Mary Trump, the host of The Mary Trump Show podcast and a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, and MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell recently discussed New York Attorney General Letitia James’s tactics in dealing with Trump. They highlighted James’s ability to taunt and provoke Trump, specifically referencing her mention of seizing his favorite building, 40 Wall Street.
During a segment on MSNBC’s The Last Word, O’Donnell asked Mary Trump about James’s approach and if she believes James has figured out how to both defeat Trump in court and drive him “absolutely insane” with her statements. Mary Trump responded affirmatively, stating that James indeed has Trump’s number. According to her, anyone familiar with New York and Trump’s history knows what triggers him. She found it fascinating that Trump, in this latest chapter of his life, seems to have reached the end of the road.
Mary Trump explained that during Trump’s earlier years, particularly when he succeeded her grandfather, he didn’t necessarily require skill as a real estate developer but rather as a bold, confident, and brash personality that played well on television. She pointed out that Trump had a financial safety net during those times, as he sold his inherited empire at a loss of approximately $300 million after her grandfather’s death. However, Mary Trump highlighted that James recognizes there’s no one left to provide Trump with a blank check anymore.
Mary Trump suggested that this realization is what keeps Trump up at night, as he is now confronted with the truth about himself. She described Trump as terrified of having the reality of his situation known not just to others but also to himself. According to Mary Trump, Trump has relied on a lie that, in his mind, has become the truth about his greatness and success. The absence of a financial safety net and the potential exposure of this falsehood seem to be significant sources of stress for the former president.
O’DONNELL: I was struck by what you’ve written about, where he is in relation to the edge as a result of New York State Attorney General Letitia James closing in on him. And that specific line she said in that television interview, about she looks at 40 Wall Street every day.
Is it your sense that Attorney General James has figured out two things? How to beat Donald Trump in court, and how to drive him absolutely insane with statements like that?
M. TRUMP: Yeah. She has his number, for sure. And anybody who is from New York who has been paying attention for the last many decades knows what makes him tick. And what’s so fascinating about this latest chapter in his life is that he’s finally reached the end of the road.
When he was taking over for my grandfather, or when he was my grandfather’s successor, and the one who is going to fill my grandfather’s ambitions, he had — he didn’t need skill. He just need — skill as a real estate developer. He just needed the skill as the arrogant, self-confident, brash guy who played well on television.
My grandfather always had hundreds of millions of dollars to prop him up. We know that when — after my grandfather died, Donald sold the empire lock, stock and barrel, at a loss of approximately $300 million. So, he still had some cash on hand to keep it going. Then he kept getting rehabilitated and rehabilitated.
A.G. James knows better than anybody else that there’s nobody else left to hand Donald the blank check anymore. And that’s what keeps him up at night because he is terrified of having the truth about him be known, not just to other people, but to himself, because that’s what’s kept him going all these times– all these years, the lie that has become, in his own mind, the truth about what a great, successful man he is.
