Too Much and Never Enough

How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man

By: Mary L. Trump PhD

Narrated by: Mary L. Trump PhD

Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

In this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald’s only niece, shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric.

Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, 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 family 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.

©2020 Compson Enterprises LLC. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Reaformation

Mary Trump's book was waiting for me in my audio que first thing this morning. As I proceeded with my 'stay at home' routine, I carried my laptop and listened. I finished an hour ago. It is well written and flows really well. It was good to hear the story in Mary's voice.
I did not learn anything that I did not already know or suspect, however, it was a reaformation of as Rick Wilson wrote: "Everything Trump Touches Dies".-- but with an insider's view and direct knowledge.
In the early 1980's when The Donald and Ivana were making the talk show rounds my husband said in disgust "Trump is a proclaimed self made man who thinks because he has experienced a bit of success thinks he is an expert on very thing". Little did we know then. I think Trump's first book should have been titled "The Art of the Lie".
I thank the author for telling her story and hopefully the country will benefit.

Eye opening... confirming... and heart wrenching

Initially, I didn’t believe the author would share things I hadn’t already gleaned... I was wrong! This memoir also confirmed information that I assumed... I wasn’t wrong! Finally, it was heart wrenching that the author affirmatively laid before the reader that “...the love of money is the root of all evil...” and that “...pride cometh before a fall...”. God have mercy on our nation!!!

A MUST read or listen.

What a sad but dangerous man. Thank you for the insight. This is a must read to understand what is going on in our country and why.

THE TRUTH WE ALL NEEDED TO HEAR

I️ get how people think she is complaining, BUT SHE ISN'T!!!!! All she's doing is proving a point. And she is doing it as a DOCTOR!!!! Everyone is entitled to their point of view, however, when I️ read some peoples' remarks, all I️ can see is how you don't care about the facts. She is spelling out why he is how he is. She even pities him!!! She breaks it all down for us in the most basic way. She chooses key points to show her proof. I️ liked it. Finished it in one sit. My only complaint is the reading speed so nothing too serious. I️ read it on 1.5x. Recommended.

Intense. Moving. Appalling.

I can’t imagine what it took for Mary to write this book, to chronicle the tragedy of the Trump family and its affect on so many inside and outside its circle. Understanding the dynamics that produced D. Trump (which one could almost intuit given what we’ve seen for the last four years) isn’t comforting. It’s a “call to arms” to make sure he’s limited to one term. Period.

I’m so sorry that Mary had to live through the horrors of such a dysfunctional family. I thank her for her courage to share it.

Good on Several Levels

Loved it, in the sense of getting a family member's view of the President. Also, a picture of how toxic life in a family can be. The author's reading is good.

Brave telling of a disturbed history

I promised myself I would not purchase any reporter’s book cash grabs, or “tell alls” of former staffers, or any of the gossip for sale on the bookshelves. I won’t fund the reality show that is the collapse of the American Republic.

Mary Trump’s story is different. I read about it in Politico (as I’m sure many did) and heard about the author’s bias and background and traits. It seemed to me this story would be unlike the stories that came before; a story that had nuance, nonpartisan analysis, and a regard for the truth that other books did not have. I was not disappointed.

I can’t say it wasn’t biased. At times, Mary Trump’s political leanings are clear: She says that Hillary Clinton was “arguably the most qualified candidate in US history”. She is part of the segment of America that is highly educated, and relatively very well off. Her epilogue is an exhortation to dump Trump. She alleges several slights that would anger anyone. And yet, this story rounds out a confusing character with ample clarity. I have often wondered what the hell was going on in Trump’s mind, and this narrative seems to explain so much of what was previously beyond all explanation.

The explanatory story of the book will not lead to any investigations or indictments. Donald will continue to get away with the worst without consequences. Mary Trump had to sacrifice court-worthy evidence for the sake of the comprehensiveness of the narrative. Her story must, of course, be qualified by the perspective she occupies, coupled with the fact that we are unlikely to get to know the honest perspective of any of the other people who might be able to have one.

I recommend this book to everyone because it does not come from a Trump peddling cheap wares. This is a story whose telling required a massive reserve of bravery: to defy the Trump family code, to expose her family’s bitter conflicts, and to denounce perhaps the most powerful man on earth—her uncle. This is not a small act, nor has she given any indication of attempting to profit off of Trump’s presidency as former staffers have. Instead, she is casting off her family’s toxic precedent of enabling Donald Trump with their silence and tacit endorsement.

But more importantly, this book shows a thoughtful look into the complicated relationships in a deeply dysfunctional and disturbed family. Unlike other works about the president, a new emotion is elicited: pity. The story shows a constant struggle of the Trump siblings to win their father’s approval, and how that illusory goal continued to thwart their chances of self-redemption and personal fulfillment. It is an incredibly unhappy story to which there is no apparent end. I wish the author well as she tries to forge a new path for herself despite the familial ruts of self-destruction. And seeing as she has accomplished so much already, it is of little surprise to me that she has a PhD in Clinical Psychology.

In the end, it appears that the maligned characters of this book are in a hell they have built for themselves. Unfortunately we cannot say if that hell will ever be commensurate with the hell they deserve.

Americans Need to Know This Now

Excellent ! informative & presented well. I'm so glad you wrote it,
Thank you immensely

Mental Illness Metastasized

This was not a tell-all book. This was a book detailing clinically and with as much emotion removed from it to make it as subjective as someone can from the inside with a psychological degree. The amount of mental illness that was perpetuated, formed and solidified throughout this family and its lineage is underscored by the fact that Donald Trump is inflicting this on the entire country right now. after reading this and listening to it I feel that there should be a thorough psychological evaluation of anyone who is about to take office period. People like this should not be allowed to gain a seat of power over wet noodles let alone a country. This book proves that there is not enough people standing up when things go wrong. There needs to be more accountability and a lot more balls around here. Also I would like to say it takes a credible amount of strength and character to go against such a powerhouse of manipulation, mental illness and all out life-threatening prospects. It is literally like going up against the mafia. I'm glad to see that there is at least one person if not two out of all that family that came out human. So far I only see two of the whole family that could be considered human beings. The rest of them I don't know what to call them. That's my review.

Now I know....

Everything Mary says we have seen unfold before our eyes in real time. And in listening you really begin to understand the ego, the bravado is all smoke and mirrors, to cover up who he really believes himself to be. There is no rainbow at the end but listened to it in two days.