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- Trump's niece Mary L. Trump slammed the former president and two current governors in an interview with CNN.
- She said governors like Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis have no concern for human life or their constituents.
- She also questioned why the former president would be allowed to run for re-election.
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Mary L. Trump, former President Donald Trump's niece, questioned why he'd be allowed to run for reelection and compared him to Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN.
Mary Trump acknowledges that President Joe Biden is responsible for the current COVID-19 response, but said that "we need to be really clear that the reason we're in this place right now governors like DeSantis and Abbott, who seem to have absolutely no concern about their constituents, who place absolutely no value on human life, took their cues from Donald."
Trump's brash brand of politics – embracing the culture wars, engaging in name-calling, creating a cult of personality, and pushing forward with controversial policies – has been adopted by other leaders in the GOP.
Governor DeSantis, who is currently trying to ban mask mandates in schools, was endorsed by Trump in the 2018 GOP primary and may be gaining more favorability from the GOP than the former president. Abbott, who recently implemented a restrictive anti-abortion law and is also against mask mandates, was endorsed by Donald Trump for reelection in 2022.
Mary Trump, author of her second book "The Reckoning," told Cooper that Trump enables Republican leaders like DeSantis and Abbott who have implemented – or attempted to implement – controversial policies.
"We have dealt with an onslaught of attacks against immigrants, against people of color, against women, against American Democracy," she said while discussing the trauma the country has endured - both recently and historically.
"One of the most diabolical things Donald did in the last four years was divide this country at a time when we most needed to be united - and that's when COVID started," she added.
"And it's going to take a very, very long time to recover from that as we see because people who follow him are making it almost impossible for us to get a hold of COVID."
The offices of Trump, Abbott, and DeSantis did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.