Mary Trump pushes his “contempt” aside to offer a rather compassionate—albeit sad—reason why President Donald Trump he slaps his “name all over.”
During Thursday’s episode of The Daily Beast podcasthost Joanna Coles asked Trump’s niece — who is a psychologist and outspoken critic of her uncle’s policies — about why she thinks the president decided to change the name of the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center was named in honor of President John F. Kennedy in 1964, months after his assassination in November 1963.
An advertisement for Trump Steaks (2007) is seen in a display showing failed Trump businesses during a preview of the Museum of Failure in Washington, DC on September 6, 2023. MANADEL AND through Images
“I’m trying to contain my disdain,” Mary Trump prefaced, calling the move “obscene” and “illegal,” noting that to actually change the institution’s name, must be approved by Congress.
“Also, last time I checked, you’re not supposed to name things after living, current or former presidents,” she added.
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Mary Trump then pivoted to give her take on why her uncle decided to change his name.
“He wants to turn every public space in America into a version of WWE or Ultimate Fighting,” she said, referring to the president’s taste in culture. “And it’s grotesque that he thinks that somehow legitimizes him or gives him the same stature and status as someone like President Kennedy. But that’s partly why he’s doing it — for himself.”
President Donald Trump attends UFC 316 at the Prudential Center in June in Newark, New Jersey. Elsa via Getty Images
She continued, “But here’s the thing, it will never be enough. Never.”
Mary Trump said she believes the president is “constantly trying to fill a void that can’t be filled” because of his upbringing and his early relationship with his parents.
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“And the reason is actually quite simple: Even though Donald was my grandfather’s favorite child — and by favorite I mean the most useful to him, the most useful in furthering his own agenda — my grandfather and my grandmother made Donald unlovable,” Mary Trump said.
“The one thing, the thing he wants most desperately in his life, is to be loved. It’s never been enough. It never will be. That’s an impossible thing for him.”
She said that the reason Trump puts his “name on everything,” from steaks to Bibles and buildings (some of which he doesn’t even own), it is “all in the service of filling an unfillable black hole.”
“And I think if we can step back and detach ourselves from the horrors that this man has committed and continues to commit, that’s a tragedy. It’s a tragedy to say that about another human being. I’m not saying we should care about him or have compassion for him. I do have a lot of compassion for that kid, though.”
She continued: “Because his needs will never be met and he can never really fight them because he’s just a terrified little boy who can’t face the truth about himself, we all suffer,” she said.
Donald Trump, his first wife Ivana Trump, his mother Mary Trump and father Fred Trump at the Plaza Hotel in New York City in 1987. Sonia Moskowitz via Getty Images
When Coles asked Mary Trump if she thought her uncle was “aware” of this, she responded by saying that he probably wasn’t, “but he definitely understands it on a deep, unconscious level.”
“And that’s why so much of his mental and emotional energy is spent protecting himself from this knowledge. It’s a full-time job,” she said.
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Mary Trump pointed out how “obscene” it was that someone as uneducated as her uncle would want his name emblazoned on an arts centre. Early in the interview, Mary Trump recalled spending the holidays at her grandparents’ house, in a room the family called the “library.”
“And, yes, it was called the library, but it had no books in it until now [Donald Trump’s 1987 book] “‘Art of the Deal’ has been published,” she said.
She also pointed out that Kennedy’s relationship with the arts was profoundly different from her uncle’s.
Donald Trump during a launch party for Trump Vodka in 2007. Gregg DeGuire via Getty Images
“If you look at some of the things that President Kennedy had to say about the importance of the arts and what we should aspire to as a country — a lot of those quotes etched on the facade of that building — it just underscores how blatant that is.” Mary Trump said. “Donald doesn’t care about the arts. He and his administration have underfunded or defunded them.”
It makes sense. The Trump administration took steps to eliminate federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.
“I look forward to an America … that rewards achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or government,” one of Kennedy’s quotes engraved in the Kennedy Center reads. “I look forward to an America that will constantly raise the standards of artistic achievement and that will constantly expand cultural opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America that commands respect throughout the world not only for its power but also for its civilization.”
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