Certainly, in the case of my dad, who was the oldest son, heir apparent and namesake, there was harsh discipline and humiliation which Donald, seven and a half years younger, was able to witness and learn very specific lessons from: don’t be like Freddy, don’t be kind, don’t be generous, don’t have ‘frivolous’ interests. Mary L. Trump Read Quote
You know, my dad was a second lieutenant in the Air National Guard Reserve, and my grandfather wasn’t particularly happy about the time it took away from the family business. Mary L. Trump Read Quote
You know, I think it was very important that my grandmother be perceived a very particular way in terms of being charitable or generous. I don’t think Donald cares about those two things necessarily. He has his own version of what he wants the world to see. Mary L. Trump Read Quote
You know, when my grandfather died, we were told that his estate was worth about $30 million. And it turns out it was closer to a billion. So that’s hardly a rounding error. Mary L. Trump Read Quote
I can’t say there was a last straw because there have been so many straws, but certainly the horrors at the border, separating children from their parents, the torture, the kidnapping and the incarceration of them in cages was unthinkable, unbearable. When an opportunity presented itself to me to do something, I needed to take a leap. Mary L. Trump Read Quote
The traits my grandfather came to value in Donald were the traits that were a result of my grandfather’s maltreatment of Donald – the bullying, the tendency not to care about other people’s feelings, the willingness to cheat, lie to get what he wanted. And eventually, my grandfather started to see a kindred spirit. Mary L. Trump Read Quote
I blame my grandfather 100 percent for his oldest son’s death. I don’t think there’s any ambiguity there. Mary L. Trump Read Quote
Donald’s monstrosity is the manifestation of the very weakness within him that he’s been running from his entire life. For him, there has never been any option but to be positive, to project strength, no matter how illusory, because doing anything else carries a death sentence; my father’s short life is evidence of that. Mary L. Trump Read Quote
Growing up, I never known anybody in my family actually to interact with a person of color. Mary L. Trump Read Quote
