5 Questions For Mary Trump—Niece Of Donald Who Wants The GOP ‘Burned To The Ground’
A year after releasing a best-selling, salacious takedown of her uncle, Too Much and Never Enough, Mary Trump is back with another title, but a much bigger target: the entire Republican Party.
Trump, the niece of former President Donald Trump, seized the national spotlight when she publicly turned on her family last June, airing internal dramas now being battled out in court and revealing herself as the anonymous source behind The New York Times’ bombshell 2018 investigation into Trump’s wealth origins and tax dodges.
Still one of the ex-president’s most vicious critics, Trump expands her net of blame in her next book, “The Reckoning: Our nation’s trauma and finding a way to heal.” Trump spoke with Forbes about the lingering influence of her uncle, the evolution of a political party she deems “fascist” and her own future aspirations just before the book’s release Aug. 17.
Forbes: How have the dynamics within your family changed over the past year, if at all, with the release of your last book, Trump leaving the White House and the final dramas of his presidency? Did this, even privately, turn any more family members to your side?
Trump: I’m pretty sure nothing has changed. My aunt [Maryanne Trump Barry] will privately continue to gripe about how horrible [Donald] is, but do nothing and say nothing. And clearly they all feel betrayed by me, so that’s not going to change.
Because really the only people who are still relevant are Donald and his kids, it’s going to be very interesting to see how that plays out. [His children] will continue to back him as long as they feel he’s of use to them and that’s going to shift if and when he or they—and it should be all of them—get dragged into any criminal proceedings or any civil proceedings that might have a significant impact on them. So, nothing is going to change until they need to make the decision of whether they’re willing to sacrifice themselves for the other, and the answer to the question is no. They are not going to do that and he won’t do it for them either, which is kind of tragic.
Forbes: Trump hasn’t had any kind of legal retribution yet … But do you think there is rising fear in Trumpworld? And what do you view as just punishment for your uncle and the people in his administration who you say enabled him?
Trump: There should be. The one person, though, who isn’t feeling that is Donald because why should he? As you just said, he’s never suffered any consequences so there is no reason for him to think he will now. It’s important to remember that he continues to have the entire Republican Party letting him get away with it. His inner circle should be quite freaked out, certainly.
They should be tried and if they are found guilty, which I believe they are, they should be put in prison for sedition because they are traitors to our country.
Forbes: On that note, we’re in a position now where the minority of Republicans who do decide to stand up to the rest of their party are shunned, threatened or punished. Do you think that the GOP is too far along on its current course to change? And what’s your advice for anyone who is trying for change from within the Republican Party?
Trump: I think they are way too far gone. And you know, I think they’re at a point now where I think the whole party needs to be burned to the ground and rebuilt, which is quite a project. I don’t know how successfully a democracy can function with one party, but it certainly can’t function when one of your two main political parties is pro-autocracy. I don’t see it changing from within, I really don’t. I think they’re going to have to be challenged from the outside and moderate Republicans, or Republicans who are not on board with the direction the party is going, need to start challenging the party electorally. Democrats have a hand in this, too. Democrats need to start governing like they’re the majority, which they are, and stop pulling punches.
Forbes: You said that you don’t think it’s likely Trump will run for president again in 2024. What do you predict for America if he does run and what do you predict if he doesn’t?
Trump: I’ve kind of revised my opinion on that because at the time I didn’t think he’d run I didn’t realize the extent to which the Republican Party was going to allow him to stay relevant. Because they kind of allowed him to perpetuate “The Big Lie,” they’ve been able to put forward all of these voter suppression bills in every state in our country. And if they succeed in passing even a minority of them that could be enough to convince Donald that if he ran he can’t lose. That’s the only way he’ll compete: if he knows that he can cheat his way to a win. So I’m not so sanguine about that anymore, which is very upsetting.
If he runs and wins … To tell you the truth I think we need to be worried about 2022 because if the Republicans get back the House or Senate it’s over anyway. I don’t think this country survives that. If we survive that and he manages somehow to get back into the White House in 2024, then it’s over, it’s over. The American experiment will have failed and the most powerful country in the world will be an autocracy, which will be bad for the whole planet.
Forbes: Would you ever consider running for any type of office yourself?
Trump: I wouldn’t say definitively never, but I do believe I can be much more effective from the outside. At least that’s my sense … The other thing I would say: who needs another Trump in politics anyway? Honestly, I think it would be better for everybody if the name just disappeared.
