Trump defends mental fitness
President Donald Trump felt compelled Saturday to let the world know he’s playing with all his marbles and is among the sharpest cookies around.
In a series of tweets, Trump defended his mental fitness and boasted about his brains, saying he is “like, really smart” and “a very stable genius.” It was the latest pushback against a new book that portrays him as a leader
who doesn’t understand the weight of his office and whose competence is questioned by aides.
“Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart,” Trump tweeted
from Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, a few hours before a strategy session on the 2018 legislative agenda with Republican congressional leaders and Cabinet members.
And when Trump addressed reporters later, the Ivy League graduate was ready for the question.
“I went to the best colleges for college,” said Trump, who holds a bachelor’s degree
from the University of Pennsylvania. “I had a situation where I was a very excellent student, came out, made billions and billions of dollars, became one of the top business people, went to television and for 10 years was a tremendous success, as you probably have heard, ran for president one time and won.”
His ire was directed at Michael Wolff, author of “Fire and Fury: Inside the
Trump White House.” The book draws a derogatory portrait of the 45th president as an undisciplined man-child who didn’t actually want to win the White House, and who spends his evenings eating cheeseburgers in bed, watching television and talking on the telephone to old friends.
The book also quotes Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, and
other prominent advisers as questioning the president’s competence.
“I consider it a work of fiction,” Trump told reporters, then bemoaned what he called the country’s “weak libel laws.”
“I don’t know this man. I guess sloppy Steve brought him in the White House quite a bit and it was one of those things. That’s why sloppy Steve is now looking
for a job,” Trump said.
In one of his morning tweets, the president said critics are “taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.”
He said his journey from “VERY successful businessman,” to reality TV star to president on his first try “would qualify as not smart, but genius .... and a very stable genius at that!”