Maryanne Trump Barry, 83, has become the second in the Trump family to speak badly of President Donald Trump. On Saturday, August 22, The Washington Post released (article paywalled) a series of secretly recorded conversations taped by Mary L. Trump, 55, the niece of Donald Trump and the only other person in the family to speak out against him, while she was speaking with Maryanne.
About a month ago, Mary Trump published a book called Too Much and Never Enough, a tell-all book about Donald Trump. In the book, she made numerous claims, such as how Donald Trump paid a friend to take his SATs to allow him to enter Wharton College at the University of Pennsylvania, details about the Trump family’s financial dealings, among many others. The book does not mention any taped recordings of conversations with Maryanne Barry.
Among the leaked recordings include scathing criticisms of Donald Trump from Maryanne Barry, so far the most critical comments made about the president from one of his siblings. Here are some of the things she said (all verbatim).
It’s the phoniness of it all. It’s the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel.
He went to Fordham for one year [actually two years] and then he got into University of Pennsylvania because he had somebody take the exams.” “No way!” Mary responded. “He had somebody take his entrance exams?”
Barry then replied, “SATs or whatever. . . . That’s what I believe,” before saying, “I even remember the name.” That person was Joe Shapiro.
Maryanne also recalls of the time during the Reagan administration, how she had asked Donald Trump for “the only favor I ever asked [him] for in his whole life”: to have his lawyer Roy Cohn call Reagan about needing to appoint a woman as a federal judge in New Jersey. Maryanne had already been on the list of people being considered, but she was nominated shortly after Cohn called Reagan. She said that she deserved the nomination “on my own merit” and was also elevated subsequently to higher positions without Donald Trump’s intervention. But because of that, Maryanne said, Donald Trump had always been trying to take credit for it, even saying to her “where would you be without me?” Maryanne said that if he mentioned that one more time, she would “level” him. She also said that “Donald is out for Donald. Period.” with regard to this incident.
At another segment, after being asked by Mary about what Donald had accomplished on his own, said “he has five bankruptcies,” and that “you can’t trust him.”
And at another point, Maryanne also said that while at her father’s funeral with Donald, he “spoke more about his own accomplishments than his father’s life,” and that “Donald was also the only one who didn’t speak about dad.” She said that “I don’t want any of my siblings to speak at my funeral” after that.
With regards to deportations at the border, Maryanne said that Donald has “no principles” and that “all he wants to do is to appeal to his base. He has no principles. None. None.…” She also said that Donald is a “cruel” man who is unfit to be president.
…And his goddamned tweet and the lying, oh my God. I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy sh*t.
Mary has said that she began taping conversations in 2018 with Maryanne after determining that her relatives had lied about the value of the Trump family estate over 20 years ago during a legal battle over her inheritance. Mary said she was duped into receiving less than expected because the family said the estate was worth $30 million, while she later believed it to be worth closer to $1 billion. (It is legal to tape conversations in New York with the consent of just one party. In this case, it was Mary’s own consent.)
These conversations represent the harshest, most jarring revelations of the president from one of his siblings. Maryanne has never publicly spoken out against Donald.
Though unlikely to cause a big of a scandal as with prior cases due to the polarization of America, these conversations could sway over many on-the-edge undecided independent voters into not voting for Donald Trump. The worst-case scenario for Donald would be that this is the start of a series of revelations about him, which could ultimately lead into a far bigger scandal and causing him his reelection. Donald has already dismissed these allegations about him.
These conversations also add to a growing chorus of people speaking out against Donald Trump and his reelection bid in November, as well as lining up with comments from those who have worked with him.
No matter what, this is certainly an interesting case to follow. As people say, grab some popcorn, because the real “show” is only just kicking off.