A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America

by Philip Rucker

“He was at times dangerously uninformed,” said one senior former adviser.

Trump’s lack of basic historical knowledge surprised some foreign leaders as well.

A senior European official observed, “He’s totally ignorant of everything.

But

he doesn’t care. He’s not i...

“They tell him to do something and he does it.”

Oftentimes after meetings with Trump, Kelly and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis would huddle together—sometimes with McMaster in the national security adviser’s office, sometimes without him—to compare notes on the presidential performance they had just witnessed. In words and sometimes simply facial expressions, they communicated a shared concern: “This guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

“Television is often the guiding force of his day, both weapon and scalpel, megaphone and news feed,”

“This is irresponsible, untrue, and frankly it endangers our national security,” the Democratic senator Mark Warner tweeted.

“FISA is something the President should have known about long before he turned on Fox this morning.”

“He’s incapable of saying sorry,” said one senior government official.

Privately, however, Trump’s top advisers were exasperated by a crisis they believed would likely recur, considering how much value this president placed in cable news musings and how little value he placed in the expertise of his own government. Some

of Trump’s aides felt pity for him, too. He was so obsessed with the belief that the “Deep State” was trying to undermine his presidency by spying on his campaign adviser that the simple acronym “FISA” was like a red flag waved at a bull.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

the president asked.

He specifically denigrated Haiti, an impoverished Caribbean nation made up mostly of descendants of African slaves, and said the United States should instead allow migrants from Norway, a Nordic country that is one o...

“The problem with him: he tells you what he thinks he knows or what he thinks he remembers,” said one adviser. “He might actually believe it. And he

may not think he is lying.

When you confront him and say, but no, ‘Remember this fact?’ He’ll...

Lying has been part of Trump’s act all his life.

“People ask me if the president lies. Are you nuts? He’s a fucking total liar,” Anthony Scaramucci said.

“He lies all t...

Trump called me one night after I was on Bill Maher and he said, ‘How come you always fucking figure me out?’ I said, ‘I’ve seen you around for twenty years. I know your act....

mean, and I know when you’re saying bullshit.’ He laughed.” Scaramucci recalled that he then asked Trump, “Are you an act?” Trump replied, “I’m a total act and ...

Dowd later called a colleague to complain about the tongue-lashing he had received from Trump. “I don’t need this shit. I’m seventy-six years old,” Dowd told the colleague.

“I don’t need to be treated like this.”

She told him she would not continue to speak publicly on behalf of the administration unless she was provided more information about Porter’s situation.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford,

Cable television’s viewer in chief was not pleased. “Based on what you said, I’m totally misinformed and don’t know

what I’m talking about!” Trump thundered to Kelly after the interview aired. “You said I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about!”

United Arab Emirates talking about the ease with which they could manipulate Kushner. Some of these foreign leaders described Kushner as naive and easily pushed; others said his financial debts and search for refinancing for an underwater Manhattan skyscraper were one route that made him vulnerable to pressure.

“Ivanka lied to her father’s face,

They are all liars.

“I think the president is starting to wobble in the emotional stability and this is not going to end well.”

Gina Haspel

Back in Washington, Trump monitored the election results and swelled with pride for Putin.

He was impressed by the size of his victory. A mandate.

Kremlin would use the American president’s words to claim the world’s leading democracy had blessed their rigged election.

To ensure the president would not miss what it said, the first card had all capital letters and bold lettering: “DO NOT CONGRATULATE ON ELECTION WIN.”

Trump opened his conversation with Putin as if greeting an old friend, congratulating him on his amazing election victory.

Trump ignored the first cue card in its entirety. Then he ignored the others. He did not say a word about what Britain had concluded was the Putin-ordered poisoning of a former KGB agent in England, declining to confront the Russian strongman in defense of America’s oldest ally.

Trump and Putin spoke for roughly forty minutes, with Trump following his gut and riffing with Putin about how the two of them might generate eco...

Putin had developed a knack for manipulating Trump, making him believe that t...

big things accomplished if they ignored their staffs and ...

National security aides feared Putin knew how to feed the unusual combination of Trump’s ego and insecurity and to cu...

He told Trump his ideas were brilliant but warned him that he could not trust anyone in his administration...

“It’s not us,” Putin had told Trump. “It’s the subordinates fighting ag...

As he did reflexively when talking to foreign leaders, Trump invited Putin to come to Was...

The morning of March 20, after hanging up with Putin, Trump made his way to the Oval Office. He was excited. He told McMaster he wanted to put out a statement right away.

“Donald Trump congratulated Vladimir Putin on his victory in the presidential election,” the statement began.

It went on to say, “Special attention was paid to making progress on the question of holding a possible meeting at the highest level. In all, the conversation carried a constructive, businesslike character, and was oriented toward overcoming the problems that have piled up in U.S.-Russian relations.”