Meghan McCain made it clear from the first sentence of their interview that she disapproved of Mary Trump‘s new tell-all book. The View host accused Mary, the niece of President Donald Trump, of writing Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man for the money. “I don’t like books like this, I don’t like family tell-alls, especially when it comes to families with fame and power. They’re told from one side, and often the subjects are villainized… and at the end of the day, you get a really good paycheck out of it,” Meghan said.
.@MeghanMcCain to Mary Trump: “What do you say to people like me who think this is just a great way for you to get a paycheck right now?”
Trump: “If I had wanted to cash in… I would have done this ten years ago… and I would not have been taking the risks that I’m taking.” pic.twitter.com/grPPGHYcHt
— The View (@TheView) July 23, 2020
Mary didn’t miss a beat when she responded, “you’re entirely entitled to your opinion. I think if you read the book, you’d see that I bring to the story my very deep experience within the family. I’m not a stranger writing it; I’m his niece.” Mary’s book dissects how Donald’s upbringing in the high-pressure Trump family shaped him into the man he is today. The psychologist dives deep into family history and reveals anecdotes from her uncle’s youth, as well as her own.
She concludes that his constant need for attention and praise is what makes him “act like a toddler” at 74. “Donald today is much as he was at three years old: incapable of growing, learning, or evolving, unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, or take in and synthesize information,” Mary wrote in her scathing analysis of her uncle. Too Much and Never Enough sold over one million copies in its first week.
In their July 23 interview, Meghan continued to argue that Mary was in it for the money, considering she wasn’t close to anyone in her family. That part is true; Mary and her brother, Fred Trump III‘s relationships with their aunts and uncles dissolved after they contested their grandfather’s will in 2000. Over the past 20 years, they’ve met up sporadically, including at Ivanka Trump‘s wedding, and a dinner at the White House in 2017.
Mary took umbrage with Meghan accusing her of dining at the White House on “the taxpayers’ dime.” Meghan also reiterated that she didn’t understand why Mary was releasing her book now. “That’s quite an absurd thing to say,” Mary responded. “If I had wanted some measure of revenge, to cash in, as you say, I would have done this 10 years ago….
“I would not have been taking the risk that I’m taking,” she continued. “We’ve all seen how whistleblowers fare in this administration. I think to focus on these things is to take away from the actual important things I write about in the book.”