Donald Trump told Newsweek that his only "real friends" were family. And whilst Trump has been surrounded by his own 5 children on the campaign trail, his siblings have not been so visible. He comes from a large family, the middle child in a family of five. He thanked his siblings, Maryanne, Freddy, Elizabeth and Robert, in his Presidential victory speech but what do they think of their brash brother?
Like most families, it's probably complicated. Donald originally looked up to his pilot brother, Freddy, and kept a photo of him in his military school dorm. Freddy described Donald, eight years his junior, as "my-pain-in-the ass brother" and took him out on fishing trips. But, as Trump took over the role of heir apparent, he would hector Freddy to "grow up" and take his place in the family business: to stop being a bus driver in the sky. Freddy, an alcoholic, died in 1981. Trump says he learnt lessons from him, one of them being never to touch alcohol.
Trump's eldest sister, Maryanne Barry, told New York Magazine "I knew better even as a child than to even attempt to compete with Donald.". Quite some statement, given the nine-year age gap, and that Maryanne grew up to be a well-respected senior appeals judge. As publicity shy as her brother courts it, she steers clear of the media frenzy surrounding Trump. He describes her as supportive and "phenomenal" and seeks her advice. Trump told the New York Times, "She said, 'Just be yourself.' Of course, I don't know if that's good advice, but she said, 'Just be yourself and you do well, really well.' "
Trump and Barry are close. She cooks for him on his birthday and when she was in hospital he visited every day. She describes him as "funny" and "a nice guy". But their definition of success is miles apart. Where he is obsessed with the Legend of Trump and his success as a businessman, success for Barry is simpler: "the warm feeling one gets if you see a stranger... and smiling at that stranger and having that stranger return your smile" or "raising a child to be a good man or a good woman." And where Donald sees fear as a four letter word, she thrives on it: "Scared? Every day of my life" she told students in her commencement address at Fairfield University.
Younger brother Robert, joined Trump in the family real estate business and at one point shared Trump's flamboyant lifestyle on the New York social scene. But after his divorce from the socialite, Blaine Trump, Robert left the limelight and moved to Long Island. Although he hasn't been on the campaign trail, he has hosted local fundraising events and declared that if Trump needed him, he'd be there. According to Page Six, he supports his brother "one thousand percent," and believes "he's got a great message." During the Primaries, Gawker reported Robert behaving raucously in a bar, "pounding Martinis and chicken wings" and "cheering at the televised election returns reporting Trump's large lead in Florida".
Youngest sister, Elizabeth, is even more media shy, however, she can often be seen at Trump's society events, sometimes on the arm of one of her nephews. The surviving siblings all seem to be close. When Trump hit trouble with his casino investments they bailed him out, twice. The happy family image, though, is challenged by Freddy's children, Fred III and Mary.
Trump's father, suffering from Alzheimer's, changed his will late in life, effectively disinheriting their side of the family. Controversially, Barry and Trump had a hand in drafting this new will. They both state it was their father's wishes. To add grit to the family mill, when the will was contested, Uncle Donald retaliated by withdrawing financial support for Fred's sick baby son, William. As Fred III put it to The Daily News: "These are not warm and fuzzy people."
Maryanne summed Trump up to Newsweek with the words, "success brings success, which brings more success. The more he gets, the more he wants." His siblings seem happy to let him chase it.