Interview with Trump

account of the presidency — by claiming on Twitter that he is “like, really smart” and “a very stable genius”. In doing so, the President both underscored his Administration’s response strategy — by being forceful and combative — while also undermining it by gleefully entering a debate his aides have tried to avoid.

Trump privately resents the nowregular chatter on cable television news shows about his mental health and views the issue as “an invented fact” and “a joke” much like the Russia probe, according to one person who recently discussed it with him.

So far, Trump’s advisers have adopted a posture of umbrage and indignation. Rather than dignifying questions about whether their 71-year-old boss is fit to be president, they attack the inquisitors for having the gall to ask.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders yesterday slammed what she called “ridiculous reports from detractors” and described an “outpouring of support from a totally indignant staff”.

Asked whether Trump’s physical examination, scheduled for Saturday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre, would include a psychiatric component, deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley replied, “No”.

Yesterday, as Trump delivered a speech on agriculture policy in Nashville, neither CNN nor MSNBC carried his full remarks live. Instead, anchors Jake Tapper and Nicolle Wallace, respectively, interviewed journalists and pundits about Wolff’s book and Trump’s reaction to it.

Some Trump allies voiced frustration that the White House does not appear to have implemented a fullscale crisis communications plan. “When you raise an issue like the mental acuity of the president, there is no organised effort to push back,” said one ally. “How do you disprove a fallacy?”