I purchased this book with the hope that it focused on Donald Trump’s upbringing from a family member’s point of view. I was expecting facts backed up with quotes from family members and events, but what I got was insinuations, assumptions, and interpretations. This book is advertised as though it is some type of documentary about Donald Trump, but it instead focuses on the family’s patriarch, Fred Trump, and Freddy Trump, Fred’s oldest son and the author’s father.
Words to describe this book: greed, bitterness, contempt, entitlement, privileged, and ungrateful. And that includes the author.
Mary Trump gives brief history of her family. Fred and Mary Trump have five children-Maryanne, Freddy, Elizabeth, Donald, Robert-in their large estate in Queens. Fred Trump was a ruthless dealmaker who knew how to take advantage of an opportunity. Mary Trump was emotionally limited and suffered from several medical issues after complications from an emergency hysterectomy after Robert’s birth. While Mary recovered from her procedures, Fred showed his inability to nurture his children. As the boys got older, Fred showed affection by encouraging aggressive behavior, such as Donald’s teasing, disobedience, and disrespectful behavior toward his mother and siblings. Donald became too much to handle and was sent to a military high school.
Upon his graduation, Fred Trump noticed Donald and started his “training” to eventually take over the Trump business, skipping over the oldest boy, Freddy. Fred and Freddy seemed to have personality differences that kept Fred from forming any kind of bond or respect for his eldest son. Freddy floundered a bit in his marriage and time as a professional pilot. The author does not reveal any specific fall out between Freddy, her father, and Fred either because there was none or she wasn’t aware of one. Her contempt from the rest of the family is clear though throughout the book and places the blame of Freddy’s failures and unhappiness squarely on the family. A family she implies are emotionally cruel, callous, and greedy and later tries to leave behind, but has no problem collecting allowances and suing for a percentage of the Trump estate when Fred and Mary pass away. (Freddy’s 20% of the estate had been redistributed to his remaining four siblings after he passed away before his parents.)
When Donald is elected President and has a family gathering in the White House, the author has no problem discussing her ostentatious and hubris view of Donald, Ivanka, and the top Trump family members. She fails to be gracious or classy as a White House guest should be, especially since her views of the family had already been made known. Her passage describing her dinner at the White House sets the tone for the rest of the book-ungrateful, entitlement, bitter, manipulative.
If you are looking for a glimpse into the entitlement of a 1% family, then this is a book for you. There is not much on Donald Trump in this book, except for postulating on rumors and interpreting stolen office documents. After completing this book, it took me several days to get rid of the hatred and contempt that I could feel radiating from its pages.