“As my father lay dying alone, Donald went to the movies,” writes Mary L. Trump. The psychologist and writer, who is also Donald Trump’s niece, made this jaw-dropping allegation public in her tell-all book that came out in 2020. Titled Too Much and Never Enough, the book made some scathing remarks about the President-Elect. However, that wasn’t all.
Apart from shedding light on the Trump family and the issues that it was marred with, Mary would go on to reveal some shocking things about how her father, Fred Trump Jr., was treated.
According to the book, Donald Trump ridiculed his older brother, ignoring and ostracizing him as time went by, even missing his wedding. The estrangement would escalate to Donald opting to go to the movies over spending time with Fred Jr. while the latter was counting his days on his deathbed.
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But Donald Trump’s spite for his brother wasn’t something innate. According to Mary, it came from his father, Fred Trump Sr. The businessman and real estate magnate allegedly belittled his oldest son at every given opportunity, “devaluing and degrading every aspect of his personality.” It left Fred Jr. in “a desperate need to please” his father, who seemingly couldn’t care less about him.
Fred (Sr.) dismantled his oldest son by devaluing and degrading every aspect of his personality and his natural abilities until all that was left was self-recrimination and a desperate need to please a man who had no use for him.
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Fred Sr.’s disgruntlement with his son stemmed from the latter not being able to meet his expectations and demands. While his father expected him to join the family business and become an invulnerable “killer,” Fred Jr. chose to become a commercial airline pilot over the family business.
His father ridiculed this move of his. Fred Sr. wasn’t supportive of it in the slightest, even when he was nursing the ambition. “Freddy simply wasn’t who he wanted him to be,” wrote Mary Trump. Donald Trump would join his father in this belittlement, with the duo comparing Fred Jr.’s line of work to that of a chauffeur or a bus driver.
The constant mockery and pushing around would lead to Fred Trump Jr. becoming an alcoholic. His addiction overpowered him at a certain point, leading to domestic issues. This resulted in him being ousted from his house by his wife, Linda Clapp. She went as far as changing the locks after his departure. He would move into his parents’ house, living in an unfurnished attic.
Fred Trump Jr.’s drinking problem also curbed him from functioning as a pilot and saw him returning to his family business, working on maintaining Trump properties.
Fred Trump Jr. lost his life to a heart attack due to complications from alcoholism, after which his entire family line was “effectively erased,” according to Mary Trump.
Donald Trump addressed his behavior with his brother decades after his demise, regretting “having put pressure on him.” Speaking to The Washington Post, he added that “there was sort of a double pressure put on him” by him and his father.
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I do regret having put pressure on him. (The family business) was just something he was never going to want. It was just not his thing. I think the mistake that we made was we assumed that everybody would like it. That would be the biggest mistake. There was sort of a double pressure put on him.