Mary Trump slams Trump’s Presidents Day post: ‘He looked like my grandmother’

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Mary Trump, the niece of President Donald Trump and a long‑time critic of his policies, reacted sharply on Tuesday, February 17 to a White House social media post celebrating Presidents Day.

The post featured a picture of Trump with the quote, “I was the hunted. Now I’m the hunter.” In response, Mary took to X and published a detailed Substack post explaining the deeper significance of the holiday and rebuking both the White House’s post and the idea of celebrating all presidents without judgment is problematic.

Mary Trump’s reaction to the White House Presidents Day post

Mary criticized the Presidents Day post with a message on X, writing that for the holiday, “Donald posted a picture of himself trying to look tough (he looked like my grandmother, but she never wore that much makeup), and this quote, ‘I was the hunted. Now I’m the hunter.’”

She added that seeing this was “another reason to stop celebrating this holiday.” Mary then in her substack post argued that by referring to himself as “the hunted,” Trump was acknowledging his legitimate investigations, indictments, and convictions for crimes he actually committed.

Mary then said that by calling himself “the hunter,” Trump presented himself as an “aggrieved child” using "presidential power and the agencies he controls to go after those who investigated and prosecuted him."

According to Mary, this was the message of a “thug, a wannabe mafia boss,” and to her, that is what now sounds “presidential.” 

Mary's critique went further, emphasizing that while many mourn Presidents Day as a solemn remembrance, she saw the White House celebrating in a way that normalized what she considers "harmful behavior."

Mary Trump on Presidents Day's significance and further criticizm Trump

In her Substack post, Mary also explored what Presidents Day originally meant and why she believes its current celebration should be reconsidered. She explained that the holiday was initially set to honor George Washington on his birthday.

Over time, it expanded to include Abraham Lincoln and became a day to honor presidents in general. Mary acknowledged Washington’s historical importance, his role as a general in the Revolution, his presidency, and his decision not to seek a third term were worth celebrating.

However, she pointed out a critical truth, Washington was a slave owner. Mary then acknowledged Lincoln’s contributions, especially his leadership during the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, while noting that aspects of his views toward Black Americans were abhorrent.

Yet she argued that, had he survived, his work would “completely change the course of this nation’s history.” She contrasted these examples with those of other presidents. Mary asked rhetorically whether figures like Andrew Johnson, Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, or Trump should be celebrated. 

In her view, simply celebrating all presidents, implicitly honoring even the worst of them, serves to normalize their actions. This includes the current president, whom she said “has done more damage to the office of the presidency than any other.”

Mary wrote that the notion we must respect the office of the presidency even if we dislike the person holding it no longer applies because, in her words, the current occupant “has spent over five years defiling it.”