Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, was a well-known American real estate developer who helped develop the real estate company, E. Trump & Son, now known as, The Trump Organization. And throughout Donald Trump's entire childhood, Fred Trump frequently influenced Donald Trump, and just like his father, he became a real estate businessman. And when you think of Donald Trump's behaviour and personality, you additionally have to think about where it came from. He surely wasn't born like that. So what could have influenced him? For one, his parents.

 

Mary L. Trump, Donald Trump's niece, is a psychologist who wrote the book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. In it, she writes:

 

Child abuse is, in some sense, the experience of 'too much' or 'not enough.' Donald directly experienced the 'not enough' in the loss of connection to his mother at a crucial developmental stage, which was deeply traumatic. Without warning, his needs weren't being met, and his fears and longings went unsoothed. Having been abandoned by his mother for at least a year and having his father fail not only to meet his needs but to make him feel safe or loved, valued or mirrored, Donald suffered deprivations that would scar him for life.

 

Have you ever just wanted to be recognized by someone? Have you ever been ignored by someone you admire so profoundly? Before we start to judge people's actions, this time Donald Trump's, we must recognize the reasons behind them. And in my opinion, this longing feeling of wanting to be appreciated and cared for by someone you respect and love is remarkably underestimated; it's so strong that it can start to impact someone's behaviour. It seems as if Trump was just a child who suffered from his parent's choices. Imagine being a kid and having to bottle up all of your feelings and continuously feel a vast longing for love and attention. How much would that affect you? I can't even begin to imagine what it would feel like if my parents weren't there to support me through times I've been sad or angry. Not to mention, if I could never or just rarely feel the soothing comfort of having someone who is always by your side, someone who loves you. 

 

Mary also writes:

 

In order to cope, Donald began to develop powerful but primitive defenses, marked by an increasing hostility to others and a seeming indifference to his mother's absence and father's neglect….In place of [his emotional needs] grew a kind of grievance and behaviors—including bullying, disrespect, and aggressiveness—that served their purpose in the moment but became more problematic over time. With appropriate care and attention, they might have been overcome.

 

She also writes about how Trump's father took a liking to Trump later on because of his confidence and audacity, along with a lot of similar characteristics they had. (Perhaps this is related to the proven idea of humans liking similar people. For example, suppose you're at a job interview, and you mirror your interviewer's body language. In that case, they'll feel closer to you, resulting in them liking you more and a higher likelihood you'll get hired.) You can imagine what that affection did to Trump; because of what started out as his emotional defences, he received a lot of attention from his father: something he wanted his entire life. Of course, like any other human, he would continue to act that way to get what he wanted. Furthermore, Mary writes about how Trump and his siblings grew up seeing, hearing, and experiencing that lying and bullying others is alright and how emotions and being vulnerable is dangerous, and now, we can see the effects of these teachings in action. 

 

Let's take Trump's lies about election fraud as an example. 

 

Around two months ago, the electoral college results showed that Joe Biden had won and would become the new president. Needless to say, Trump wasn't exactly delighted at Biden's win and refused to admit defeat, claiming there was voter fraud. Trump pressured and threatened election officials, tweeted false accusations on voter fraud, legally challenged state election results, and desperately tried to block the election results. And as we can see from the mob, the President’s plans didn’t totally fail; thousands of people believe that Trump is right, that Biden is not the rightful president. Dispensing these lies has resulted in America's democracy being slowly torn down; it’s like a giant iceberg, every day, some of it vanishes. But unlike an iceberg where that chunk of ice disappears forever, with enough effort and trust, democracy can be saved. The mob was only one example of what might happen if citizens do not trust the election system and if politicians, and people in general, don't think about what is morally right. The following quote is from Yamiche Alcindor, a journalist for the PBS NewsHour, who perfectly captures what might/has already started to happen because of one person’s choices:

 

I did a piece for the NewsHour talking to immigrants who immigrated to America from countries that had political instability, places like Haiti and Venezuela and Afghanistan and all these other places that came to America because we had democracy that was stable. They had been so scared watching president Trump refusing to concede, and I was thinking about those people and realizing that the country that they had trusted with their hopes and their dreams that it was being challenged and tested. I remember an immigrant from Hati telling me democracy is fragile, and Americans need to learn that. And I think we all saw democracy almost break. We saw democracy really really tested, and of course, it didn’t go all that way; it didn’t break. We saw the congress, of course, do what it came to do very late into the night, but it was a moment where President Trump was demonized immigrants really tested the country that has welcomed so many immigrants who were fleeing just the kind of chaos that was created. 

 

Even now, President Trump refuses to attend Biden’s inauguration.