Trump’s niece Mary claims POTUS has dementia like his father: 'I see that same look of confusion'

Mary, the daughter of Trump's late brother Fred Trump Jr, argued that what she sees in him today mirrors her grandfather’s unraveling
PUBLISHED NOV 18, 2025
Mary Trump detailed the apparent signs of dementia she sees in her uncle Donald Trump on 'The Daily Beast' podcast (Getty Images, The Daily Beast/YouTube)
Mary Trump detailed the apparent signs of dementia she sees in her uncle Donald Trump on 'The Daily Beast' podcast (Getty Images, The Daily Beast/YouTube)

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: In a recent interview, clinical psychologist Mary Trump, the niece of President Donald Trump, claimed that her uncle is showing signs of cognitive decline that closely resemble those exhibited by his father, Fred Trump Sr, who was diagnosed with this condition.

She pointed out memory loss and disorientation as its symptoms. 

Mary says Trump 'seems to be deteriorating'

President Donald Trump speaks to members of press aboard Air Force One on November 14, 2025 while in flight from Washington, DC to West Palm Beach International Airport. Trump is scheduled to spend the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press aboard Air Force One on November 14, 2025, while in flight from Washington, DC to West Palm Beach International Airport (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

The conversation began when the host of 'The Daily Beast' podcast, Joanna Coles, pressed Mary Trump on the family history of dementia, which both her grandfather and grandmother had. 

Mary explained that she is “a clinical psychologist, not a neuropsychologist,” but she said she knows enough “to assess certain kinds of neurological disorders.”

Explaining what she sees in her 79-year-old uncle is unmistakable, she said, “There are times I look at him and I see my grandfather. I see that same look of confusion. I see that he does not always seem to be oriented to time and place. His short-term memory seems to be deteriorating.”

Trump’s lifelong impulse-control problems, she added, are also “deteriorating as well.” 

Mary thinks Trump's decline is similar to his father's

Portrait of American son and father real estate developers Donald Trump and Fred Trump (1905 - 1999) as they attend a book release party to celebrate 'Trump: The Art of the Deal' in the Trump Tower Atrium, New York, New York, December 12, 1987. (Photo by Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images)
Portrait of Donald Trump and Fred Trump (1905 - 1999) as they attend a book release party to celebrate 'Trump: The Art of the Deal' in the Trump Tower Atrium, New York, New York, on December 12, 1987 (Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images)

During the interview, when asked why she believes her uncle is in cognitive decline, Mary Trump, the daughter of the president’s late brother Fred Trump Jr, laid out the clearest case she’s ever made that the POTUS is exhibiting the same signs she once saw in her grandfather, who had Alzheimer’s “for a very, very long time.”

The elder Trump was diagnosed with “mild senile dementia” in 1991. According to his physician, he had symptoms of “obvious memory decline in recent years” and “significant memory impairment.” He was later hospitalized with pneumonia and died at age 93 on June 25, 1999.

Mary points to Trump's behavior

Mary Trump argued that what she sees in the president today mirrors her grandfather’s unraveling. 

U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on February 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump is holding the first Cabinet meeting of his second term, joined by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on February 26, 2025, in Washington, DC (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“This increasing obsession with wealth… It’s pathological,” she said. The POTUS' “grasping nature,” his “desperate need to surround himself with these excessively wealthy people,” and the frantic pace of accumulation all feel familiar to her.

She said this, noting that Trump was bolstering his coffers with cryptocurrency money and aligning himself with mega-wealthy donors like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, for example.

Trump, who has repeatedly mused about getting into heaven (or not), is battling with his mortality, Mary claimed.

“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,” Mary said.

His style of communication, too, is an indicator of something dark, she added. “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 expressed. 

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