<p>I have to confess that I have not read the manuscript about President Trump penned by his niece, Mary Trump since no one has leaked me a copy – so I cannot fully report on its content at this time. But based on things I do know and what I have seen in all the reports across a broad range of news services, I will hazard a pundit’s prognostication that the book will have little impact on the course of the presidential campaign – despite the salivating book reviews by Democrats and their media allies.</p>
<p>The first problem is the credibility of the author. Since she is a member of the Trump family, the President’s adversaries give her high marks for credibility. But she is not – and has not for a long time – been a member of the family in good standing. Some reports state that she feels she has been cut out of the family fortune. For whatever reasons, Mary Trump comes across as a lady scorned.</p>
<p>It is not just the President. For whatever reasons Mary Trump has been bitterly antagonistic to virtually every member of the Trump family – including her own grandfather. The President’s younger brother, Robert, has been trying to block the book from publication from the onset – not that it matters. As is always the case with controversial books, the advance manuscript has been selectively leaked to the press.</p>
<p>You get a sense of her bitterness in the title of the book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” Her hyperbole is revelatory. Trump is hardly “the world’s most dangerous man.” I think most rational people would minimally put China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and a few lesser known despots well ahead of Trump as the world’s most dangerous leader. And then there is the question &#8230; most dangerous to whom.</p>
<p>In the snippets cut out of the book by the Trump-hating press, we learned that the President’s sister – a retired judge – never thought brother Donald could win the presidency and referred to him as a “clown.” That is what Mary said, she said. Wow! With that sort of revelation, maybe the Democrats will rev up another impeachment inquiry.</p>
<p>Mary Trump claims in the book that her uncle hardly knew his daughter-in-law even though she was married to son Eric for eight years. That revelation deserves an “and so?”</p>
<p>Did you know that Trump’s sister advised him – prior to his meeting with Kim Jong-un to “stay away from Dennis Rodman” and “leave his Twitter at home.” And so?</p>
<p>Mary Trump said her grandfather used anti-Semitic language. What? I thought this book was about President Trump. She said that Grandpa Fred often used the term “Jew me down” in negotiations. By the way, as I recall that term – as inappropriate as it is &#8212; was in wide use in those days. It evolved into “Chew me down” – just as the “Jew’s harp” became the “Jaw harp.” That’s progress – but what that has to do with the President is a mystery to me.</p>
<p>Mary channeled the President’s dead brother, Fred – Mary’s father – by claiming that Fred said that Donald paid someone to take his SAT test. And who did he pay? There is no second source to that story because Fred is dead, and the alleged recipient of the money has never surfaced. Mary writes that her aunt – the judge – often helped teenage Donald with his homework. “helping with” and “doing” a young student’s homework has been a controversial issue in every household with a school-age child.</p>
<p>Mary said that the Donald once commented on her development into womanhood by saying, “Wow! Your stacked.” It may have been a poor choice of words, but what do people mean when they see a developing young teenager. “My, how you have grown up” or “You have become quite a woman.” If you think they are referring to a sudden lack of braces when she smiles, I have a bridge to sell you.</p>
<p>According to <em>Politico</em> – which got one of those advance copies of the manuscript – the aforementioned revelations were among the “most revelatory and incendiary allegations.” That is how they described them – incendiary. If true, that would make the entire book boooooring – sort of like listening to one side in a bitter divorce case.</p>
<p>The one area of claims by Mary that might raise eyebrows is her diagnosis that the President suffers serious mental health issues. This becomes more interesting since Mary is a clinical psychologist. She claims that Trump is a narcissist (and what politician does not manifest some degree of narcissism?). She attributes what she describes as her uncle’s pugnacious personality to lack of affection from his cold mother and brutal treatment from his father. (Geez! Does poor Mary have any kind recollections of anyone in the Trump family?) Of course, Mary has no way of knowing that – and others in the family, who are old enough to know, say it is not so.</p>
<p>While the left seizes on Mary’s profession as proof that she is in a unique position to analyze Trump – she is not. Her accounts of the family history are not supported by any other member of the family. Even Mary’s mother has not made such claims.</p>
<p>The President is not – and never has been – a patient of Mary. In the ethics of the profession, it is malpractice to diagnose a person who is NOT a patient. That is because it is impossible to do so. And of course, it would be illegal to reveal any such psychological analysis conducted within the doctor/patient relationship. That makes Mary Trump nothing more than a malicious gossip – who, perhaps, needs to see a shrink, herself.</p>
<p>The book seems to be filled with scurrilous – and baseless &#8212; gossip. Mary fails to bring any evidence of official misconduct. She makes accusations without corroboration. From what has been reported &#8212; and I assume the anti-Trump press is reporting on what they consider to be the most damaging passages – the book is more pathetic than informative. If Trump were being dealt with in a court-of-law instead of the kangaroo court-of-public-opinion, Mary Trump would not even be called as a credible witness.</p>
<p>No matter how huge Trump’s enemies inflate this particular political balloon, it still rises on a bunch of hot air. That is why I believe Mary Trump’s book has a very short political shelf-life.</p>
<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>