Times Donald Trump & Other MAGA Politicians Were Slammed By Their Own Family Members

It's one thing to get dragged by rivals or roasted by the press — that's just politics. But when your family starts calling you out? That hits differently. While there have long been rumors about whether or not certain members of Donald Trump's immediate family are feuding, we definitely don't have to speculate about where other relatives stand with the current president. And that's because those relatives have not only spoken out about him, but made it clear that they are not fans. And he's not the only MAGA politician who has ended up at odds with family members. 

You can ignore the press or dismiss critics on social media as partisan hacks, but when it's a sister, a cousin, or even your kid coming for you, it is certainly more personal. These family feuds — the viral TikToks, the scathing op-eds, the interviews — cut through the PR spin and give us another look at the chaos behind the scenes.

The truth about Mary Trump and Donald Trump's relationship is that there is no love lost. In an MS NOW interview, Mary called her uncle an "entitled loser who did nothing but waste his father's fortune." She also acted as a whistleblower on the family's finances, anonymously providing The New York Times with boxes of tax records that exposed alleged financial fraud within the Trump Organization. 

In 2020, Mary released "Too Much and Never Enough," a blistering inside look at Donald's upbringing. "By the time this book is published, hundreds of thousands of American lives will have been sacrificed on the altar of Donald's hubris and willful ignorance," she wrote (via The Washington Post). "If he is afforded a second term, it would be the end of American democracy." In addition to digging into his family life and education history — including the allegation that he paid someone to take the SATs for him — the book also features her own memories of Donald, such as an incident at Mar-a-Lago in the 1990s. According to Mary, Donald once saw her in a swimsuit and said, "Holy s***, Mary. You're stacked." Humiliated, she wrapped herself in a towel (via The Guardian).

Talking about his character, Mary told "The Daily T," "He was always a bully, even as a kid playing in the backyard. He hasn't changed at all — he's the only person I know who's completely incapable of growing or evolving." And when it comes to his faith, she was just as blunt, telling CNN, "The only time Donald went to church was when the cameras were there." After her book came out, Donald took to X to dispute Mary's claims and called her "a mess" (via Politico); Mary shrugged off his name-calling.

Pete Hegseth's push to become secretary of defense in late 2024 hit a major snag when an old email from his mom, Penelope Hegseth, came back to haunt him. The email, written back in April 2018 and published by The New York Times, didn't hold back. In it, Penelope called out her son's character, saying, "You are an abuser of women — that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego." 

She added, "You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth." Penelope ended the letter by urging Pete to "get some help and take an honest look at yourself." She later addressed the email during a 2024 appearance on Fox & Friends and explained that it was written in the heat of the moment while Pete was going through a very messy divorce. 

"I wrote that out of love," she said. "A couple of hours later, I sent an apology email to take it back, but of course, no one's ever seen that." Penelope also accused The New York Times of handling the story unethically, claiming they made "threats" when pressuring her to comment before the email was published. Penelope also accused The New York Times of unethical behavior in how the story was handled. According to the AP, she claimed the newspaper made "threats" when asking her to comment on the email before publication. Regardless of her clarifications, the original email left a lasting mark on Pete Hegseth's public image.

When a former federal judge sizes up a president — and her brother, no less — the verdict lands with unusual authority. Maryanne Trump Barry, sister of Donald Trump, apparently was not one to mince words. In recordings obtained by the The Washington Post in 2020, Maryanne spoke candidly about her brother across hours of conversations through 2018 and 2019 captured by niece Mary Trump. Speaking about his approach to immigration, she criticized his handling of children at the border and remarked, "Well, I guess he hasn't read my immigration opinions." When pressed by Mary about whether Donald Trump reads at all, she flatly responded, "No. He doesn't read."

She further characterized his behavior as defined by "the phoniness of it all. It's the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel." Perhaps most significantly, Barry supported the explosive allegation that her brother had cheated on his college entrance exams, corroborating Mary Trump's claim about Donald having someone else take his SAT exam. Reflecting on his business record, she sarcastically acknowledged his infamous financial troubles, saying, "Well, he has five bankruptcies... Good point. He did accomplish those all by himself."

After she died in November 2023, a source told People that Maryanne apparently learned to keep her distance from Donald. "Maryanne loved her brother but basically gave up on him," the source said. "She didn't talk trash about him in public but she'd had enough of his lies and fabulism, and overdosing on social media."

