe - “At least Donald comes by it ‘naturally’” would have been a better description.

Or, maybe - instinctively, unaffectedly, innately, spontaneously….

Expand full comment
Francis/Clare's avatar

I read that Clinton said one of the nicest perks of living in the WH was the movie theatre located in what was the East Wing. Donny enjoys nothing that isn't self-aggrandizing, so probably never used the theatre. What an a-hole.

Expand full comment
Steve Doll's avatar

He's been a rapist and plunderer all his life. Let's put him in the Wayback Machine and have him ride with Atilla and his horde.

Expand full comment
lorincdm@aim.com's avatar

Nah, they'd probably kill him for being useless and obnoxious.

Expand full comment
Wendy's avatar

You can stand tall, Mary. You are on the correct side of humankind. I applaud your bravery to be truthful. Thank you.

Expand full comment
susan lampe's avatar

Thanks for sharing interesting history of Steeple Chase. He is a narcissist and they destroy. I am becoming more alarmed that he is exhibiting big signs of dementia. My mom had dementia and my husband has Alzheimer's. Very dangerous for all of us.

Expand full comment
Francis/Clare's avatar

And they steal. How could he possibly resist swiping treasures in the House?

Expand full comment
Debbie Harris's avatar

Thanks Mary for sharing this insight… what’s his kryptonite?

Expand full comment
Bill Huber's avatar

Epstein Files

Expand full comment
Linda Nation's avatar

Being laughed at, being mocked.

Expand full comment
Norman Zamcheck's avatar

Thank you for your invaluable insight and history Dr Trump

Expand full comment
Edith Brideau's avatar

My heart goes out to you, Mary. I read your first book about how Donald became the monster he is, and it explained how it happened. But it doesn't excuse his behavior. Many people have overcome childhood experiences to become decent people. Donald never will because he derives so much pleasure from watching others suffer, especially if he caused the suffering. You are a light in the darkness. Don't let anyone smufg out your flame. Thank you for your goodness.

Expand full comment
Melissa's avatar

Oops: smufg. Sorry!

Expand full comment
Melissa's avatar

Edith: You seem to have invented a delightful new word! I don't know how to pronounce it, but I sure like the look of it! Smugf, eh? Love it!

Expand full comment
Tom H's avatar

Your best post ever, Mary! Thank you!!

Expand full comment
Deli Lanoux's avatar

Your dad was special, totally different from the others. He was worthy of so much more than the jealousy and disdain he was shown. Your love for him will last forever, as will his for you.

Expand full comment
TJ Christopher's avatar

Oh, my God, Mary! What a spot on parallel, a perfect metaphor--throwing the bricks through the stained glass window of a building beloved by the people--to bring into historical relief the tone deafness of generations of rapacity and impulsive, consequential destruction. Every time you share a story regarding your family's discordant, dysfunctional, and greedy exploits, it's easy to understand how you feel about your family. And when you see the history of what they did to your father repeated with Donald's every word and misdeed--and this time the tragedy is on the world stage--it's got to keep reopening the wounds. Damn Donald and those who taught him and gave him permission and capital to be the loathsome, sick narcissist he is today.

Expand full comment
JMcKay's avatar

Can’t we blow the shit out of the whole crime family- and then call them all drug dealers???

Expand full comment