Mary L Trump, 60, is one of her uncle President Trump’s fiercest critics and has spoken at length about what she feels are the dangers facing the world due to his presidency.
Christopher Sharp Trendswatch Reporter
10:24 ET, 28 May 2025
Donald Trump’s niece claims to know the source of his problems(Image: undefined via Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s niece, Mary L. Trump, attributes the root of the former president’s issues to a pivotal event that occurred when he was just two-and-a-half-years-old.
Mary, 60, an outspoken critic of her uncle, has extensively discussed the perceived dangers his presidency poses to the world.
Recently, she delved into the reasons behind Trump’s behavior and the controversy surrounding his actions.
In a recent discussion about Trump, 78, Mary laid the blame for his current persona squarely on his parents. According to her, Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, was severely ill when he was just over two-years-old.
As a result, his mother underwent treatment to recover, leaving Trump’s father, Fred Trump, to exert a profoundly negative influence on his young son during this period, reports the Express.
Donald Trump’s niece Mary has openly criticised him(Image: Getty)
In an interview with Times Radio, Mary elaborated: “Fundamentally, Donald’s problems, his psychological and emotional problems stem from the fact that as a very young child, when he was about two-and-a-half, which is the most crucial developmental period in any young child’s life, his mother was very ill.
“So, she was psychologically, emotionally and physically absent for about a year, which is devastating. One problem is that during that time, the only person he had as a quote unquote caregiver was his father, who was a sociopath.”
Mary Trump, the niece of former President Donald Trump, shared some insights into her family’s dynamics. She explained that due to her grandmother’s prolonged illness and emotional unavailability, she was unable to mend the strained relationship with her son.
“So he never felt safe, he never felt loved and I think if you start from that kind of deficit and you never find somebody to fill in the gaps or to heal you, then you are in the mercy of anybody who may find you of use.”
She claimed that her grandfather was the one who inflicted the most harm on Donald, exploiting his vulnerabilities and capitalizing on the damage already done to him.
Mary L Trump says Donald’s father is the reason he is who he is(Image: Getty)
According to Mary, this alleged mistreatment by Fred Trump resulted in her uncle becoming “hardened, he became a bully, he became somebody who convinced himself that he didn’t need anything from anybody else”.
Her remarks came amidst another contentious move by the Trump administration – freezing all student visas and proposing social media checks for visa applicants.
A cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by Politico revealed plans by the White House to intensify social media scrutiny during the vetting process for student visas.
The cable disclosed by the publication read: “Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued septel, which we anticipate in the coming days.”
Reacting to this development, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, cautioned about significant economic repercussions, as reported by the Daily Express US.
He stated: “Trump’s decision to suspend student visa interviews threatens nearly $44 billion in economic contributions and over 370,000 jobs across the United States, according to NAFSA. If the United States stops taking foreign students, the economic impact would be catastrophic.”
