A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America
by Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig
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The instant #1 bestseller.“This taut and terrifying book is among the most closely observed accounts of Donald J. Trump’s shambolic tenure in office to date."
- Dwight Garner, The New York Times
Washington Post national investigative reporter Carol Leonnig and White House bureau chief Philip Rucker, both Pulitzer Prize winners, provide the definitive insider narrative of Donald Trump’s presidency
“I alone can fix it.” So proclaimed Donald J. Trump on July 21, 2016, accepting show more the Republican presidential nomination and promising to restore what he described as a fallen nation. Yet as he undertook the actual work of the commander in chief, it became nearly impossible to see beyond the daily chaos of scandal, investigation, and constant bluster. In fact, there were patterns to his behavior and that of his associates. The universal value of the Trump administration was loyalty—not to the country, but to the president himself—and Trump’s North Star was always the perpetuation of his own power.
With deep and unmatched sources throughout Washington, D.C., Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker reveal the forty-fifth president up close. Here, for the first time, certain officials who felt honor-bound not to divulge what they witnessed in positions of trust tell the truth for the benefit of history.
A peerless and gripping narrative, A Very Stable Genius not only reveals President Trump at his most unvarnished but shows how he tested the strength of America’s democracy and its common heart as a nation. show less
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Rucker, Philip, and Carol Leonnig. A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America. Penguin, 2020.
If you are a regular reader of The Washington Post, not much in A Very Stable Genius will be new to you. That should be no surprise because the authors are star reporters covering the White House. Nor is there any breaking news, because the book’s epilog gets us only so far as the beginnings of the impeachment hearings. But that does not mean that even a regular reader of the Post will not find this book valuable. In a clear way, it explains some of the havoc the mercurial personality of the president has wrought on the governance of defense, foreign policy, and justice. Trump predictably called the book all lies, even though show more none of the information or quotations in the book were challenged. Most of the information in the book comes either from Trump’s own speeches and tweets or from people who were in the room when the disasters were being hatched. The result is excellent explanatory journalism. There are no rants or polemics from the authors. Like the Mueller report, they leave the readers to draw their own conclusions. For this reader, the evidence they have assembled and the story they tell provides a chill to the bone, as the only people I can admire are the ones who had the guts to quit and tell Trump why. But the downside is that all those folks were, in fact, forced out. An exception is Chris Christie, who had the good sense to turn down the chance to be Trump's chief of staff, a job that could have damaged his reputation even more than Bridgegate. show less
If you are a regular reader of The Washington Post, not much in A Very Stable Genius will be new to you. That should be no surprise because the authors are star reporters covering the White House. Nor is there any breaking news, because the book’s epilog gets us only so far as the beginnings of the impeachment hearings. But that does not mean that even a regular reader of the Post will not find this book valuable. In a clear way, it explains some of the havoc the mercurial personality of the president has wrought on the governance of defense, foreign policy, and justice. Trump predictably called the book all lies, even though show more none of the information or quotations in the book were challenged. Most of the information in the book comes either from Trump’s own speeches and tweets or from people who were in the room when the disasters were being hatched. The result is excellent explanatory journalism. There are no rants or polemics from the authors. Like the Mueller report, they leave the readers to draw their own conclusions. For this reader, the evidence they have assembled and the story they tell provides a chill to the bone, as the only people I can admire are the ones who had the guts to quit and tell Trump why. But the downside is that all those folks were, in fact, forced out. An exception is Chris Christie, who had the good sense to turn down the chance to be Trump's chief of staff, a job that could have damaged his reputation even more than Bridgegate. show less
If you listen to the news - all the news, not just Fox news - you can't help but question some of the antics of our POTUS. Still, after reading this book and learning about the behind-the-scene-shenanigans being carried out by our politicians in the White House, I believe this book is scarier than any Stephen King novel I've read to date. Congrats to Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig (both Pulitzer prize winners) for laying this out in clear and irrefutable terms. DJT is not fit to be running our country, and yet he has survived a two-year FBI probe into collusion with a foreign power, proven obstruction of the investigation, and impeachment for blatantly using his office for political gain. What else is our republican party going to show more allow him to get away with? As quoted in the book by William A. Galston, "We haven't seen anything like this in my lifetime. He (Trump) appears to be daring the rest of the political system to stop him—and if it doesn't, he'll go further. What we're discovering is that the Constitution is not a mechanism that runs by itself. Ultimately, we are a government of men and not law. The law has no force without people who are willing to enforce it." Where are our enforcers, and where is this going to end? show less
The more I read, the more Trump in the White House scares me! I find no evidence that he is someone fit for the job but too much that indicates how lacking he is! This was another great look at life in the White House with Trump from his election to the recent issue with Ukraine. While the authors finished this book prior to the Senate's "trial" there is no doubt how they felt about it. There is a great deal of information on Trump in this book that compels me to believe anyone would be a better choice in 2020!
