Our democracy is 'on the brink' thanks to 'one temper-tantrum-throwing bully': Mary Trump

Donald Trump knows he lost the 2020 election, according to his niece, Mary Trump. But growing up in the Trump family, a loser was "one of the worst things you could ever be."

So when Trump was defeated by President Joe Biden, "he had to deny that reality immediately and the best way to do that would be to double down on the lie that it was stolen from him, that he's really a winner," Mary Trump, a psychologist, told CNN on Saturday.

"But the real danger here is that he's continuing to be allowed to say these things," she added, reacting to a clip of her uncle saying last weekend that former Vice President Mike Pence should have "sent those crooked votes back to the legislatures" on Jan. 6.

Donald Trump also said during an event with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly in Florida that he thinks Pence was "mortally wounded" within the GOP by his decision not to try to overturn the election.

"The only person who should have been quote-unquote mortally wounded by what's happened over the last few months is Donald's political future," Mary Trump said. "And yet we find ourselves at this point where American democracy is on the brink because over the course of five decades, one repellant, temper-tantrum-throwing bully has never been held accountable for any of the awful things he's done, including his numerous crimes against America. And now it seems the racism, the anti-semitism, the lying, are compulsory if you want to run for office as a Republican."

Mary Trump went on to say she thinks America is at an "incredibly dangerous crossroads."

"If our system can't respond swiftly to the threats this very weak and vengeful person continues to pose to the future of American democracy, then I'm afraid we might be irrevocably broken, so I really do hope that steps are being taken — real steps — to do something to stop him and hold him accountable finally," she said.

She also said she thinks he will run for president again in 2024 "if he's allowed" since "he needs the power and protection of the Oval Office to keep him out of the massive amounts of trouble he's facing."

"However, the real question should be, why is he being allowed even to consider it?" she said.

Watch the full interview below.

Mary Trump on CNNwww.youtube.com