'A creature like Donald': Trump family member slams inauguration as a 'dark day'

Monday's inauguration is a "dark day," a Trump family member said Sunday.

Mary Trump, a trained psychologist and Donald Trump's niece, weighed in on the upcoming ceremony on her blog on Substack.

Mary Trump began by quoting some of President Joe Biden's parting words: "Only in America do we believe anything is possible. Like a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, sitting behind this desk in the Oval Office as president of the United States."

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Replying to those words, Mary Trump said, "It was also possible in 21st century America for a creature like Donald Trump to ascend to the presidency. In 2016 he did so despite a long, sordid history of failure, a stunning lack of experience, and the kind of bigotry and cruelty that should have been, but never was, disqualifying."

"It was possible for him to get elected, after he committed unspeakable crimes against the American people and the Constitution during his first term, and then assaulted the very institutions and values of this country during the intervening four years when he was out of office but so very obviously not out of power," Mary Trump added.

She went on to argue, "The reality of Donald’s arc was in tension with the picture Biden clearly wanted to paint—that democracy has 'held strong'—and the realities of how weakened this nation has been by those benighted accomplices who have, relentlessly and maliciously, assailed thus nation at every turn for the sake of power, personal gain, and a thirst for division that is the specialty of the man they elevated, protected, and for whom they sold what little was left of their souls."

In conclusion, Mary Trump pointed to a small "comfort" in what is happening.

"Tomorrow will be a very dark day—there is no pretending otherwise. But I do take comfort in the knowledge that so much of what they intend is already out in the open. They no longer feel the need to hide their criminal intent. They plan to strip America for parts and they will do so in broad daylight. And we will be watching. We will counter corporate media’s grotesque assumption that all of it—the racism, the criminality, the greed, the breathtaking cruelty, the fascism—are already baked in and therefore of no consequence," she wrote. "We know this is not true. We will be the keepers of the flame and, as Emma Lazarus’ poem says of the Statue of Liberty, we we lift our lamps—as a beacon to those who feel lost, betrayed, and frightened, yes. But also to shine our light, continually, on what they try to get away with. We will keep the flame burning as long as it takes. I take comfort in that, too."

Read the full post here.