Rep. Matt Gaetz's sister-in-law, Roxanne Luckey, hasn't been one to hold back on TikTok, openly slamming the Florida congressman once he was under federal investigation for alleged sex crimes, including sex trafficking a minor. As reported by The Daily Beast in 2021, she even called him "a literal pedophile." 

In one TikTok video, Roxanne wrote, "When a creepy old man tries to hit on you at the bar but your sister's engaged to a literal pedophile," and included a headline referencing the federal investigation into Matt Gaetz. In another TikTok video, Roxanne also alleged Gaetz once tried to get an older man to hit on her when she was 19, calling it "weird and creepy." In a separate video, Roxanne remarked, "I saw the character and type of person he is, and when everything came out about him, I honestly, unfortunately, was not surprised." She broadened the critique to powerful men who target young women: "As someone who has personally experienced a ton of creepy old politician men hitting on me when I was underage... I have zero tolerance of people like [Gaetz]." 

In response to Roxanne's claims, Gaetz's now-wife, Ginger Luckey, dismissed her sister's allegations. She also called Roxanne a person with a history of "destructive behavior," according to The Daily Beast.

House Speaker Mike Johnson's Christian fundamentalism is apparently even too much for some of his own family members. In a sharp rebuke of his unyielding beliefs, his stepmother, Janis Gabriel, and his late father, Patrick Johnson, once begged him in 2014 to intervene and stop a government-backed burn of 15 million pounds of toxic munitions at Camp Minden, Louisiana — an area close to their home. 

But Johnson, then a prominent right-wing attorney, refused. "His father and I went to him and said: 'Mike, you need to get involved in this, this is really important. Your family really lives at ground zero,'" Gabriel told The Guardian. "We basically begged him to say something, to someone, somewhere." His response? Silence. "It just blew my mind that he wouldn't give five minutes of his time to the effort," Gabriel said, adding, "He basically shut us down." 

She didn't hold back when explaining what she thought was behind his lack of action: his rigid religious ideology. "It speaks to those religious beliefs: 'Don't take care of the environment because we have a finite amount of time here and God will take care of you.' It's crazy," she said in the same interview. A spokesperson for Johnson pushed back against Gabriel's claims, telling The Guardian that he "disputes this characterization as described," but offered no further explanation. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s independent bid in late 2024 fractured his own family. Soon after he announced a third-party run, four siblings issued a statement on X condemning the move as "perilous" and "dangerous" and accusing him of betraying the Kennedy legacy. "Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment," they wrote. The siblings called it "a sad ending to a sad story."

JFK's only grandson, Jack Schlossberg, piled on during the 2024 race, charging that RFK Jr. was exploiting the family name for clout. In a blistering Instagram video, he said, "I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president." Schlossberg accused him of "trading in on Camelot, celebrity, conspiracy theories, and conflict for personal gain and fame" (all while RFK Jr.'s rumored affair with Olivia Nuzzi wasn't exactly helping his case).

In 2025, Caroline Kennedy — daughter of President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan — sent senators a stark character assessment ahead of RFK Jr.'s HHS confirmation hearings. In a letter obtained by ABC News, she wrote, "His basement, his garage, and his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence." Caroline called him "addicted to attention and power" and went even further with a biting comparison. "It's no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator," she concluded.

Stephen Miller, a principal designer of Donald Trump's hardline immigration agenda, drew sharp rebukes from his own family. In a 2018 Politico editorial, his uncle, David Glosser, called him an "immigration hypocrite," saying the policies Stephen championed went against their family's own history. Citing their ancestors' escape from anti-Jewish pogroms in Eastern Europe in 1903, Glosser wrote that if Miller's rules were in effect at that time, their family likely wouldn't have survived. He shared that he watched Miller's actions with "dismay and increasing horror" as they dehumanized migrants and asylum seekers.

In 2019, Glosser linked Miller's work to Trump's polarizing politics, telling Democracy Now! their approach was designed "to stir up ethnic hatreds and fears and anxieties about so-called invaders." Glosser likened Miller's rhetoric to that of Nazi Germany — particularly after Trump declared the country "full."

