WHAT’S THE STORY?

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has been trying to suppress the publication of a book by his psychologist niece Dr Mary L Trump. His brother Robert has been leading the bid to silence her, but no-one doubts that The Donald is driving things.

Why? Well the title is a bit of a giveaway: “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.”

The president is already rattled about the book, saying his niece cannot write it because of a non-disclosure agreement she signed almost 20 years ago.

Mary Trump has form on confronting her uncle on Twitter. She was reportedly also the source for the damaging New York Times story about his tax payments.

The book is said to be a psychological examination of a dysfunctional family. Mary’s father, the president’s older brother Fred Jnr, died of complications of alcoholism at the age of 43.

What the book says about the inner workings of the Trump family will be very interesting to say the very least.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING IN COURT?

ROBERT Trump complained to the courts last month that Mary was not allowed to publish anything about the family as a result of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed in 2001 after a bitter battle fought over the will of the president’s father, Fred Snr. He died in 1999 having long suffered from Alzheimer’s.

Mary and her brother Fred Trump III were left just $200,000 each by their multi-millionaire grandfather with the bulk of the reported

$20 million estate going to her aunt and uncles. Mary challenged the will saying Fred Snr had been convinced into changing it while mentally incapable.

The family settled the case out of court, and all signed the NDA. Sources in the US say Mary has written her book because of her genuine fears for the future, and that the NDA does not apply because she was coerced into signing it – the Trump family stopped the medical insurance for her, her brother and their families when she filed her court complaint even though Fred III’s son had cerebral palsy. Nice people.

Robert Trump, acting for himself, his brother the president and his sister Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, went to court and won a restraining order against Mary.

However, late on Wednesday an upper court partially lifted it, allowing New York publishers Simon & Schuster to print and distribute a reported 75,000 copies ahead of the July 28 publication date. Simon & Schuster, which is also Donald Trump’s publisher, said: “We support Mary L Trump’s right to tell her story in Too Much and Never Enough, a work of great interest and importance to the national discourse that fully deserves to be published for the benefit of the American public.”

WHAT HAS TRUMP TO FEAR?

THE book apparently has an explosive revelation about his tax affairs and about his treatment of family members among other exposures of Trumpian problems. The book will describe “a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse”, according to the publisher.

Even if another court stops publication – there’s a crucial hearing a week today – there are bound to be drip-by-drip leaks as copies are making their way into the hands of reviewers and journalists. That’s why Wednesday’s finding were so important – the stuff is out there and who will be the first to tell us what’s in it? That could be way more damaging for the president than the book appearing and becoming an overnight here today, gone tomorrow sensation.

WHO IS MARY TRUMP?

THE daughter of airline pilot Fred and his wife Lina Lee Clapp, the 55-year-old was named after her grandmother who was born and raised on the Isle of Lewis.

Mary Trump has lived mostly quietly, apart from the court case over her grandfather’s will. She has a master’s degree in literature from Columbia University and a doctorate in psychology from Adelphi University and, according to her biography on the Simon & Schuster website, she has taught courses in trauma, psychopathology, and developmental psychology. She lives in New York with her daughter.

IS SHE LIKE HER SCOTTISH GRANDMOTHER?

READERS of The National may recall that four years ago we broke the stories that proved once and for all that the Trump family legend about Mary Anne MacLeod Trump meeting her husband Fred while on holiday in New York was total hogwash. We obtained the documentary proof showing that Mary Anne was a dirt-poor immigrant who arrived in the US the day after her 18th birthday with $50 in her pocket, and that she went to work in domestic service.

Mary Anne was a powerful aide to her property developer husband and was known for her kindness – she was a genuine philanthropist – and occasional feistiness. Her granddaughter appears to have the latter quality as she is not backing down under family pressure.

WILL IT DENT TRUMP’S BID FOR RE-ELECTION?

IT should. He is already trailing in the polls against rival Senator Joe Biden of the Democrats, and usually such forthcoming revelations would kill a campaign stone dead.

But he is Trump, the rule breaker in chief. There are people who follow him regardless, and the campaign to discredit Mary is well under way, so it probably won’t make much difference at all, especially if the coronavirus pandemic and the economic crash continue to take their toll.

It will help that Mary’s brother Fred has criticised her, but the statement was issued by The Donald’s son Eric.