Trump’s Niece Predicted ‘Pathetic’ Uncle’s Presidency Was ‘Going To Be Unspeakably Awful’

President Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, said she was “devastated” by her “pathetic” uncle’s 2016 presidential victory, noting his “policies were designed to be cruel.”

“I handled the 2016 election ... badly. I was devastated by it,” Mary Trump told BBC’s Samira Ahmed onstage at the Hay Festival in Wales on Tuesday. “I took it really personally because it felt, once again, like the worst person on the planet is being elevated at the expense of better people.”

Mary Trump, who has been estranged from her uncle, appeared at the festival to promote her new book, “Who Could Ever Love You,” a memoir that dives deeper into her family’s relationship with the now-president.

President Donald Trump's niece, Mary Trump, calls her uncle "pathetic" in an interview at Hay Festival 2025.

Screenshot Courtesy of Hay Festival

Mary Trump told moderator Ahmed that she knew her uncle’s presidency was “going to be unspeakably awful,” citing “specific policies and the ways in which those policies were designed to be cruel and to have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable people in the country.”

“I think one of the reasons I took 2016 so personally, because it felt like — I guess, 62 million people voted for him — it felt like they were voting to turn America into my family, which is a bad idea. It’s just a terrible idea,” the writer said. “And now that’s much, much more pronounced, right?”

She went on to criticize members of the Republican Party, saying it became “very clear early on” that they were going to give her uncle “a free hand to do whatever he wanted, or for them to do whatever they wanted, because he wasn’t going to stop them.”

Mary Trump, who is being sued by the president for alleged breach of contract, encouraged his opponents to come together and push back against the administration despite the possibility of retaliation.

“So when you have somebody with that much power who has no compunction about going after individuals, that creates a situation that is designed to instill fear and get people to shut up and stand in line,” Mary Trump said.

The president’s niece went on to mock those who are afraid of her uncle, but warned of those whom Ahmed referred to as “radicalized and are ready to carry out acts of violence.”

“I mean, my point of view is that I don’t understand people who are afraid of Donald, because he’s so pathetic. Like, seriously, like, I would be embarrassed to be afraid of him,” Mary Trump said. “But it is his supporters, his followers, who have been radicalized, who are willing to lay down their lives for him or commit acts of violence on his behalf, who are the more worrisome group of people.”