By Mary L Trump
As both a family member and a trained clinical psychologist, Mary Trump brings unique credentials to help Americans understand what makes their president the boastful, cruel and dishonest person he is today. Fred Trump Sr made a fortune in real estate. Through his connections to politicians and discrimination against non-whites, he managed to create an empire worth ~$1B at his death in 1999. When Fred Jr (Mary's father) struggled with alcoholism, Donald became the favored child and heir to the empire, shutting Fred's children out of their share of the inheritance. Fred provided funding for Donald's first project (turning an aging hotel into a classy Hyatt) and bailed him out of many unsuccessful efforts, especially in Atlantic City where Donald found that, without Fred's political clout, his efforts failed. Donald still managed to squeak out a fortune, thanks to choosing not to repay investors, stiffing contractors, and creating fake opportunity zones where he could pretend he was building housing for needy renters. Other efforts beyond real estate, such as Trump University, Trump airlines and Trump wine also failed, but Trump had become a huge media success with his flashy lifestyle, and so left his creditors to pick up the pieces.
I appreciate Mary Trumps insight - but it's still hard for me to see why people voted for a man who is so personally dishonest and unkind, and who has no experience in leading nor trying to building a consensus.
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