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Mary Trump, the niece of U.S. President Donald Trump, made a damning remark on Trump’s health.
She appeared on The Daily Beast podcast, where the publication’s Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles asked her about Trump’s cognitive decline.
Mary Trump did not hesitate in her comparison of Trump to her grandfather, Fred Trump Sr., who had mild senile dementia for years before his death.
- Mary Trump compares Donald Trump's cognitive decline to her grandfather's mild senile dementia, noting confusion and memory issues.
- Mary, a clinical psychologist, sees worsening impulse-control issues and 'red flags' in Trump's behavior and cognitive state.
- Trump's increasing obsession with wealth and surrounding himself with billionaires mirrors her grandfather's late-life mindset.
Trump’s niece compared his alleged cognitive decline to that of her grandfather, who had dementia
Image credits: Nordin Catic/Getty Images
“There are times I look at him [Trump] and I see my grandfather. I see that same look of confusion,” Mary Trump said. “I see that he does not always seem to be oriented to time and place. His short-term memory seems to be deteriorating.”
Mary, a clinical psychologist, explained that she is not a neuropsychologist and cannot diagnose neurological disorders. Still, she said she has enough training to notice patterns.
She also described Trump’s lifelong impulse-control issues as worsening over time. “So there are many, many red flags and many questions that are not being answered by the administration,” she told Coles.
Image credits: Sarah L. Voisin/Getty Images
She compared these observations to her memories of Fred Sr.’s decline in the early 1990s. She said the family first saw small memory lapses and then more serious problems.
Eventually, the family spent Easter at Mar-a-Lago to keep him out of the public eye. Mary said her grandfather no longer recognized people, including her.
She recalled him asking her aunt, Maryanne Trump Barry, “Isn’t she such a nice lady?” while pointing at Mary, then asking Maryanne again, “And who are you?”
Mary said the “deer in the headlights” expression her grandfather often had during those years is similar to the look she sometimes sees on the president’s face today.
Image credits: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
Her concerns echo comments made last year by Donald Trump’s nephew, Fred C. Trump III, who told People magazine that he had seen a decline in the president that reminded him of his grandfather’s experience.
“Like anyone else, I’ve seen his decline. But I see it in parallel with the way my grandfather’s decline was,” he said at the time. “If anyone wants to believe that dementia did not run in the Trump family, it’s just not true.”
Mary also spoke about how Trump reacted to his father’s illness. She said he treated his father as an “annoyance” and avoided him.
According to her, even though Fred Sr. never forgot Trump, Donald “would leave the room. He would ignore him. He had no use for him whatsoever.”
Mary said she now sees behavior in the president that reminds her of her grandfather’s late-life mindset, including an increasing focus on wealth and security.
Mary Trump described what she views as a ‘pathological’ obsession with money
Image credits: Ron Galella/Getty Images
She described what she views as a “pathological” obsession with money.
She pointed to his desire to surround himself with very wealthy people and his recent push to build financial support with billionaire friends. She compared this growing obsession with money to her grandfather’s unraveling.
She said Trump is “in desperate need to surround himself with these excessively wealthy people,” and the scenario feels familiar to her.
Mary Trump also commented on the way Trump communicates in public. “I see this look in his eyes sometimes, like he can’t believe he said this. He can’t believe he admitted this thing. He doesn’t know who he’s talking to. He doesn’t know where he is,” she said.
Lastly, Mary Trump addressed Trump’s recent talks of heaven. On Friday night, Trump crashed a wedding at his Mar-a-Lago resort, where he had a short interaction with conservative radio host Eric Metaxas.
“This is the guy who’s going to get you to heaven,” Trump can be heard saying about Metaxas. Metaxas later said the wedding was not the time or place to discuss these matters.
Trump had made similar comments in October, during a conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One. Talking about his diplomatic efforts in Russia and Ukraine, Trump said he doubted anything he had done would earn him a place in heaven.
“I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in heaven. I really don’t. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One,” Trump said.
🚨 JUST IN: The moment President Trump says he doesn’t think he can get into heaven
“I don’t think there’s anything that’s gonna get me in heaven. I really don’t. I think I’m not, maybe, heaven-bound.”
“I may be in heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. I’m not sure I’m… pic.twitter.com/WfA7O3rjdH
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 13, 2025
Mary claimed these various instances show that Trump is battling with his mortality.
“He seems deeply uncertain. He seems to be reckoning with the possibility that he may not be immortal after all. And that, to me, suggests that his defense mechanisms around preventing himself and everybody else from knowing the reality about him are weakening,” she said.
“He is becoming increasingly less able to protect himself from the fact that he may, indeed, be mortal, and what worries me is that Donald is a nihilist,” she continued.
She said she was worried Trump does not believe that anything or anyone else could “exist beyond him.” She then issued a warning that he will not go down alone.
Image credits: Win McNamee/Getty Images
“Whether thinks he’s going to be going down because of the Epstein issue, or because if he starts to think that his health is failing, he will not go alone,” Mary Trump said.
“He will take as many people down with him. That was the case in 2020, and we’ve seen what happened since then.”
A spokesperson for the White House rejected all of Mary Trump’s remarks. Communications Director Steven Cheung told The Daily Beast, “Mary Trump is a stone-cold loser who doesn’t have a clue about anything.”
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