Trump belongs in jail, says psychologist niece
US President Donald Trump’s niece says her uncle is ‘‘ criminal, cruel and traitorous’’ and belongs in prison after he leaves the White House.
Mary Trump, a psychologist, author and outspoken critic of her estranged relative, rejects the notion that putting a former president on trial would deepen the nation’s political divisions.
‘‘It’s quite frankly insulting to be told time after time that the American people can handle it and that we just need to move on,’’ Mary Trump told the Associated Press.
‘‘ If anybody deserves to be prosecuted and tried, it’s Donald. (Otherwise) we just leave ourselves open to somebody who, believe it or not, is even worse than he is.’’
Mary Trump, the daughter of the president’s elder brother, Fred Jr, announced this week that she is writing a follow-up to this year’s scathing bestseller about her uncle
Too Much and Never Enough, How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man.
America was ‘‘looking down the barrel of an explosion of psychological disorders’’ from the ‘‘trauma of living in a country in which the pandemic didn’t just strike, but it was completely mishandled,’’, she said.
Mary Trump said the president’s post-election behaviour ‘‘makes perfect sense’’ given his personality, psychology, and lifelong disdain for losers.
‘‘This is somebody who’s never won legitimately in his life. But he’s never lost either. Because in his view, winning is so important, and he always deserves to win, that it’s OK to lie, cheat and steal.’’
She said the president inherited his acerbic behaviour from his father, Fred Trump, a real estate developer who died in 1999. She called her grandfather ‘‘a horrible human being who just revelled in other people’s humiliation’’.
‘‘ It’s not simply that Donald is horrible and incompetent and cruel, it’s that he’s been allowed to be,’’ she said.
‘‘Every transgression that’s gone on unpunished has been an opportunity for him to push the envelope even further. That’s partially why we’re going to see him smashing as much stuff on his way out the door as he can.’’