This book was one I thought I would skim, having lived through it just a few years ago. However, I found myself struggling to put it down. It was fascinating, and much more balanced than it was given credit for when it was released. Yes, it's mostly negative, but that's because Trump did so much that was wrong. On the occasions when he wasn't wrong, the book is quick to say so. Worth reading, if only to make sure we never allow someone with so little respect and interest in the presidency to again hold the office.
This is an able recitation of the facts inside the Trump White House. What is now called for is the context of what was happening and not happening as a direct consequence of Donald Trump’s compulsion/ fascination with his press. While Donald Trump hasn’t so far paralyzed the American Government, what is in fact a very expensive institution is grinding away at trivialities while the central challenges of public policy today sit in abeyance.
Where is the planet headed? Where is democracy headed? When the traveling masses are in the hundreds of millions where and when, if ever, will they settle? What are we to do without work?
Where is the planet headed? Where is democracy headed? When the traveling masses are in the hundreds of millions where and when, if ever, will they settle? What are we to do without work?
An absolutely essential read
A well-documented thoroughly investigated book about the impulsivity of the most powerful man in the world. The book states the facts without getting partisan and leaves the reader to judge for his or herself. One is left with the rather dystopian question, what happens when the guy in charge is a dangerous narcissist who has done away with the only people who kept him from “setting aside” the law?
A well-documented thoroughly investigated book about the impulsivity of the most powerful man in the world. The book states the facts without getting partisan and leaves the reader to judge for his or herself. One is left with the rather dystopian question, what happens when the guy in charge is a dangerous narcissist who has done away with the only people who kept him from “setting aside” the law?
I finished the newest trump revelation book, A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig. It's a well-researched synopsis of trump and company from the run-up to the election to the response to the Mueller Report with an addendum discussing the impeachment. It's pretty much everything you know but in more detail. I did learn some new things, such as that when trump finally tired of Kirstjen Nielsen's inability to solve his "immigration problem" he fired her and withdrew all her security support. She had been receiving death threats and he sent people right around to remove the cameras that were part of her home security. Pretty clever. He does amaze with the new ways he finds to be show more cruel. And his appointees and hangers-on, respected though they may or may not have been before becoming entangled with him, never seemed to disengage from him for moral reasons. They just kept worrying that what he was doing was so illegal he would get himself (and them) in trouble. It's a great cast of characters. (Except for Rex Tillerson he did disapprove of trump's design to turn our military into a band of soldiers of fortune.) So, if you haven't already read 400 books about the disaster, I'd recommend trying this one. show less
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By now, four years into Donald Trump’s nearly-inconceivable first term in the Oval Office, the pattern of such books is well-known. ... Those cycles are the fuel for all such Trump books, and the combustion is the simmer of impotent outrage felt throughout the country every minute of every day by the majority of the population who correctly see Trump as an existential threat to the survival show more of the idea itself of the United States. ... But a noteworthy Trump book is still a Trump book, and by now one other thing is known about them: they’re every bit as sordid, opportunistic, and money-grubbing as their subject. They can’t help but be; if you touch the pitch of a lifelong grifter and conman like Trump, for a book contract, no amount of credentials will save you from being defiled. show less
added by Lemeritus
Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post offer A Very Stable Genius. As befitting Pulitzer winners for investigative reporting, their book is richly sourced and highly readable. It sheds new light on how the 45th president tests the boundaries of the office while trying the patience and dignity of those who work for or with him. It is not just another Trump tell-all or show more third-party confessional. It is unsettling, not salacious. ... Leonnig and Rucker quote Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution, who says Trump “appears to be daring the rest of the political system to stop him – and if it doesn’t he’ll go further. The law has no force without people who are willing to enforce it.” show less
added by Lemeritus
