Trump's worldview forged by neglect and trauma at home, his niece says in new book

[demmiblue]

Source: WaPo

A tell-all book by President Trump’s niece describes a family riven by a series of traumas, exacerbated by a daunting patriarch who “destroyed” Donald Trump by short-circuiting his “ability to develop and experience the entire spectrum of human emotion,” according to a copy of the forthcoming memoir obtained by The Washington Post.

President Trump’s view of the world was shaped by his desire during childhood to avoid his father’s disapproval, according to the niece, Mary L. Trump, whose book is by turns a family history and a psychological analysis of her uncle.

Mary’s father, Fred Jr., — the president’s older brother — died of an alcohol-related illness when she was 16 years old in 1981. President Trump told The Post last year that he and his father both pushed Fred Jr. to try to go into the family business, which Trump said he now regrets.

Donald escaped his father’s scorn and ridicule, Mary Trump wrote, because “his personality served his father’s purpose. That’s what sociopaths do: they co-opt others and use them toward their own ends — ruthlessly and efficiently, with no tolerance for dissent or resistance.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-worldview-forged-by-neglect-and-trauma-at-home-his-niece-says-in-new-book/2020/07/07/b19b22f6-bf9d-11ea-864a-0dd31b9d6917_story.html

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Link to tweet

[Kitchari]

1. K&R n/t

[soothsayer]

2. This will almost make me feel sorry for him

Pity I guess.

[Miguelito Loveless]

8. People this badly broken

rarely come about spontaneously. They are the handiwork of parents who mold them into the sociopaths they are.

That said, while I feel pity for Trump, it in no way exonerates his actions, it just explains them. It also speaks volumes about the people who looked at him, and saw a man they admired and voted for.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. Worse yet, he parented his kids the same way

Children of abusive/neglectful parents treat their kids using the only parenting skills they know.

Some, however, are able to make a decision to treat their kids differently.

I am very curious about sexual abuse in Trump's family. Everything points to it.

[Miguelito Loveless]

23. Yes, I agree.

[RainCaster]

3. I have no sympathy for DFT

Just sayin

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Daddy groomed him well.

[olegramps]

6. It appears they were a very dysfunctional family at best. Perhaps mental illness was prevalent.

Children helpless trapped in a family with parents who are suffering from mental illness would make survival, let alone healthy development a challenge. The situation would only be compounded when the child had their own mental problems. From what I have read Trump had some serious issues such a stoning the next door child in a playpen, fighting and behavior that led to him being sent away to a military school that are in most cases little more than reform schools for troubled youths. It was also reported by those who knew him that he refused to be corrected and would insist that he was right regardless of the proof.

[Wellstone ruled]

10. So true.

Fortunately in today's world. We have intervention via early education and for the most part,a system that spots mental health issues early on. And sorry to say,some are miss diagnosed which posses another issue.

Lived in Utah for a decade plus,pop a pill in the kid and he will settle down was the go to diagnoses. Can you say Zombie Land.

[Bayard]

22. Whoa!

He stoned the next door neighbor's baby in its playpen??? First I've heard that one. He was sick early on...

[Stuart G]

5. Thank You for posting...K and R

[Champp]

7. KKK greedhead Republican daddy dotards suck

And are totally unAmerican.

?imwidth=480

[Miles Archer]

9. I have very mixed feelings about the book.

One one hand, I'm glad she wrote it, and prevailed in the legal battles surrounding its release.

On the other, I already know that Fred was rotten to the core, Donald is a by-product of that, and the reasons for his pathology aren't going to change my opinion of him.

America shouldn't have to pay a price for what Fred did to, or didn't do, for Trump. And we have. Trump took his unhappy childhood and turned us into an unhappy nation.

Trump as President means we're not observers, we're participants. It's easy to ignore the Apprentice. Not so easy to ignore the president. So yes, what happened to young Trump shouldn't happen to any child, but a nation...and the world...should not have to pay the price for the words and actions of Fred.

[fleur-de-lisa]

11. Dump will have a stroke.

[totodeinhere]

12. Okay, so now they want us to excuse Trump by blaming his father.

I don't buy that for one second. Nobody is to blame for Donald Trump except for Donald Trump himself.

[hamsterjill]

15. Me either.

He’s had fifty years to be out from under his father. The rest of the world should not have to suffer because The Donald can’t get his shit together. He’s had plenty of time and had plenty of money to get whatever therapy he needs. He’s an asshole because he likes being an asshole.

[whopis01]

13. This makes a lot of sense when you look at his behavior.

He clearly has no concept of other people's experiences or thoughts. He can't see things through anyone else's eyes - not even a little bit.

I'm not even talking about having compassion or caring about others - that is certainly an aspect of this, but it goes much deeper than just selfishness and greed.

If something makes sense to him and is believable to him, he can't understand why anyone else would think different. He seems genuinely surprised at times when reality diverges from his world view.

Please do not take this as any sign of sympathy for him or excuse for his behavior on my part. It absolutely is not. I just find it interesting how this boils down a lot of his behavior to a fairly simple equation.

[cp]

14. Yes, and many of us have managed to grown up scarred but whole

As in, getting therapy, taking responsibility, learning to have mercy on ourselves. Abused children can grow up to be wonderful adults.
Pushing one's malignancies onto everyone else is a choice, every day, every minute.

(And no, I am not expecting him to change.)

[chowder66]

17. The cycle continues through Trumps children.

Tiffany may be the only one who is normal and I hope his youngest escapes that ugly fate.

[blueinredohio]

18. I noticed in the picture his lips haven't changed their position.

[flibbitygiblets]

19. He practiced kissing Putin's ass for many years

[Woodwizard]

20. There are many people that come from broken homes

of abuse and turn out fine under much harsher conditions than 45 like poverty and not enough food.

Some are just born sociopaths it is in the wiring. I had a friend starting in second grade as we matured it became apparent he had no feeling of guilt or compassion in my circle of friends it started becoming apparent something was off, impulsiveness bursts of anger destructive behavior. He grew up in a stable middle class family similar to mine.

I moved on in life, out of the blue years after I had seen him he called me an went on about people who wronged him 20 years previous. He died of a heart attack at 43 I think his temperament had a lot to do with it.

[abakan]

21. Oh waa waa waa I feel so sorry for the poor li'l rich boy!

NO the people I feel sorry for are his victims and this nation, not the animal
this author is trying to create sympathy for. That is sympathy for the devil and
waste of time.