Donald Trump’s niece has added her own vitriolic words to the mountain of criticism against the president’s choice to add his own name to the Kennedy Center.
“It’s this weird devolution, there used to be spaces that were reserved for seriousness of purpose and the arts—like the Kennedy Center—and, you know, the loftier ideals of humanity,” Mary Trump said on The Court of History podcast Friday.
She added: “The right used to accuse the left all the time, that we were shoving our elitism down their throats, and now people like Donald and others on the right want to turn everything into NASCAR, WWE, and monster trucks. Everything, from the White House to the Kennedy Center.”
Earlier in the conversation, Mary, 60, and her co-hosts Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz, spoke about another of Trump’s vanity projects: the Presidential Walk of Fame.
The new installation includes plaques alongside the former presidents’ photos—or, in Joe Biden’s case, a photo of an autopen—with Mary describing the makeover as an attempt to make Trump shine in comparison to his predecessors.
“Donald has the wit and sophistication of a pre-pubescent boy, so it’s always going to be the lowest common denominator with him,” the psychologist lambasted.
Mary went on to suggest that over the course of two terms, Trump’s brand-building focus and abrasive personality had debased the very office of the presidency.
“We used to think that being presidential meant having a certain amount of decorum and decency and sophistication and work ethic,” she said.
“But now it’s just about taking cheap shots about your perceived political and personal enemies and complaining all the time, building monuments to yourself, and debasing everything good in this country.”
Later, Mary summarized her learnings from Trump’s Kennedy Center renaming and Walk of Fame in one swoop.
“The guy is a loser. He was always seen that way by people who knew him best,” she said.
“He has imposter syndrome, he just doesn’t understand that’s what it is, which is why he has to overcompensate. That’s why he’s always talking about how great he is.”
Mary is the daughter of Trump’s older brother Fred Trump Jr., and she isn’t the only legacy figure to have criticized Trump’s Kennedy Center remake.
Members of the Kennedy family itself shared similar words, with one of JFK’s nieces, Kerry Kennedy, vowing to take a pickaxe to the Trump addition as soon as his term was over.
Another niece, Maria Shriver, began a post on X after the lettering went up: “Adding your name to a memorial already named in honor of a great man doesn’t make you a great man. Quite the contrary.” Later in the lengthy statement, she added: “There is no other president who would do this. None. Zero.”
