Book review: Too Much and Never Enough

Today I finished Mary Trump’s book Too Much and Never Enough, and as you probably expect, I have thoughts.  LOL, yes, I have opinions.  Now I’m not going to give long wordy nuanced reviews like I work for the New York Times, I’m going to give my initial bullet-point reactions.  So, let’s get started…

1. My first and primary reaction is this… this is one fucked up family.  Seriously.  There is no love or compassion, or even concern, anywhere by anybody.  Ever.  Not even when a family member is sick or otherwise in a vulnerable position.  People have noted Donald’s win/lose mindset, well, here’s where that comes from.  In the Trump family you either win or you lose, even with each other.  It all comes down to Donald’s father Fred Trump.
2. The book is 210-ish pages long, and a quick read.  That’s good because my attention span isn’t what it used to be.
3. The book is not as much about Donald as I thought it should be.  The first half is primarily about her father and Donald’s brother, Fred Jr (Freddy).  That’s not necessarily bad, for the purpose of the book, as it clearly establishes the environment the family lived in and how each sibling was shaped, in growing up.  Part of me says there could have been less of that, but part of me says by having so many examples one after another it’s impossible for a detractor to claim they were ‘one off’ incidents.  No, they happened all the time, and purposely.
4. Fred Trump, Donald’s father, was an asshole.
5. I now understand much better the charges he will be facing in New York.  All the siblings are screwed, even the judge, who has recently retired to avoid an investigation.
6. Even though Mary makes it clear she does not support her uncle’s political policies, it’s really not a political book.  It’s more an expose’ on the family to ‘out’ Donald’s many weaknesses, which makes him wholly unsuited for his current job.
7. There really wasn’t a whole lot that was new to me about Donald himself, so I guess the only change for me is an increased disdain for his supporters.  I mean, I have many friends that I honestly like that are Trump supporters, but damn… how can people be so blind?

While I better understand why Donald is the way he is… I don’t care.  This man is so complete void of any human emotion inside his own skin, it’s incredible.  I have never felt this way about another human being in my life, but I (still) abhor this man and everything he stands for.