Donald Trump's estranged niece has called the former president a "small, insecure man," as she accused him of seeking his father's approval in his younger years.
Mary Trump—daughter of Fred Trump Jr.—launched her scathing attack on the former president in a Substack post—the details of which she also shared on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
The psychologist criticized her uncle over his ongoing hush money criminal trial, as she branded him "one of the most prolific fabricators in the world."
Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to money allegedly paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to keep secret a rumored affair she had with the former president. Trump denies an affair.
Mary Trump also made allegations about the onetime real estate mogul's family life, writing: "Donald has always needed to perpetuate the fiction my grandfather started that Donald is strong, smart, and otherwise extraordinary, because facing the truth—that he is none of those things—is too terrifying for him to contemplate."
Trump was born and raised in New York City to Fred and Mary Anne Trump. He grew up with four siblings: Maryanne Trump, who died aged 86 in November; Fred Trump Jr., who passed away at the age of 42 in 1981; Robert Trump, who was 71 when he died in 2020; and Elizabeth Trump Grau, who is the sole surviving sister.
Patriarch Fred Trump, who founded the Trump Organization back in the 1920s in New York City, died in 1999 due to pneumonia. After Fred Jr. opted to forgo joining the family business, Donald Trump later took over the company and eventually passed executive duties down to his own sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
Mary Trump added: "As a kid, Donald was forced to become his own cheerleader—first, because he needed his father to believe he was a better and more confident son than his older brother (my father) Freddy was, and finally because he began to believe his own hype, even as he paradoxically suspected on a very deep level that nobody else did."
Mary Trump, who is a frequent critic of her uncle, also shared her concerns about the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee winning a second term in the White House.
LIE #2 EXPOSED: Donald’s graduation excuse
— Mary L. Trump (@MaryLTrump) May 8, 2024
At the beginning of the trial, Donald complained vociferously that because of the trial schedule, Justice Merchan was forcing him to miss his son’s high school graduation, even though at the time Merchan had not yet made a ruling. When…
"Donald's entire story has been one big lie," Mary Trump said, adding: "Every lie that is exposed reveals Donald to be the small, insecure man he always has been. We must expose him more—the stakes are too high."
"No one knows how Donald came to be who he is better than his own family," she went on. "And unfortunately, most of them remain silent out of loyalty or fear. I'm not hindered by either of those.
"In addition to the firsthand accounts I can give as my father's daughter and my uncle's only niece, I have the perspective of a trained clinical psychologist. The truth about Donald must be told, and I am the only Trump willing to tell it."
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Donald Trump and Mary Trump via email for comment.
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Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
