Mary Trump is increasing her warnings about President Donald Trump’s fitness for office. She argues that what she calls his “apparent mental decline” is highlighting the traits she believes make him more dangerous during a second term that is already controversial.
In a video posted on her YouTube channel on Monday, Trump’s niece, the daughter of the president’s late brother Fred Trump Jr., suggested that the president’s behavior shows a growing insecurity. She believes this insecurity drives increasingly erratic and self-serving decisions. “It goes without saying that Donald is a terrible leader, but one of the things that makes him a dangerous one is his incredible insecurity,” she said.
Mary Trump claimed that this insecurity seems to be getting worse over time, even as the president achieves the things he has long wanted. “What seems to be happening is that he’s becoming more and more insecure over time,” she said. “It seems the more he gets of what he thinks he wants, money, power, chaos, the more insecure and afraid he becomes.”
As examples, she pointed to several high-profile naming decisions this month. These include adding Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the administration’s rebranding of the U.S. Institute of Peace.
“Perhaps renaming the Institute of Peace after himself will trick the Nobel committee into thinking that Donald actually cares about peace, which he does not,” she said. She connected this change to what she called his lingering bitterness over being overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year.
The renaming of the Institute of Peace has been widely reported amid legal and political controversy around the institution’s governance. The president’s name has been prominently displayed on the building, according to Reuters. Separately, the Kennedy Center has faced a wave of cancellations by artists after Trump’s name was added. More performers have pulled out in recent days, according to The Associated Press.
Mary Trump’s comments come as she is no longer the only one publicly questioning the president’s mental sharpness. Concerns have circulated for months due to a series of noticeable mistakes and lapses. These have renewed scrutiny of the 79-year-old president’s daily functioning, including times when he has confused names and seemed to drift off during public events, alongside instances of repetitive or hard-to-follow speech.
Clinical psychologists have also publicly weighed in recently, suggesting that the behavior may be related to cognitive decline. They emphasize that they are interpreting public conduct rather than providing a formal diagnosis.
In a November appearance related to The Daily Beast’s podcast coverage, psychologist Dr. John Gartner, a former professor at Johns Hopkins University, explained how dementia can amplify existing personality traits. “Whatever personality issues or problems [people with dementia] have begin to deteriorate, and they become even more crude, disorganized, aggressive, confused versions of that personality disorder,” Gartner said.
Mary Trump notes that she sees echoes of her family’s past in her observations of the president. She claims he is showing symptoms she associates with his late father, Fred Trump Sr., toward the end of his life. “There are times I look at him and I see my grandfather,” she said. “I see that same look of confusion. I see that he does not always seem to be oriented to time and place.”
She added, “His short-term memory seems to be deteriorating,” and argued that his long-criticized impulse control appears to be “deteriorating as well.”
