by Hal Brown, MSW
The book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” became a NY Times best seller which sold so well a second edition was published. It propelled some of its contributors onto the national stage. Bandy Lee, MD, John Gartner, PhD, and Lance Dodes, MD in particular became familiar to anyone who was paying attention. (The links are to a web search of each of the three psychotherapists plus Trump.)
The Daily Beast explains what happened: Judge Tosses Trump Family Attempt to Block Mary Trump’s Tell-All.
A New York judge has tossed an application by President Donald Trump’s brother to try and halt the publication of his niece Mary Trump’s book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.
Queens County Surrogate Court Judge Peter Kelly cited “several improprieties” in Robert Trump’s filing that rendered it “fatally defective”—including that it was based on the official disposition of patriarch Fred Trump Sr.’s estate, which wrapped up in 2001 and is thus for legal purposes “nonexistent.” That settlement included a confidentiality clause that niece Mary Trump signed, and which the elder Trumps have argued prevents her from publishing the sort of titillating family secrets her memoir is set to contain.
"Under the scenario presented, it cannot be successfully argued this dispute affects the administration of the decedent's estate," Kelly wrote. “The irrefutable conclusion is, regardless of the outcome of this matter, the administration of this estate will not be impacted one iota.
“Accordingly, the matter is dismissed.”
Wikipedia tells us that “Simon & Schuster initially set a release date of August 11, 2020, and gave the exclusive report about it to The Daily Beast, which published an article about the book on June 15.[3][8][9] Two days later, the book reached No. 5 on Amazon's bestseller list.[10] The response to the article led them to move the publication date up to July 28.”
We should be thankful Trump has some ham-fisted bungling lawyers.
Of course Trump also failed to block John Bolton’s too, but he was already a well-known and controversial figure. He really didn’t need a publicity boost from Trump. However, few ever heard of Mary Trump, the clinical psychologist niece of Donald Trump. She is the eldest grandchild of patriarch Fred Trump Sr., and the daughter of Fred Trump Jr.—the second of Fred Sr. and Mary Trump's five children.
According to Vanity Fair, she chose to stay out of the spotlight until now Read “What to Know About Mary L. Trump, Donald Trump's Niece and Author of Too Much and Never Enough” to learn more about her.
This is how Amazon summarizes the book:
Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, New York, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald.
A firsthand witness to countless holiday meals and interactions, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humor to sometimes grim, often confounding family events. She recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald’s place in the family spotlight and Ivana’s penchant for regifting to her grandmother’s frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump’s favorite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer’s.
Numerous pundits, armchair psychologists, and journalists have sought to parse Donald J. Trump’s lethal flaws. Mary L. Trump has the education, insight, and intimate familiarity needed to reveal what makes Donald, and the rest of her clan, tick. She alone can recount this fascinating, unnerving saga, not just because of her insider’s perspective but also because she is the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families.
I compare her book to “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” because that book was written mostly by mental health professionals and Mary Trump is a clinical psychologist. Unlike all of the contributors to The Dangerous Case who never were so much within spitting distance from him, while she never assessed him in her professional capacity, she did know him.
As far as I know Donald Trump never sued anyone associated with The Dangerous Case or tried to block its publication. I think I would have heard about it if he had. In any case there’s nothing on this in the exhaustive list of all his lawsuits.
In retrospect, I think it’s too bad he didn’t sue. It might have doubled or tripled its sales.
I think that given the subject matter and her background the Mary Trump book would have been a huge best seller regardless of what Trump did. Obviously he should have ignored it. Now, thanks to Trump’s stupidity enhanced arrogance (or perhaps it is arrogance enhanced stupidity), I predict it will be an astronomical success and that before long everyone will have gotten to know Mary Trump through TV appearances and online interviews.
What can Mary send a president who has everything to thank him for this present? I don't think a giant box of chocolates would do since as far as I can tell he doesn't like them.
Hmmm...
Apparently there’s a secret entrance to the White House.
How about it Stormy?
Do you have a friend?
Afterthought
I hope there’s a section in the book which has lots of old photos of Mary and Donald Trump together because I expect once the book is getting publicity I expect he will say that he barely knows who she is.