# Trump's niece putting out a book **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 15, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692 "2020-06-15T11:38:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/121 "2020-07-18T14:38:19Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Anyone see her on Rachel Maddow last night? (I don’t get regular TV.) I haven’t seen it either, just some highlights on youTube, and based on that, it was a terrible interview. Nothing really new. Trump says incredibly racist things in private…Would anyone be surprised by that, even his supporters? He says incredibly racist things in public. And lots of awkward silences. She’d answer a question that was fishing for an anecdote with just “yes” or “no”, leaving Rachel having to think of another question sooner than she’d expected. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/122 "2020-07-18T14:45:57Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > And lots of awkward silences. She’d answer a question that was fishing for an anecdote with just “yes” or “no”, leaving Rachel having to think of another question sooner than she’d expected. I wonder why she chose to do the interview if she didn’t want to talk to Rachel Maddow. I realize it’s a publicity book tour, but she could skip the ones she doesn’t like. Did Rachel say something negative about her in the past? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/123 "2020-07-18T15:51:59Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Did Rachel say something negative about her in the past? Not as far as I know. But, I agree, it was a bit of an awkward interview. To be fair, some of her responses to Maddow’s questions were lengthy, and she was more animated, but at other times, yes, she gave short answers, and even then, those answers came after a delay of several seconds (Maddow’s question about whether Mary had ever heard Donald use a racial slur was one of them). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/124 "2020-07-18T18:37:34Z")
Saw a couple of minutes of the Maddow interview and wondered what was wrong with Ms. Trump. She didn’t look like she wanted to be there in addition to the terse answers. Saw a couple of minutes of her on CNN last night, didn’t see a problem. I suspect Maddow show producers, which may include Maddow herself pushed her to get this interview first and Ms. Trump was not happy with how thqat negotiation turned out. She needs a media consultant to help her, or if she has one then she needs a new one. So far this seems like more of a personal thing for her. She did provide info on his taxes previously but otherwise hasn’t revealed anything new that is germane. Nobody should be surprised if someone took the SATs for Trump, or anything else she reveals about his personality, we’ve seen it all demonstrated repeatedly. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/125 "2020-07-18T19:43:13Z")
I watched her interview with Rachel Maddow and clips of her interview with George Stephanopoulos. She seemed awkward in both interviews. I think the most likely explanation (especially with regard to the long pauses in her answers to questions about Donald Trump’s past racist remarks) is because Donald Trump is incredibly litigious. You can bet that Donald Trump’s lawyers will be carefully reviewing her on-camera responses for anything that can be construed as defamatory. She was trying to carefully construe all of her responses. Also, not everyone is great on camera. Despite the awkwardness, she still came across as very believable to me. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/126 "2020-07-18T19:52:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > She did provide info on his taxes previously but otherwise hasn’t revealed anything new that is germane. Nobody should be surprised if someone took the SATs for Trump, or anything else she reveals about his personality, we’ve seen it all demonstrated repeatedly. Have you read her book? She actually provides a great deal that is new, like the fullest and most complete explanation for the sociopathic and narcissistic tendencies of Donald Trump. It’s up to you whether you consider this to be germane or not. As far as the SAT anecdote is concerned, that literally consists of just three short sentences in her book. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/127 "2020-07-18T20:03:15Z")
Trump is such a public figure now; would it even be possible to defame him? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/128 "2020-07-18T20:28:43Z")
Do you think the fact that he is a public figure is going to stop him from suing her? (Now granted, he likely will not succeed, but that rarely seems to be the point with him. The point is to harass and intimidate the targets of his lawsuits, and to force them to pay to defend themselves.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/129 "2020-07-18T20:40:19Z")
Well no, I don’t consider the explanations for his behavior to be germane. It may be quite interesting, well written, worth reading, and useful information to needle him with though. But I don’t see it as a game changer so far. It does sound very cathartic for her to finally let this story out. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/130 "2020-07-18T20:52:41Z")
Right. TriPolar, Trump supporters are so invested in that asshole, that they really can’t back down now. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/131 "2020-07-18T21:34:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Well no, I don’t consider the explanations for his behavior to be germane. It may be quite interesting, well written, worth reading, and useful information to needle him with though. But I don’t see it as a game changer so far. It does sound very cathartic for her to finally let this story out. > [@enipla](#): > > Right. TriPolar, Trump supporters are so invested in that asshole, that they really can’t back down now. As always in politics, though, the hope is to shift the scale with the supposedly “undecided” people in the middle. One thing I found interesting from her interviews was this quote regarding Donald Trump’s fundamental inability to properly address the pandemic: > [@](#): > > ”The reason he’s failing at it is because he’s incapable of succeeding at it. It would have required taking responsibility, which in his mind would have meant admitting a mistake, which in his mind would be admitting weakness, which in my family was essentially punished with the death penalty.” ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/132 "2020-07-19T00:31:09Z")
