The authors of 'A Very Stable Genius' discuss Trump's rage, ignorance, and the unprecedented dysfunction of his White House
Feb 15, 2020 11:04:45 #
The book is based on interviews with over 200 well-placed sources within the administration and in Trump's inner circle. It is opinion, mostly. Perceptions on any event can be widely different. But thought you may like to hear what the people closest to Trump had to say.
The result is a sweeping and engrossing account of a presidency built on "a reflexive logic of self preservation and self-aggrandizement — but a logic nonetheless."
Insider spoke with the authors about the stories they recounted in the book of Trump's stunning ignorance of world affairs, his frightening displays of rage, his f**grant insults toward cabinet members and military generals, and his administration, which is seemingly devoid of basic protocols.
We also touched on the president's relationships with Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton in the wake of his impeachment acquittal, and his tendency to prioritize the advice of Fox News personalities over his own aides.
Insider: "A Very Stable Genius" has an episode where 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. The reason they shared these stories is they feel that the president rejects facts and information. It's like he can't be bothered with it. And his rejection of a briefing before he went to meet with Prime Minister Modi had terrible consequences.
Modi went from being a person who was trying to have a real serious negotiation with Trump about partnership, about how to protect himself from China and Russia and Pakistan. And as a result of the president not knowing that India shares a very significant border with China, Modi began to withdraw a little and, as told to us by aides, viewed Trump as just not serious enough to make a deal with.
Insider: You've got Trump quoted in the book as saying Rudy Giuliani is "the only guy in the world who's less prepared than I am … Rudy goes on TV and doesn't know what the f--- he's talking about." During Trump's victory lap speech following his impeachment acquittal, a thank you to Giuliani was conspicuously absent. What's Trump's relationship with Giuliani like right now?
Rucker: That was notable that he didn't think Rudy Giuliani in that speech. Although, Rudy was not technically one of the lawyers leading the president's defense in the Senate trial. They've been friends and associates for years and years predating the president's run for office in 2016, and Trump really admires Rudy for being such a bulldog and being vicious in his defenses of the president.
That's something the president really values. Rudy certainly created some problems for the president with the Ukraine episode, but I imagine they're going to have a relationship in the years to come.
Insider: Where do you think [former national security adviser] John Bolton goes from here? Is he completely persona non grata among the entire Republican establishment over his willingness to testify in the impeachment inquiry? Or do you think the fact that he never actually got the opportunity to testify will be able to keep them in the GOP circle?
Leonnig: I sense both from people close to him, and from just watching Bolton navigate this, is that he always was thinking about how he was going to remain a part of the Republican Party firmament and not be a person who was running in to testify. He was just signaling that he was not going to automatically withhold his information. He didn't want to look like he was cooperating with the Democratic probe, and he also didn't want to look like he was withholding critical information.
He has a longstanding reputation in the party and he's definitely put his money where his mouth is in terms of his PAC. I would imagine that he will face some problems and some skirmishes with Donald Trump, but he is somebody that a lot of Republicans are indebted to and feel gratitude towards. It's hard to see them casting him to the wind.
Trump's rage and a White House with no protocols:
Insider: You wrote that a lot of people in the White House were angered by Trump's treatment of the Joint Chiefs and of former Defense Secretary James Mattis. In particular, there was one meeting in "the Tank" (a windowless vault where the Joint Chiefs meet) where former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who notably was not a military veteran but has veterans in his family and his very reverential toward them, put himself in Trump's line of fire and defended the generals that the president was viciously insulting as "dopes and babies."
Is there anyone in the administration who would do that now?
Rucker: It's impossible for us to answer that because we can't predict how somebody might act in a given moment. But most of the people who might've been inclined to stand up to the president, or to tell him no, or to confront him in a setting like that have left the administration. We see most of the people currently serving the president at that high level as largely enablers of his. And what we mean by that is people who see their jobs as trying to execute the president's orders and following what he wants done.
Insider: Another story in the book that jumped out at me was when the documentary filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi [Nancy Pelosi's daughter] is standing next to a thirsty and befuddled Trump in the White House, and there's no one around to give him a bottle of water. So she gives him a bottle from her purse, and was stunned that there was no protocol and nobody acting as a middle person to the food and drink that goes to him.
Can you talk a little bit about some of the more jarring examples of the abandonment of typical White House protocol in this administration?
