Advertisement
Books and literature
LifestyleArts & Culture

Donald Trump’s ignorance, rage and White House dysfunction: authors discuss ‘A Very Stable Genius’

  • The insider account of Donald Trump details his tantrums and insulting behaviour towards his staffers and national security team
  • The authors, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, talk about some of the stories recounted in the book

Reading Time:5 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
US President Donald Trump is portrayed as an ignorant, angry and insulting man in “A Very Stable Genius” by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP
Business Insider

A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America, one of the latest insider-based accounts of the Trump White House, debuted at the top of The New York Times’ non-fiction bestseller list on its release this month.

Advertisement
Written by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, respectively the White House bureau chief and a national investigative reporter for The Washington Post, the book is based on interviews with more than 200 well-placed sources within the administration and in Trump’s inner circle.
The result is a sweeping and engrossing account of a presidency built on “a reflexive logic of self-preservation and self-aggrandisement – but a logic nonetheless”.

In an interview, the authors spoke about the stories they recounted in the book of Trump’s stunning ignorance of world affairs, his frightening displays of rage, his flagrant insults toward cabinet members and military generals, and his administration, which is seemingly devoid of basic protocols.

The cover of A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig.
The cover of A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig.
Advertisement

Q: A Very Stable Genius tells of the time Trump meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the president tells him, “It’s not like you’ve got China on your border”. You wrote that a number of top White House officials were aghast at Trump’s ignorance. Why was this particular instance such an issue for them?

Leonnig: We did interviews with more than 200 former and current senior level officials, advisers, friends and aides to the president.

Advertisement