President Donald Trump
rebuts a book’s claims, calling himself “a stable genius.”
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared himself a “very stable genius” on Twitter on Saturday and later in a televised news conference called the author of a book that questioned his mental fitness a “fraud.”
His comments came during a weekend retreat at Camp David with top administration officials and Republican congressional leaders strategizing on the year’s legislative agenda, including matters such as infrastructure, immigration, welfare reform and national security.
Still, Trump’s rebuttal to author Michael Wolff’s claims not only opened the day, but it also ensured the president’s capability to fill the highest office in the land was a topic that would not go away.
In his early-morning tweets, Trump said his two greatest assets “have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.”
He noted that his former Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, “played these cards (about competence) very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star...to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius .... and a very stable genius at that!”
The book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” presents a damning portrayal in which many of the president’s closest advisers question his intelligence, leadership and maturity even as they lavish his ego with praise and attention.
It casts Trump as a man who didn’t really want to win the presidency, doesn’t understand the weight of the office and has little grasp of policy details.
Trump and White House officials have pushed back hard on the book, which quotes senior aides variously describing the president as an “idiot,” “dumb” and a “dope.”
The president turned up the heat during his Saturday news conference, saying he went to the “best colleges,” was a “very excellent student” and then “made billions and billions of dollars — became one of the top businesspeople.” He said he then went into television and for 10 years was a “tremendous success.”
Wolff, he said, “doesn’t know me at all” and did not receive the three hours of time with Trump that the author has claimed. Wolff says Trump helped clear the way for the writer to hang around the West Wing for much of the first year.
But Trump said Wolff “was never in the Oval Office” and “we didn’t have an interview.” He then acknowledged a “quick” interview with Wolff “a long time ago.”
The president said his former top strategist, Steve Bannon, who is quoted in the book as making several disparaging remarks about Trump, facilitated the access.
Even before his White House campaign, Trump was known to be sensitive and boastful about his intelligence. In 2013, he tweeted: “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest - and you all know it! Please don’t feel stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault.”
When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was reported to have privately called Trump a “moron,” the president responded by suggesting the men compare I.Q. scores. Tillerson has denied ever questioning Trump’s mental fitness.
During his roughly 20minute news conference, Trump also said he would campaign this year for House and Senate candidates, make a dent on what he characterized as the country’s unprecedented drug problem and try for a bipartisan agreement with Democrats to protect socalled Dreamers, young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
He insisted there would be no deal on immigration reform without a wall on the southern border and repeated his promise that “in some form” Mexico would pay for it. But Trump is also asking Congress for $18 billion to begin construction.