Read the rest here: https://www.yahoo.com/news/authors-very-stable-genius-discuss-125200799.html
The result is a sweeping and engrossing account of a presidency built on "a reflexive logic of self preservation and self-aggrandizement — but a logic nonetheless."
Insider spoke with the authors about the stories they recounted in the book of Trump's stunning ignorance of world affairs, his frightening displays of rage, his f**grant insults toward cabinet members and military generals, and his administration, which is seemingly devoid of basic protocols.
We also touched on the president's relationships with Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton in the wake of his impeachment acquittal, and his tendency to prioritize the advice of Fox News personalities over his own aides.
Insider: "A Very Stable Genius" has an episode where 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. The reason they shared these stories is they feel that the president rejects facts and information. It's like he can't be bothered with it. And his rejection of a briefing before he went to meet with Prime Minister Modi had terrible consequences.
Modi went from being a person who was trying to have a real serious negotiation with Trump about partnership, about how to protect himself from China and Russia and Pakistan. And as a result of the president not knowing that India shares a very significant border with China, Modi began to withdraw a little and, as told to us by aides, viewed Trump as just not serious enough to make a deal with.
Insider: You've got Trump quoted in the book as saying Rudy Giuliani is "the only guy in the world who's less prepared than I am … Rudy goes on TV and doesn't know what the f--- he's talking about." During Trump's victory lap speech following his impeachment acquittal, a thank you to Giuliani was conspicuously absent. What's Trump's relationship with Giuliani like right now?
Rucker: That was notable that he didn't think Rudy Giuliani in that speech. Although, Rudy was not technically one of the lawyers leading the president's defense in the Senate trial. They've been friends and associates for years and years predating the president's run for office in 2016, and Trump really admires Rudy for being such a bulldog and being vicious in his defenses of the president.
That's something the president really values. Rudy certainly created some problems for the president with the Ukraine episode, but I imagine they're going to have a relationship in the years to come.
Insider: Where do you think [former national security adviser] John Bolton goes from here? Is he completely persona non grata among the entire Republican establishment over his willingness to testify in the impeachment inquiry? Or do you think the fact that he never actually got the opportunity to testify will be able to keep them in the GOP circle?
Leonnig: I sense both from people close to him, and from just watching Bolton navigate this, is that he always was thinking about how he was going to remain a part of the Republican Party firmament and not be a person who was running in to testify. He was just signaling that he was not going to automatically withhold his information. He didn't want to look like he was cooperating with the Democratic probe, and he also didn't want to look like he was withholding critical information.
He has a longstanding reputation in the party and he's definitely put his money where his mouth is in terms of his PAC. I would imagine that he will face some problems and some skirmishes with Donald Trump, but he is somebody that a lot of Republicans are indebted to and feel gratitude towards. It's hard to see them casting him to the wind.
Trump's rage and a White House with no protocols:
Insider: You wrote that a lot of people in the White House were angered by Trump's treatment of the Joint Chiefs and of former Defense Secretary James Mattis. In particular, there was one meeting in "the Tank" (a windowless vault where the Joint Chiefs meet) where former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who notably was not a military veteran but has veterans in his family and his very reverential toward them, put himself in Trump's line of fire and defended the generals that the president was viciously insulting as "dopes and babies."
Is there anyone in the administration who would do that now?
Rucker: It's impossible for us to answer that because we can't predict how somebody might act in a given moment. But most of the people who might've been inclined to stand up to the president, or to tell him no, or to confront him in a setting like that have left the administration. We see most of the people currently serving the president at that high level as largely enablers of his. And what we mean by that is people who see their jobs as trying to execute the president's orders and following what he wants done.
Insider: Another story in the book that jumped out at me was when the documentary filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi [Nancy Pelosi's daughter] is standing next to a thirsty and befuddled Trump in the White House, and there's no one around to give him a bottle of water. So she gives him a bottle from her purse, and was stunned that there was no protocol and nobody acting as a middle person to the food and drink that goes to him.
Can you talk a little bit about some of the more jarring examples of the abandonment of typical White House protocol in this administration?
Read the rest here: https://www.yahoo.com/news/authors-very-stable-genius-discuss-125200799.html
Feb 15, 2020 11:16:09 #
Feb 15, 2020 14:00:26 #
TexaCan
Loc: Homeward Bound!
rumitoid wrote:
The book is based on interviews with over 200 well... (show quote)
He was given a bottle of 💦 water! Oh my gooooonesss! Now that’s a story!🥴🥴🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
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