no sell on the trump book

I don’t normally do book reviews but I’m making an exception to talk about poor Mary Trump’s attempt to use her odious Uncle Donald’s notoriety to get the public to read about her father. The first 130 pages of “Too Much and Never Enough” showcase her dad Freddy’s ineptitude as a dull drunk lacking in the fortitude and backbone to stand up to his soulless father. And while this certainly contributed to abetting Donald’s development, the facts could have, and should have, been collected in a defining couple of paragraphs (such as the summation info on the back cover), not taking up nearly the first 2/3 of a book supposedly about “The world’s most dangerous man”. Frankly, I was bored with the over-abundance of detail on Freddy Trump by the time his grieving daughter got around to what was billed as the topic of this book. Too bad.
       Don’t get me wrong: I am no fan of Donald Trump. But the atrocious character flaws the author attributes to her uncle could well have been defined in a smart essay, not in this thin book disguised as a cry out for public recognition of her sad father. By the time we end up at Chapter 14, “A Civil Servant in Public Housing”, and the Epilogue, we finally get the psychotherapist’s view of Trump, surely a delineation we should have expected way back in Chapter 1. (That being said, I find Mary’s assertion baseless that Trump wishes it was him putting his knee on George Floyd’s neck and killing him.) And does she really place Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un and Mitch McConnell in the same sentence, rendering this endearing threesome as bearing “more than a passing resemblance to Fred” referring to Trump’s foul father? Why, she even attempts a final-inning last chance to convince us of the legitimacy of her pathetic parent by describing his “filial responsibility and his decency” as excuses for his lack of gumption. Enough already!
       It’s all too sad Mary, but I’m afraid I cannot recommend your book. I can suggest, however, that you find yourself a good shrink to deal with your clearly unresolved family issues. You’ll feel better for it.

---