So even Mary Trump is a viper. This is quite the family.
In response to a question from The Washington Post about how she knew the president paid someone to take the SATs, Mary Trump revealed that she had surreptitiously taped 15 hours of face-to-face conversations with [Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump] Barry in 2018 and 2019. She provided The Post with previously unreleased transcripts and audio excerpts, which include exchanges that are not in her book.
She was secretly taping her aunt because she wanted to prove that her aunt had cheated her out of millions of dollars when the president’s father [her grandfather] died in 1999. But she wound up with evidence that Trump hired someone to take his college entry exams. She also got some pretty unvarnished opinions about who Trump really is from his sister, who obviously knows him better than anyone.
I think the important thing is the complete contempt Barry has for her brother’s character. The details are of great interest, but the bottom line is what really matters. Trump’s sister thinks Donald is cruel. She thinks he has no principles. She think he’s unprepared. She thinks he’s only in things for himself.
Maybe the point is made most explicit when Barry says that she doesn’t want any of her brothers to speak at her funeral because she’s still so upset that Donald only spoke about himself at their father’s funeral.
These will be hard things for Trump to hear. It’s a harder message than Barry would likely deliver to his face, and now the whole world knows about it. Sibling relationships don’t survive this kind of hurtful language. As for Mary Trump, she recognizes that she betrayed her aunt by divulging their private conversations and she doesn’t expect to ever speak with her again. So, this whole spectacle has landed like a bomb on what remains of the Trump family. I have to assume Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka will take their father’s side, and they probably won’t be communicating with their aunt from here on out.
However, this is not our problem. Our problem is that Trump is still on the ballot and still has a chance to be reelected. What voters need to know is what Trump’s own sister has to say about him: “You can’t trust him.”
People know who Trump is, and still vote for him. The point is that this way they can “own the libs”. I don’t expect this, or anything else on the character angle to move the needle away from Trump. But it sure doesn’t hurt to keep trying I suppose.
What I learned during the Bush administration is that different people have different breaking points. I know people who broke with the GOP for good over Terri Schiavo of all things, and others who left after Katrina. The Iraq War was okay with them, as was the politicization of the Justice Department, torture, illegal wiretapping, and constant lies, but they still left the GOP. You just never know when someone will see enough and say ‘no more.’
This is true. I’ve mentioned via emails my buddy Clark in Tennessee. Older guy (mid- to late 60s?), evangelical Christian (he told me he hates it when I take the lord’s name in vain, but doesn’t mind at all when i drop f-bombs and worse), and a lifelong Republican… until corona came along and the GOP started saying old people should sacrifice themselves for the economy. He REALLY lost it when Trump told people to inject themselves with disinfectant, and is planning on voting straight D this year for the first time in his life.
Remarkably, us old people don’t like having politicians say we should die to protect the Dow. Latest polling has Biden up by 10 pts among olds.
Yep. The Schiavo thing was what got John Cole to break and turned him from a conservative blogger into a “I’ll crawl across broken glass to elect Obama” democratic blogger.
And the big point about Trump’s base is that it’s remarkably small for an incumbent President in the last months of his first term. The President can’t afford to lose any meaningful percentage of them. I saw a video of a recent Steve Bannon statement where he estimated that if Trump lost 4% of his base, the electoral losses could be catastrophic.
That’s why these ridiculous news stories where reporters have goaded Trump supporters after one horrible Presidential action or another and ask them “So are you still supporting him?” are so insulting. 95% of them could answer that question “Yes” and it could still be a disaster for Republicans.
The crazification factor is approximately 27-35%. Trump could go on live television and say that it’s a good thing that 180,000 Americans have died from COVID, and he wouldn’t drop below 27% support.
That said, every voter that stays home, votes 3rd party, or votes Biden counts. Especially in swing states.
The following item is relevant to this week: “Maybe the point is made most explicit when Barry says that she doesn’t want any of her brothers to speak at her funeral because she’s still so upset that Donald only spoke about himself at their father’s funeral.” I saw an extended quote with Trump talking about his brother who had just died, with a laser-like focus on how not jealous of Donald’s genius and success his brother was. He went on and on in this vein.
I agree with ML’s comment on how people have different breaking points. The issue is that a lot of Donald’s people have a core racism, and it seems unlikely that he will do anything to break with that.
True, there are some folks who just won’t give up the hate.
I wonder how many people can be un-taught their racism. Or if that person hits rock bottom and has to deal with local social services, they would relent.
I will wager that Trump knew his sister hated him and that he has never cared. He won’t care now.