The SAT explains how he got into Wharton. It doesn’t explain how he graduated. As a Penn alumnus, I have wondered about that. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/133 "2020-07-19T00:35:12Z")
He had plenty of cash to spread around. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/134 "2020-07-19T06:20:25Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > The SAT explains how he got into Wharton. It doesn’t explain how he graduated. As a Penn alumnus, I have wondered about that. > [@running\_coach](#): > > He had plenty of cash to spread around. In the book, Trump’s niece writes that while Donald Trump was a student at Fordham (commuting from home), he set his sights on the University of Pennsylvania. She goes on to write that while he was still at Fordham: > [@Mary Trump](#): > > “Unfortunately, even though Maryanne [Trump’s sister] had been doing his homework for him, she couldn’t take his tests, and Donald worried that his grade point average, which put him far from the top of his class, would scuttle his efforts to get accepted.” I have no doubt that Trump found someone else to his work for him at Penn. Like **running coach** says, he had plenty of cash and no inclination to do his own work. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/135 "2020-07-19T16:21:05Z")
> [@robby](#): > > The point is to harass and intimidate the targets of his lawsuits, and to force them to pay to defend themselves. Too bad that doesn’t work on viruses. Works great on the folks making virus statistics, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/136 "2020-07-20T11:25:43Z")
A Walton family member paid someone to do college work at USC. When she was caught she gave up her degree. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/137 "2020-07-24T13:16:54Z")
She was on Fresh Air last night , you can listen to the recording. They spent the first part talking about how her father became a pilot which was not what her grandfather wanted. Then he became an alcoholic. She last saw Trump in Spring 2017 at a birthday party at the WH. I did not hear the 2nd half. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/138 "2020-07-24T14:57:49Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > She was on Fresh Air last night , you can listen to the recording. They spent the first part talking about how her father became a pilot which was not what her grandfather wanted. Then he became an alcoholic. She last saw Trump in Spring 2017 at a birthday party at the WH. I did not hear the 2nd half.- I listened to the whole thing this morning (podcast) on my walk. Not all that much about Donald. A lot about her father and how her grandfather drove him into the ground. I think Mary’s low-key, modest demeanor adds immensely to her credibility. No one can accuse her of grandstanding. If anything, she seems a reluctant interviewee, even though she knows the talk-show circuit is part of promoting a book. My neighbor loaned me the book, but I was hoping to get more from articles and interviews. I really don’t want to read the whole thing. I’m dipping into it in small doses-- it’s nauseating. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/139 "2020-07-24T17:33:37Z")
I just read all the quotes from it people had posted on Goodreads. I figured that was the easiest way to get the goodies! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692/140 "2020-07-30T15:56:23Z")
> **[Mary Trump Names 2 'Crucial Factors’ For Her Uncle To Leave Office](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mary-trump-donald-trump-factors-office_n_5f2266efc5b68fbfc87eed1f)** > > The president’s niece also suggested why her uncle was drawn to Vladimir Putin in an interview with MSNBC's Joy Reid. > [Mary Trump](https://www.huffpost.com/topic/mary-trump) on Wednesday predicted how her uncle, President [Donald Trump](https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/donald-trump), may respond if he loses to presumptive Democratic nominee [Joe Biden](https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/joe-biden) in the 2020 election. > > [MSNBC](https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/msnbc)’s [Joy Reid](https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/joy-reid) asked the president’s niece — who made [a series of bombshell claims](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mary-trump-donald-trump-book-claims_n_5f059b94c) about her uncle in her new tell-all book “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” — if she feared he’d refuse to leave office. > > It would depend on “two crucial factors,” said Trump, a clinical psychologist. > > “The first is Joe Biden’s margin of victory,” she continued. “If he has a very large margin of victory, a landslide, then I think Trump would be so narcissistically injured that he’ll do anything to spin himself away from that pain and **he’ll figure something that’s even better than leading America, because we don’t deserve him.** ” > > “The other unknown factor is how people around him, who are benefitting enormously by the position and power he holds, will counsel him after the election, whether it’s close or not,” she said… My bold. _Right, Donnie! We definitely don’t deserve you!_ I LIKE that outcome. > Elsewhere in the interview, Mary Trump suggested her uncle was drawn to authoritarian figures like Russian President Vladimir Putin because of the way he was treated by his father Fred Trump. > > “I can speak to the resemblance that Putin may have to my grandfather,” Mary Trump told Reid. > > “You know, one of the things my grandfather did was, you know, through neglect, abuse and pressure, was turn Donald into somebody who was eminently useful to smarter, more powerful men,” she said… So… Vlad is a Fred surrogate? Makes sense. _“Daddy Dearest, please love me! I’ll be your very good boy!”_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-niece-putting-out-a-book/855692.md?page=6)