In a special episode of Inside the Hive, host Brian Stelter discusses the Donald Trump guilty verdict with Mary Trump, a writer, psychologist, and niece of the former president and now convicted felon. “This isn’t a victory for Democrats. It’s a victory for the rule of law in America,” said Mary Trump, who stressed that “the attacks on the rule of law have to be taken very, very seriously.”
“And that has been, perhaps, the most devastating part of this process in New York City,” she continued. “On the one hand, and incontrovertibly, this trial was run almost impeccably by a very professional judge who was very even-handed. Clearly the jury took it seriously. All of the court officers, the security—everybody just acted like total pros, except, of course, for the defendant.” Not to mention, she said, Donald Trump had a highly paid defense team and “there was due process at every step of the way.”
“But then you have members of Congress not coming to New York to support him, but coming to New York to undermine the American people’s faith in the rule of law, just as they’ve been undermining the American people’s faith in the concept of free and fair elections,” she said, adding, “This is the beginning of what will be yet another very dark, very stressful, very trying period in American history.”
Mary Trump also described how her uncle has long suppressed feelings of humiliation, or “feeling like a loser,” and why she expects him to lash out even more post-conviction. “I think that’s one of the scary things about this verdict,” she said. “He doesn’t play by the rules, he never feels like the rules apply to him, but now it’s like, what does he have to lose? He’s already been convicted, and he will be on a revenge tour.”
