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

by Philip Rucker

Trump was already frustrated by Ayers’s rejection of the job and the resulting media narrative that no one wanted to be his chief of staff. So Christie proposed a face-saving way to bow out without embarrassing the president. “How about if I just tweet out that I’m withdrawing from consideration, that way I didn’t say no to you?” he asked. Trump liked that idea. “That will be a great story for us, you withdrawing from consideration,” Trump said. “Like the Axios story last night. Wasn’t that a great story?” “I wondered about that,” Christie said. “It was just me, you, and Melania in the room, and I’m pretty sure nobody saw me coming in, so how’d that happen?” “Oh, I did it,” Trump said. “Who did it for you?” Christie asked. “No, no, I did it myself,” Trump said. “I called Jonathan and told him.” Christie thought to himself, “You’re leaking yourself? And to think I came this close to being your chief of staff?” But he held his tongue. “You’re really not supposed to be doing that,” Christie told Trump.