What Mary Trump Just Said About Sarah Palin Is Raising Eyebrows

Mary Trump, who's Donald Trump's niece, has been one of the former president's most outspoken critics. The clinical psychologist released her book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, two weeks ahead of schedule in July 2020, despite an ongoing legal battle over its publication, per Vogue.

According to Business Insider, Mary — the daughter of former President Trump's late brother, Fred Trump Jr. — claimed in her book, among other things, that the reality star cheated on his SAT; was abused by his father, Fred Trump Sr.; and "has no principles."

However, her opposition to the ex-president is not what's currently raising eyebrows. In January 2021, she tweeted, "Sarah Palin should be in prison." In the same tweet, she shared a 1-minute video posted by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was the victim of a mass shooting in a grocery store parking lot in Tucson, Ariz., 10 years ago. Essentially, Mary believes Palin incited the violence inflicted on the founder of Giffords, an advocacy and research center focused on gun control.

So, what's the backstory of the tweet that Mary Trump shared about Sarah Palin? In addition to the video that Gabby Giffords' tweet contained, Giffords' wrote, "I said it then and I'll say it again: words have consequences. Elected officials have a duty to uphold our democracy and lead by example." The video featured an interview Giffords did with The Daily Rundown before she was shot, calling on elected officials to acknowledge there are consequences to their rhetoric. The video clips were mashed up with images of her recovery process following the shooting.

In the interview, Giffords noted that she is on "Sarah Palin's map," referring to the map the former Alaska governor posted on her Facebook page. The map featured the crosshairs of a gunsight over the districts that were represented by 20 House Democrats at the time, who voted for Obamacare in 2010. The text on the map reads, "Let's take the 20 back, together!" Palin also promoted the map on Twitter, writing, "Don't Retreat, Instead – RELOAD," which some saw as a call to incite violence against these members of congress, per The Atlantic.

Mary and Giffords drew parallels between the violence incited by the former VP nominee by sharing the target map and former President Trump's rally on Jan. 6. 2021, which led to the Capitol insurrection just two weeks before the inauguration of Joe Biden.

It seems like Mary Trump isn't the only one who thinks Sarah Palin should pay for her remarks. Shortly after Donald Trump's niece tweeted, "Sarah Palin should be in prison," several Twitter users took to her replies in agreement. 

"I was so shocked that Palin faced zero consequences for her incitement of that attack. Nothing shocks me after the things that were allowed the last 4 years, but I'm still disgusted Sarah Palin got away with that," one person wrote. "When Palin sent those crosshairs out for Giffords, and Giffords was shot, I looked forward to her going to prison," another person added. "No one said a word about it until this day. Something is wrong with our justice system." 

Several users commented on the favoritism shown to politicians and the wealthy in the United States, with one person writing, "When will these people be held accountable? Things are never going. To change are they?" 

As of this writing, Palin has yet to comment.