Miller's cousin, Alisa Kasmer, has also publicly condemned him. "I am living with the deep pain of watching someone I once loved become the face of evil," she wrote in a 2025 Facebook post. After Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis in 2026, Kasmer wrote on Threads, "Blood on YOUR hands, Stephen." She continued, "I'm just glad our grandparents are no longer alive to witness the shame you have brought to our family."

Nate Vance, JD Vance's cousin and a former Marine who fought alongside Ukraine's "Da Vinci Wolves," hasn't minced words when it comes to criticizing JD and Donald Trump's stance on Ukraine. In early 2025, Nate spoke to Le Figaro (via Newsweek) about the administration, calling them "Vladimir Putin's useful idiots." His frustration only deepened after a February 2025 White House meeting where JD and Trump confronted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Nate called this as "an ambush of absolute bad faith," per the Kyiv Post.

Nate also blasted JD's skepticism of Zelenskyy: "When JD justifies his distrust of Zelensky by the 'reports' he has seen, I thought I was going to choke." Nate said JD never sought his firsthand perspective despite their family ties. "His own cousin was on the front lines. I could have told him the truth, without pretense, without personal interest. He never tried to find out more." And he drew a hard line: "Being your family doesn't mean I'm going to accept you killing my comrades."

JD Vance addressed the family rift on Fox News, calling Nate "the toughest guy [he] knew." He also made it clear that he was disappointed that Nate didn't contact him directly. Meanwhile, Nate appeared on CNN's "OutFront" with Erin Burnett in March 2025, where he doubled down on his criticism of his cousin's actions and policies

Far-right congressman Paul Gosar has become almost as well-known for the backlash from his own family as for his extremist politics. In 2018, six of his nine brothers and sisters publicly backed the Arizona politician's Democratic opponent, David Brill. The Gosar siblings released an ad campaign urging voters not to support Paul. Per the Phoenix New Times, Paul's brothers and sisters called out his extremist views and insisted he only does more harm than good. As his sister Grace Gosar stated, "It would be difficult to see my brother as anything but a racist." Paul dismissed the criticism in a statement to CNN, calling his siblings "liberal Democrats who hate President Trump." He accused them of putting politics over family, adding, "Stalin would be proud."

After the January 6 Capitol attack, the family's condemnation grew harsher. In August 2021, siblings Dave, Jennifer, and Tim Gosar co-wrote a NBC News op-ed demanding Paul resign or be expelled from Congress. "In addition to betraying your family and causing irreparable damage to the relationships within it, you decided to betray your country by helping incite the Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol," They wrote.

The following November, the House formally censured Paul for posting a violent anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden. His siblings once again spoke out. Jennifer Gosar told MS NOW, "It is about time." She also hoped this would not be the last of the consequences, stating that she wants to see him expelled from Congress. Per the Los Angeles Times, David Gosar said Paul was "about as despicable a politician as I have ever seen."

Kellyanne Conway's job in the Trump White House caused a full-blown rebellion at home, led by her daughter. Claudia Conway became a viral sensation for calling out her mom's work, often sharing her frustrations on social media. Per Business Insider, in one TikTok, she joked, "Just found out my mom is a speaker at the RNC... that's it. I'm out. Running away phase 1 starts tomorrow at 7 am."

Claudia also blasted the administration's COVID-19 response. After Kellyanne paid tribute to Herman Cain — who died of COVID-19 following Trump's Tulsa rally — Claudia tweeted on X, "Yes, it is sad but wasn't your administration complicit in his death?? Yikes." Her father, George Conway, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project and vocal Trump critic, appeared to cheer her candor. As Claudia told Business Insider, "My dad thinks it's awesome that I'm speaking for myself and expressing my views."

Despite their very public clashes, the relationship between Kellyanne and Claudia Conway eventually took a positive turn. In July 2021, Claudia tweeted that she loves her mother. "i am proud that we are living proof of breaking the cycle," she wrote (via People). In 2024, Claudia appeared on her mom's Fox Nation show, "Here's the Deal with Kellyanne," and they talked about how they've been able to mend and maintain their relationship despite their political differences. "I can look at you and love you even though you have a different political opinion than I do, and we can be humans at the end of the day," Claudia said. "I applaud you and commend you for having me on your show and having you know people of all different backgrounds on your show, because I think these conversations are the most important conversations."