Rucker and Leonnig offer lots of gory details about the president. He blusters about, desperately solipsistic, relentlessly ignorant. His gaffes are breathtaking. And yet, gradually, despite the consternation of his aides (and the authors’ narrative intent), Trump emerges as more than just a needy adolescent throwing spitballs at the deep state. He has a definite worldview and a strategy, a show more feral brilliance that has cracked the political code in the digital, postmillennial era. ... Rucker and Leonnig’s sources make much of the need to keep guard rails on the president, but Trump has his own rigorous set of boundaries: He will always appear tough. He will always be crude. He will be relentless in his pursuit of his agenda. The problem is, ultimately, that the world is more complex than any ideology, especially one so simple as Trump’s. show less
added by Lemeritus
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- Original publication date
- 2020
- People/Characters
- Donald Trump; Shinzo Abe; Gerard Araud; Julian Assange; Steve Bannon; William Barr (show all 92); Joe Biden; John Bolton; Mike Bowe; Stephen Boyd; John Brennan; Andrew Brunson; George W. Bush; Chris Christie; Mary Pat Christie; Pat Cipollone; Hillary Rodham Clinton; Dan Coats; Ty Cobb; Michael Cohen; Gary Cohn; Roy Cohn; James Comey; George Conway; Kellyanne Conway; Mark Corallo; Stormy Daniels; John Dowd; Michael Dubke; Joseph Dunford; Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Emmet Flood; Michael Flynn; Christine Blasey Ford; Alan Futerfus; Rudy Giuliani; Trey Gowdy; Nikki Haley; Sean Hannity; Hope Hicks; Jody Hunt; Sarah Isgur Flores; Marc Kasowitz; Brett Kavanaugh; John Kelly; Kim Jong Un; Sergei Kislyak; Jared Kushner; Corey Lewandowski; Abbe Lowell; Emmanuel Macron; Paul Manafort; James Mattis; Andrew McCabe; Don McGahn; Brett McGurk; H. R. McMaster; Angela Merkel; Stephen Miller; Robert Mueller; Mike Mulvaney; Devin Nunes; Ed O'Callaghan; Carter Page; Lisa Page; Nancy Pelosi; Mike Pence; Mike Pompeo; Rob Porter; Reince Priebus; Vladimir Putin; James Quarles; Brian Rabbitt; Jane Raskin; Michael Raskin; Rod Rosenstein; Sarah Huckabee Sanders; Chuck Schumer (Charles Ellis Schumer); Jay Sekulow; Jeff Sessions; Patrick Shanahan; Sean Spicer; Peter Strzok; Kevin Sweeney; Rex Tillerson; Donald Trump, Jr.; Ivanka Trump; Melania Trump; Matthew Whitaker; Christopher Wray; Sally Yates; Aaron Zebley
- Important events
- Donald J. Trump presidency
- Dedication
- To John, Elise, and Molly - you are my everything.
To Naomi and Clara Rucker - First words
- "I alone can fix it."
On November 9, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump began to staff his administration. - Quotations
- “Instead of his pride being built on making a good decision, it’s built on knowing the right answer from the onset,” a senior administration official said.
Trump’s advisers offered the other governments damage-control tips: don’t be patronizing to Trump, and sprinkle in compliments of him. “It was all advice on how to handle a difficult teenager—a very sensitive, touchy ... (show all)teenager,” Araud recalled. “So you have six adults trying not to excite him, and they are facing somebody who has no restraint and no limits. To be the adult in the room is to suffer the tantrum of the kid and not to take it seriously.”
Edmund Burke, who wrote in his 1790 pamphlet, Reflections on the Revolution in France, that “the rudest hand” of any mob could annihilate an institution but rebuilding one from the rubble would be far more difficult. “R... (show all)age and phrenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.”
During the March 5 Kansas caucuses, Pompeo had warned that Trump would be “an authoritarian president who ignored our Constitution,” and he urged his fellow Kansans to “turn down the lights on the circus.” But Pompeo ... (show all)was eager to join the circus now.
There were three core questions facing U.S. intelligence officials about Russia’s role in the 2016 election. First, did the Russian government itself interfere? The overwhelming evidence said yes. Next, did Russia try to he... (show all)lp Trump win? Much of the evidence suggested yes. Finally, did Russia’s efforts change the election result? Intelligence leaders argued they lacked the ability to say definitively. But Trump believed that acknowledging Russian intervention effectively tainted his victory.
McMaster made clear he saw little virtue in getting along with Russia. “Would you rather be part of a small club of autocrats that might rotate their meetings between Moscow, Tehran, Damascus, Havana, Caracas, and Pyongyang... (show all), or would you rather be a club of free peoples who respect sovereignty, individual rights, and the rule of law?” he told the Atlantic Council. “I think our club is better.”
At the time the press was reporting Trump’s “Russia, if you’re listening” comment, it was dinnertime in Moscow. Most Russian government offices were closed. But, as Atkinson discovered more than a year later, some Rus... (show all)sian military intelligence operators in Unit 26165 were busy late that July night sending outbound pushes to Clinton’s private domain and sending malicious links targeting fifteen email accounts on her server. This was a stunning find, one that U.S. intelligence agencies had not tracked earlier. The digital pushes did not show that Trump or anyone in his campaign had committed a crime, but they established that Russians were doing his bidding in real time, literally working the graveyard shift at his request from half a world away.
