As the world watched in shocked horror and stunned silence all the events unfolding in Washington D.C. post the elections of 2020, it became evidently clear that the perpetrator at the helm of this toxic drama is totally enjoying this. Albeit from afar, but still he kept his mind and eyes focused on all the madness unleashed by his followers. At this point, anyone and everyone who is watching this for past 4 years is more than used to the sociopathic tendencies displayed by the man-in-charge. But for someone like his niece & the author of this book, these tendencies were well known for a very long time.

Mary L. Trump begins the family saga from the very beginnings; that is how Frederick Trump arrived to America from Germany in hope of starting a new life, their early years in the new world and his sowing the seeds for a family business. However, his early death became a milestone for his son Fred and presented an opportunity for his wife – Elizabeth C Trump, to mould their son as per her beliefs.

From those early days Fred learnt to bottle up his feelings and just work, from one day to the next. After learning the ropes of construction business, he started his own Trump Management along with his mother being a guiding force and partner, which will eventually lead to his empire of real estate. These early years of Fred Trump and his newly established business are presented in much details by the author. However, what she presents in microscopic detail is the family life. While Fred busy being an upcoming businessman outside and stern, strict father at home; coupling this with his wife – Mary’s failing health, his children without any kind of emotional growth or mentally nurturing environment lead them to being someone who are unable to regulate emotions or evolve with natural spectrum of feelings. From a trained psychologist, we get a balanced view of this entire process and she is quite upfront in calling what this is – Child Abuse.

From then on, it’s a troubling story of an entire family which leads to different tragedies for each of them depending on how close they are to the orbit of Fred. We get to hear the first person account of how Fred mentally tortured his eldest son & heir apparent- Freddy to the point of breaking him completely and leading him to an early grave. By not letting Freddy live his life to follow his own choices and lead by his own heart, Fred not only curtailed Freddy’s happiness but he very well ensured that their older brother’s life proves to be a lesson for the younger siblings, specially for Donald. A lesson of how not to be a Trump, specially if you would like to enjoy the family millions.

Indeed Donald learnt early on how to mould his life based on his father’s expectations; learning his father’s pathological behaviour early on and emboldened by the lies, false sense of security provided by Fred Trump’s wealth. Here, sometime humorous and more often than not critical views are presented by Mary L Trump of her uncle. Not only the high & mighty such as leading banks & media have been blinded by the fake glitz presented by Donald Trump, but also they have failed to rein in his destructive tendencies.

Mary L Trump has that authoritative voice with unparalleled insights Ito the Trump family which adds into the authenticity of this tale of one person’s fear and cruelty being imposed on all surrounding him. The result is the toxic reality as so very well captured in the Epilogue of the book.

If there is one book to read about Trump to make semblance of what unfolded for past 5 years or so, then your search ends right here. Essential & highly recommended read.