Trump's 'mommy issues' came out in Musk interview, says ex-FBI agent

Former President Donald Trump's 'mommy issues' were on full display in his Monday night interview with Elon Musk, an ex-FBI agent has claimed.

At one point in the rambling discussion, the Republican presidential nominee, 78, was discussing a Time Magazine cover story about his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, when he weirdly compared the Democrat to his wife, Melania.

He accused Harris, 59, of getting a 'free ride' from the press as she continues to forego media interviews - when he off-handedly remarked that Harris bears a resemblance to his wife.

'But I saw a picture of her on Time Magazine today, she looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live,' Trump said.

'It was a drawing. And actually, she looked very much like a great first lady: Melania.'

Former President Donald Trump bizarrely compared his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, to his wife during a rambling interview with Elon Musk on Monday

Former FBI agent Asha Rangappa said the comment was proof of Trump's 'mommy issues'

He went on to mispronounce the vice president's name, repeatedly referring to her as 'Camilla.'

'She didn't look like Camilla,' Trump said. 'That's right.

'But of course, she's a beautiful woman. So we'll leave it at that.'

Americans across the country watched the exchange happen live - and many said on social media they found Trump's comments about the vice president off-putting.

Former FBI agent Asha Rangappa, however, did not seem surprised by the former president's remarks.

'I KNEW IT. His brain is short-circuiting because she is attractive AND formidable,' she posted on X.

'Lol he is toast.' 

The former president was discussing a new Time Magazine cover story about Harris

He said that the drawing on the cover 'looked very much like a great first lady: Melania'

She said the former president 'recognizes and is slightly scared of - and in a weird way, craves the approval of - strong intelligent women,' saying there are 'some mommy issues going on there.'

Rangappa also claimed that Trump equates attractive women with being 'dumb or weak' so he can 'sexualize and exploit and dismiss.'

Trump has been accused of having 'mommy issues' in the past, with Former President Barack Obama saying at his second annual Obama Foundation summit in 2018 that progress is hindered in the US because 'we are still confused, blind, shrouded with hate, anger, racism [and] mommy issues.'

Many in attendance and in the media took that as a swipe at then-President Trump as it came just a few months after Politico Magazine published an article entitled 'Donald Trump's Mommy Issues.'

In the article, author Peter Lovenheim argues that his apparent failure to bond with his mother may have played a role in Trump's personal and professional life.

Trump has been accused of having so-called 'mommy issues' in the past. He is pictured here (left) with his parents and sister, Maryanne

He notes that Trump's mother, Mary Anne Trump, sustained a life-threatening illness when the former president was just a toddler.

With his mother incapacitated with the illness and his father, Frederick Trump, never home as he focused on building his real estate empire, Lovenheim posits that Trump never successfully bonded with a primary caregiver as a child.

He said such an issue can result in two common psychological issues: either an individual develops 'attachment anxiety, leading them as adults to crave intimacy, but having difficulty seeking reassurance - or they have attachment avoidance, where as adults, they generally distrust others and convince themselves they don't need close relationships.'

Lovenheim argued at the time that Trump was displaying signs of having attachment avoidance, pointing to what he described as the former president's sense of self-reliance and inability to acknowledge self-doubt; his boasting of sexual encounters and the fact that he has had multiple marriages and very few close friends.

The author also cited Trump's many flattering comments over the years about his mother - calling her 'fantastic,' 'tremendous,' 'very warm' and 'very loving - but providing a lack of early childhood memories to support those sentiments.