Seven Craziest Revelations from Excerpts of the New Trump Exposé Very Stable Genius

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The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig are about to release A Very Stable Genius, their new book which takes a deep dive into the chaos and anger that have permeated Donald Trump’s presidency. The Post has released a preview of the book, providing several alarming new anecdotes about Trump’s volatile and “dangerously uninformed” actions in office.

There is much to the book’s preview that requires thinking about, but Mediaite has flagged 7 of the most interesting revelations from Rucker and Leonnig.

1. Pearl Harbor

Rucker and Leonnig describe Trump as having very limited knowledge about the history of Pearl Harbor. One part of their book has Trump asking former Chief of Staff John Kelly what they were doing as the two of them were about to visit a memorial for the attack that served as a catalyst for America’s entrance into World War II.

“Hey, John, what’s this all about? What’s this a tour of?” Trump asks his then-chief of staff John Kelly, as the men prepare to take a private tour of the USS Arizona Memorial, which commemorates the December 1941 Japanese surprise attack in the Pacific that pulled the United States into World War II.

“Trump had heard the phrase ‘Pearl Harbor’ and appeared to understand that he was visiting the scene of a historic battle, but he did not seem to know much else,” write the authors, later quoting a former senior White House adviser who concludes: “He was at times dangerously uninformed.”

2. Trump Didn’t Know India Borders China

Trump seemed to alarm Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his aides by saying India doesn’t share a border with China. Trump once incorrectly stated “It’s not like you’ve got China on your border,” and Modi’s eyes reportedly “bulged out in surprise” after that when Trump dismissed the threat China poses to India.

“Modi’s expression gradually shifted, from shock and concern to resignation,” they continue, adding that one Trump aide concludes Modi likely “left that meeting and said, ‘This is not a serious man. I cannot count on this man as a partner.’”

After the meeting, the aide explains to them, “‘the Indians took a step back’ in their diplomatic relations with the United States.”

3. Trump Cut Off a Secretary of State Candidate Interview Because He Was So Eager to Meet Putin

During Trump’s transition period, he supposedly so eager to meet Vladimir Putin that “he interrupts an interview with one of his secretary of state candidates” to ask if he could meet the Russian leader before his inauguration. Months later, Trump touted himself as an expert on Russia while “dismissing the expertise of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.”

“Tillerson’s years of negotiating with Putin and studying his moves on the chessboard were suddenly irrelevant,” the duo writes. “‘I have had a two-hour meeting with Putin,’ Trump told Tillerson. ‘That’s all I need to know … I’ve sized it all up. I’ve got it.’”

4. “I’m a Total Act and I Don’t Understand Why People Don’t Get It”

This part speaks for itself.

Anthony Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s communications director for just 11 days, recounts the president’s response when he asks him, “Are you an act?”

“I’m a total act and I don’t understand why people don’t get it,” Trump replies, according to Scaramucci.

5. “This Is My Justice Department!”

The trouble is many people in Trump’s administration don’t know if or when the president is putting on an “act,” and in the Justice Department, top officials have run through simulated scenarios “in case Trump triggers a ‘Saturday night massacre.'” Trump also had this to say while accusing the DOJ for not being loyal to him when they blocked the release of a memo from Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA).

At one point, after the department blocks the release of what the president believes was a pro-Trump memo, he calls Kelly ranting. “‘This is my Justice Department. They are supposed to be my people,’ Trump told Kelly,” the authors write. “‘This is the ‘Deep State.’. . Mueller’s all over it.’”

6. Trump Leaked His Own Conversations With Chris Christie

Rucker and Leonnig note the irony that Trump hates it when people leak details of his administration to reporters, and yet, he leaked the details from a private conversation he had with Chris Christie.

In another scene, after Axios reported in December 2018 that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Trump met privately to discuss Christie possibly becoming his next chief of staff. After Christie respectfully turns down the job, he asks Trump how the details of their meeting leaked out, since it was just the two of them and first lady Melania Trump in the room.

“Oh, I did it,” said Trump, who has long vented about leakers, revealing himself to be among them.

7. Trump Suggests Rob Porter’s Ex-Wife Might’ve Fabricated His Domestic Abuse

Rucker and Leonnig also say Trump questioned whether Rob Porter actually abused his ex-wives. This came even though the former White House staff secretary was eventually pushed out of his job amid multiple accusations of domestic abuse.

The duo opens one chapter with the case of Rob Porter — the former White House staff secretary who was ultimately pushed out of his job amid allegations of domestic abuse from his two ex-wives. After a photo surfaces on the Internet of Colbie Holderness, one of his ex-wives, sporting a black eye that she alleges Porter gave her, Trump offers a competing theory.

“Maybe, Trump said, Holderness purposefully ran into a refrigerator to give herself bruises and try to get money out of Porter?” they write.