Politics 'Far beyond garden-variety narcissism.' Book by Trump's niece paints him habitual liar and inept

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's niece says he was scarred by his father and developed habits of lying and self-deception that shadowed him into the White House, according to a copy of her much-anticipated memoir obtained by USA TODAY.

© AP This combination photo shows the cover art for "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man", left, and a portrait of author Mary L. Trump, Ph.D. The book, written by the niece of President Donald J. Trump, was originally set for release on July 28, but will now arrive on July 14.

Mary Trump, in a book called "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man," said the president is "much as he was at three years old: Incapable of growing, learning, or evolving, unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, or take in and synthesize information."

Mary Trump tell-all paints president as a 'narcissist' who is 'lost to his own delusional spin'

New details from Mary Trump's forthcoming tell-all book paint a damning portrait of the president as a textbook narcissist who was scarred by emotional abuse he suffered as a child.Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist, writes that her uncle is a textbook narcissist, and that his late father, the real estate developer Fred Trump, Sr., was a sociopath, according to reports in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and USA Today. The book is due to be released next Tuesday.

"Nothing is ever enough," she writes. "This is far beyond garden-variety narcissism; Donald is not simply weak, his ego is a fragile thing that must be bolstered every moment because he knows deep down that he is nothing of what he claims to be."

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Mary Trump describes how she helped The New York Times obtain tax documents that showed the Trump organization consistently undervalued its properties to secure lower tax bills. Those documents also showed that the family patriarch, Fred Trump Sr., propped up his son after his business failures.

Trump's brother, again, tries to stop tell-all book from Mary Trump as news outlets publish its shocking claims

The book from Mary Trump makes damning claims about her uncle, President Donald Trump, including that he paid someone to take his SATs.In a filing first reported by The Daily Beast, Robert Trump argues that his relative is bound by a confidentiality agreement signed years ago — and that book publishers do not enjoy the same right to free speech as news organizations.

© AP This cover image released by Simon & Schuster shows "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man", by Mary L. Trump, Ph.D. The book, written by the niece of President Donald J. Trump, was originally set for release on July 28, but will now arrive on July 14.

Mary Trump, 55, a psychologist, is the daughter of Trump's elder brother, the late Fred Trump Jr.

Her book, the subject of a legal battle between Mary Trump and her family members, including the president's brother Robert Trump, is set to be published July 14 by Simon & Schuster, two weeks earlier than planned.

In many ways, the book is a biography of three Trumps: The president, his father Fred Trump Sr., and his brother Fred Trump Jr., who is the author's father.

Mary Trump blames Fred Trump Sr. for giving Donald his bad habits. She also blames the family patriarch for driving her own father to alcoholism and an early death.

Trump's niece Mary says his reelection would spell 'the end of American democracy'

Mary Trump is publishing a tell-all book about her "dangerous" uncle and their "toxic" family. It is due to release on July 14. © Simon & Schuster Mary Trump's book is set to be released on July 14. Simon & Schuster Writing in her upcoming book 'Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," Mary Trump said that if her uncle was reelected, it "would be the end of American Democracy," according to an advanced copy of the book obtained by The Associated Press (AP).

The elder Trump is cast as a cold and forbidding patriarch who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps – his eldest son. But as young Fred struggled, the father shifted his attention to young Donald – demanding he follow less-than-scrupulous real estate practices, and eventually propping him up if his own initiatives failed.

"When things turned south in the late 1980s, Fred could no longer separate himself from his son's brutal ineptitude; the father had no choice but to stay invested," Mary Trump writes.

"His monster had been set free."

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Mary Trump said Donald Trump tended to create his own fantasy worlds.

During the 1990s, she wrote, her uncle asked her to ghost write a book about to him to be called "The Art of the Comeback." But he never paid her and eventually he sent someone else to fire her from the gig.

Later in 1998, when Mary was first introduced to Melania Trump, the future president told his future wife that Mary had dropped out of college (true) and had come back herself from a drug problem. (Mary said she has never taken drugs).

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"By conflating my dropping out of college and his hiring me to write his book (while throwing in a fictional drug addiction), he concocted a better story that somehow had him playing the role of my savior," Mary wrote.

She added: "The story was for his benefit as much as anybody else's, and by the time the doorbell rang, he probably already believed his version of events."

Of the president, Mary Trump also writes: "In Donald's mind, even acknowledging an inevitable threat would indicate weakness. Taking responsibility would open him up to blame, Being a hero - being good - is impossible for him."

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The president's initial response to the coronavirus pandemic "underscores his need to minimize negativity at all costs," Mary Trump writes.

"Fear – the equivalent of weakness in our family – is as unacceptable to him now as it was when he was three years old," she said.

She points to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's response to his state's outbreak of COVID-19 cases as an example of "real leadership," further revealing the president as a "petty, pathetic little man – ignorant, incapable, out of his depth, and lost to his own delusional spin."

"He'll withhold ventilators or steal supplies from states that have not groveled sufficiently," she said. "What Donald thinks is justified retaliation is, in this context, mass murder."

Why the President’s Niece Has Written ‘The Godfather’ of Trump Books

Mary Trump has not indicted her uncle. She has indicted the whole family. And that might be even more valuable.That’s in essence Mary Trump’s assessment in her ultra-anticipated instant bestseller that’s due out Tuesday—Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

At the end, Mary Trump writes "Donald isn't really the problem after all" – it is his enablers, from his father to the celebrity media to the congressional Republicans who acquitted him of impeachment.

"This is the end result of Donald's having continually been given a pass and rewarded not just for his failures but for his transgressions – against tradition, against decency, against the law, and against fellow human beings," she writes.

Though the book's publication date is set for next week, it remains the subject of a legal battle.

In a lawsuit he filed in New York at the end of June, Robert Trump argued that Mary had no right to speak or write about her family. His lawyers said she signed a family estate settlement almost 20 years ago that included a confidentiality clause explicitly saying members of the family would not “publish any account concerning the litigation or their relationship,” unless they all agreed.

A New York appellate court last week ruled the publication could go ahead.

But a temporary restraining order remains on Mary herself. A lower court judge in New York is due to consider whether to continue or drop that order later this week.

Mary Trump's lawyers and lawyers for Simon & Schuster argued that blocking the book amounted to unconstitutional prior restraint, a violation of the First Amendment rights of Mary Trump and the publisher.

Chris Bastardi, a spokesman for Mary Trump, declined comment, noting that the book is still in litigation: "The restraining order is still in place on our side."

TRANSCRIPT: Mary Trump's interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos

The president's niece wrote a new book about Donald Trump. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you for doing this.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Far beyond garden-variety narcissism.' Book by Trump's niece paints him habitual liar and inept

Gallery: Meet Mary Trump, the president's niece who is a life coach, apparent Hillary Clinton fan, and has written a scathing tell-all about her uncle (Business Insider)