MARY TRUMP'S BOOK

I ordered Mary Trump's book early and eagerly anticipated receiving insight from a true insider into the Trump family dynamics, especially since she had a doctorate in psychology. After hearing about Trump throughout the years and learning first-hand accounts of his behavior when I lived in Palm Beach County, I had some theories about his pathology due to my counseling psychology background. I was curious whether she had drawn the same conclusions, and, at the same time, I wanted to hear some juicy family stories. We all have a little or a considerable amount of dysfunction in our families because, let's face it, no one is perfect. I always surmised that Trump's family had more malfunctions than most.

While waiting for the lawsuits against the book's publication by the Trump family to resolve, I started seeing her interviews on TV. Her responses were with a flat affect, and the tone of her voice displayed no emotion. This may have been purposeful, as many therapists learn to appear expressionless when counseling patients. I also had the nagging thought that her book was about revenge since her grandfather essentially disinherited her. I've always observed that when people feel entitled to money they haven't earned, it creates psychological issues. The love of money is truly the root of all kinds of evil. No one in the Trump family has earned their keep, including Donald.  

The book arrived, and I finished reading it in one day. I couldn't put it down. The thoroughness of the family dynamics revealed in Mary's book leads to understanding Trump's current behavior. His parents ignored him at a very young age. His father rewarded him with praise for bullying others, his arrogant attitude, and constant self-promotion, as the father saw himself in his son. Trump's belief that the rules don't apply to him was reinforced by his father, who bailed him out of countless financial failures. In her book, Mary stated that "a large minority of people still confuse his arrogance for strength, his false bravado for accomplishment, and his superficial interest in them for charisma." The very idea that Evangelicals see him as a "changed man" is outrageous. Sociopaths do not change. They can be hugely successful con men. Prisons, politics, and churches are full of them.

Mary stated that she was not writing the book as an act of cashing in or seeking revenge, as she would have written it long ago if that were true. Mary feels that the last three years' events have forced her hand to reveal Trump's true nature. Further, she surmised, "by the time the book is published, thousands of lives would be sacrificed at the altar of Donald's hubris and willful ignorance." She feels that her grandfather and Donald destroyed her father, Freddie, who died from alcoholism when he was 42. Furthermore, Mary couldn't let Donald destroy "my country" if elected again.

While I now have more insight and an understanding of Donald's pathological behavior, I will never accept him as the President of our once-great country. We can anticipate that Donald will interfere in the elections and not accept his successor. Nevertheless, this country has survived countless wars and many economic challenges. We can survive a wannabe dictator. We must do everything we can to turn this disaster around by encouraging people to vote.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DR MCELROY AND TEXAS A&M

Image
  I’ve lived my life with integrity, compassion, and honesty.  I don’t back down from a controversial subject and will always speak out against injustice and prejudice.  I received many benefits from being White, although I was still short-shafted regarding equal pay as a woman.   Case in point: I was replaced by two men when I retired from overseeing a 36-bed rehabilitation hospital and 6 outpatient clinics serving children through adults. The man who replaced me had great difficulty managing the inpatient rehabilitation services. Hence, the Healthcare System overseeing the services promoted a male physical therapist to manage the outpatient facilities.  Each of the men was paid more than I.  It’s probably not a stretch to guess that had I been a person of color with the same credentials, I would not have been hired, and doubly so if I had been a woman of color with the same credentials.   A tenured UT journalism professor was recently recruited to Texas A&M to kick-start their jo
Read more

MY LIFE WITH TERI FLANAGAN

Image
  (Teri authored a story about me entitled "My Life with Dana Rushing" in the local newspaper after I moved from Horseshoe Bay to Austin. It was a total surprise and touched me beyond words. She is now in hospice at a facility in Marble Falls. Teri's husband has given me permission to publish this story. It will be in The Beacon this week.) I’m incredibly fortunate to have a friend I could call to assist me with the various projects I began or coordinated while living in Horseshoe Bay for five years. Other friends also answered my call to action, but Teri was always the first one I contacted because I was confident she would agree to help. Teri once said when she saw my name on her caller ID, she knew I wasn’t calling to chat and that she was being recruited for another project. Still, Teri answered my call. Teri is a talented artist and an avid reader. Her beautiful painting of a colorful donkey hangs in my home. A burnt orange wooden walking stick David made helps k
Read more

ROSA PARKS AND THE DREAM

Image
I dreamed of Rosa Parks last night.  She was sitting in a seat in the middle of a bus with Black men sitting on both sides of her.  I figured they were bodyguards and had joined her after news got out that this 'uppity Black woman' had dared to take her place amongst the Whites. The days of sitting in the back of the bus were over for her.  She worked long, hard days at low wages for a white family and had to take a bus every...damn...day.  Her great-grandparents had been slaves.  Enough was enough.   She felt she earned something more than a seat at the back of the bus.   She didn't know that this small act would set up a firestorm of millions of people being emboldened by her.  More and more people began speaking out, demonstrating, and even rioting to bring civil rights to the forefront.  The battle continued until, at last, civil rights passed.  Racism became somewhat more subtle over 50 years. But the Rosa Parks I saw in my dreams is still in that seat.
Read more