JOIN USNot a nice man to know
The amount of press that Donald Trump’s presidency has generated truly boggles the mind. From endless discussions around his prolific tweets to investigations of his shady real estate deals to the oft-mentioned bankruptcies of his casinos, and on the other side, the stated goal of 'Make America Great Again' and the business-oriented policy-making — no other man today inspires as much heated discussion as Trump.
Into the fray jumps Mary L Trump, Donald’s niece, a practicing psychologist, with an 'Origin Story' for her uncle, in her tell-all book Too Much and Never Enough. The story spans the early life and successes of Fred Trump, Donald’s father and the paths of several of his children, including Donald himself. Mary’s opinion of Donald is captured in the book’s subtitle: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man.
The insider view
Fred’s public life has been well covered in the media. But, Mary provides an insider’s view on his private life and family dynamics and uses her knowledge of psychology to explain how childhood abuse in this case moulded negative behaviour. She recounts how Fred’s wife (also named Mary) fell ill early in Donald’s childhood. For long periods of time, she was either in the hospital or bedridden, unable to spend time with her children. Fred, at these times, simply refused to take over the carer’s role in the family, instead leaving the children to fend for themselves and engaging only in cursory conversations with his wife. In trying to impress his father, Donald took on all of Fred’s negative traits. Fred’s priorities — business success, a strong facade, winner-takes-all attitude — became Donald’s priorities. Showing pity or comradeship, or helping out anyone, was considered a bad thing. Education was considered useless.
Mary buttresses her point by pointing to the family’s treatment of Freddy, her father and Fred’s oldest son. Freddy wasn’t inclined to follow in his father’s footsteps in real estate, preferring to become a pilot instead. He also married outside their social circle. His need for parental approval remained, however, and continued to sabotage all his efforts at success. Fred could have helped him, but he didn’t, instead making Freddy an example for his other children. Donald followed his father’s lead, sidelining Freddy as he himself rose in his father’s businesses. In his efforts to live an honest life, Freddy became the black sheep of this avaricious family.
White sheep?
Donald was very much the white sheep. Not only did he display the same predatory business tendencies as his father, he added a layer of glitz and self-confidence to it. Where Fred had restricted himself to a small area in New York, Donald reached out to all over the US. But Fred, at his core, had better business sense, Mary says. Donald hadn’t come up the hard way and so never learned those lessons. She points out that Donald’s successes always had Fred’s political contacts and acumen backing them. His failures, such as the famous Atlantic City casino bankruptcies, were all his own ventures. Nevertheless, he was backed by his father and the banks until he could only fail upwards, to the White House.
Fred Trump is undoubtedly the villain in Mary’s story. But, she skips over the larger question of what enabled Fred (and Donald) to get this far. She does mention multiple government grants and loopholes that he took advantage of; she points to the political contacts that enabled him to get permits easily. But, there’s nothing about the societal acceptance of such tactics. As other articles have pointed out, these are all indicators of a larger rot in society — which the entire Trump family has benefited from. Freddy, despite living apart from the family, and supposedly struggling to make ends meet, buys multiple airplanes and boats — definitely not what a normal middle-class man would do. In this family, being poor isn’t the standard definition of poor. Opportunities are always open to them that are simply denied to other people.
Mary is herself complicit. Towards the end of the book, when Fred dies and the money from his estate is to be divided up, Mary and her brother find out they aren’t going to get their share and unsuccessfully attempt to get it. This, after knowing the money was earned through illegal tax breaks and professing such hate for Donald and Fred. Would this book have been written if she’d received the money? Who knows.
This is a fascinating document of a successful business-class family in the richest country in the world — but it isn’t to be read uncritically. Between the lines are pointers of what is going wrong with the United States and how heavily the scales are tilted in favour of the rich there. Read in conjunction with other excellent books and articles on the American social system, it will leave you with a deep unease.