
Donald Trump’s lesbian niece and clinical psychologist Mary Trump explained the psychological roots of her uncle’s compulsion with luxury goods that led him to illegally accept a Boeing 747-8 as a gift from Qatar.
“Thanks to my grandfather, money, in my family, was the only currency,” she wrote, “which is to say that money was not only more important than everything else—love, kindness, affection—it stood in for everything else.”
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The end of due process, she said, means what happened to him could happen to any of us.
The worth of each family member, she said, was determined both literally and metaphorically by how much money they were worth. “You could also gauge your worth by how much was given to you—or was not given to you, as the case may be,” she added.
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She also told a story about her grandmother – Donald Trump’s mother – that succinctly summed up the attitude towards accumulating wealth that was instilled in the president from a young age.
She said that she was talking to her grandmother who once advised her to “‘never reject a gift of money.”‘
“All of which is to say, Donald comes by his bizarre attitude towards money honestly,” she explained.
On Sunday, NBC News reported that the Trump administration plans to accept the superluxury jumbo jet from Qatar’s royal family and use it as Air Force One until Trump’s term is over. At that point, sources said, it will be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation.
The situation has brought up all sorts of ethical concerns, including accusations from many that this is a case of blatant bribery. Not only that, but the Constitution says public officeholders cannot accept gifts from foreign states without congressional approval.
The president responded to the backlash with an inflammatory post on Truth Social: “So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.”
Mary Trump said none of this is a surprise, as “Donald Trump has always been for sale” and has made it clear he “would eventually strip America and sell it for its parts.”
“As we know, Donald is the most easily manipulable person on the planet,” she said. “He’s also the greediest. Any leader of a foreign country who wants something from him is very aware of these things.”
She also said plans to transfer the plane to his presidential library “exposes the bribe right away.”
“The plane is not going to be on display in the library parking lot; it’s going to be for Donald’s personal use. If it really were meant to be a gift to the United States government it would, of course, remain the property of the United States government and be available to future administrations. In that case, it wouldn’t be much of a bribe.”
She also warned that the plane will lead to massive taxpayer expense since it will have to be upgraded to meet Air Force One requirements. “Because Air Force One is not simply a mode of transportation to get the president of the United States from point A to point B,” she explained, “it is essentially a mobile SCIF [sensitive compartmented information facility] with extraordinary defensive capabilities.”
She concluded by begging Republicans to stop this.
“As I mentioned, the Emoluments Clause can be enforced. Gifts that are given or offered to any government official have to be approved by Congress. That means that the Republicans, who control both the Senate and the House of Representatives, have the power to put a stop to this. I would ask them—finally, at long last—that they do their jobs.”
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