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

by Philip Rucker

That night, Trump swooped in to officially launch his reelection campaign. As he was aboard Air Force One en route to central Florida, the capacity crowd of roughly twenty thousand inside the Amway Center was rapturous. Paula White, a pastor and televangelist who said she had a nearly two-decade relationship with the Trump family, delivered the opening prayer. “I come to you in the name of Jesus,” White told the crowd. Quoting from scripture, she said, “We’re not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So right now let every demonic network that has aligned itself against the purpose, against the calling of President Trump, let it be broken, let it be torn down in the name of Jesus, let the counsel of the wicked be spoiled right now. According to Job 12:17, I declare that President Trump will overcome every strategy from hell and every strategy from the enemy—every strategy—and he will fulfill his calling and his destiny.” In White’s telling, naturally, Trump’s calling was to win reelection. And in interviews with people in the crowd, it became clear that Trump’s followers took his word as gospel. The Democrats? Liars and sore losers. The Russia investigation? A witch hunt. Mueller’s conclusion? No collusion. No obstruction. Total and complete exoneration. “The whole thing was based on rumors—unsubstantiated, made-up facts,” said Karen Osborne, a sixty-two-...