In the days following his Singapore trip, Trump spoke with apparent envy of Kim’s rule. He admired how the North Korean people “sit up at attention” when their dictator spoke and marveled at how tough Kim’s guards app... (show all)eared. After watching clips from North Korean state television, Trump noted the female news anchor’s sycophancy and joked that she was even more lavish in her praise of the dear leader than Fox News hosts were of Trump.
Senator John McCain did not mince words in his statement: “Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump’s ... (show all)naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.” The Arizona Republican senator added, “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.”
Brennan’s security clearance was being revoked. Reading a statement she attributed to Trump, Sanders said Brennan posed a risk to national security by “his erratic conduct and behavior.” She accused the former CIA direc... (show all)tor of making “a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations—wild outbursts on the Internet and television—about this administration.” Ironically, these were the same charges many if not most national security professionals would level against Trump.
McRaven: ...good leader tries to embody the best qualities of his or her organization. A good leader sets the example for others to follow. A good leader always puts the welfare of others before himself or herself. Your leade... (show all)rship, however, has shown little of these qualities. Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.
McRaven: “The disdain he shows for our country’s foundation and its principles. The disregard he has for right and wrong. Your fist clenches. Your teeth grate. The hair goes up on the back of your neck. I have to remind m... (show all)yself I said an oath to a document in the National Archives. I swore to the Constitution. I didn’t swear an oath to this jackass.”
On September 1, McCain’s memorial service at Washington National Cathedral served not only as a memorial for an American hero but also as a stinging rebuke of Trump and Trumpism. The cathedral rang with paeans to bipartisan... (show all)ship, compromise, and civility in a melancholy last hurrah for all that now seemed lost. One by one, mourners celebrated elements of McCain’s epic life—basic decency and morality; common values that transcended ideology, class, or race; service to nation over self—that Trump most starkly lacked.
Mueller had effectively capitulated. The special counsel would accept written answers from the president, for now, on a limited set of questions. Trump’s lawyers were ecstatic. The nuclear missile they had always feared Mue... (show all)ller was just a few keystrokes away from launching—a subpoena—would never come. “Everything was about the grand jury subpoena,” a member of Trump’s legal team said. “Until it became obvious there wasn’t going to be one. We had won.”
Trump did not see the law as an impediment, a mind-set forged as a real estate developer. A developer could always just sue, battle it out in court, and negotiate some middle ground.
“Federal law enforcement doesn’t work like that,” Nielsen told Trump in one such meeting. “People could get in trouble. These people have taken an oath to uphold the law. Do you really want to tell them to do the oppo... (show all)site?” “Then we’ll pardon them,” Trump said.
This part dealt with Mueller’s justification for investigating Trump for two years even if he couldn’t prosecute him. It was a window into the special counsel’s strategy and legal reasoning. Mueller’s team explained t... (show all)hat even reaching a decision about whether Trump had engaged in criminal conduct that would normally warrant prosecution would be as unfair as charging him, something they were prohibited from doing. The only fair solution, Mueller’s team wrote, was to document the evidence in a report that could be shared with the Justice Department and ultimately Congress.
If Mueller believed Congress ought to pursue impeachment, he did almost nothing to help achieve that outcome. By refusing to answer questions about his findings until his July 24 House testimony, by offering up a 448-page rep... (show all)ort and expecting the public or even members of Congress would have the attention span to absorb its lawyerly analysis, Mueller fumbled the moment. He was too pure and too invested in the norms of an institution of yore, the Justice Department, whose core values and the public servants who upheld them had been under assault for two straight years.
he nursed a deep and inescapable sense of persecution and self-pity, casting himself as a victim in a warped reality and alleging that Democrats and the media were conspiring to perpetuate hoaxes, defraud the public, and stag... (show all)e a coup. This mind-set followed the historical pattern of authoritarian leaders creating a cult of victimization to hold on to power and to justify their repressive agendas.
The law has no force without people who are willing to enforce it.” - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)(Epilogue) Yet the time was nearing to consider not merely the judgment of their party or the punishment from their president, but the fate of history.
- Publisher's editor
- Godoff, Anne
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 973.933092
- Canonical LCC
- E912
Classifications
- Genres
- General Nonfiction, Nonfiction, Politics and Government, History, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 973.933092 — History & geography History of North America United States 1901- New Millennium, Post 9/11 (2001-Present) Donald Trump, 1st Term (2017-2021) COVID-19 Response, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Impeachment of Donald Trump Standard subdivisions History, geographic treatment, biography Biography
- LCC
- E912 — History of the United States
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 775
- Popularity
- 36,278
- Reviews
- 28
- Rating
- (4.06)
- Languages
- 5 — Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Portuguese (Portugal)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 20
- ASINs
- 6
