In another scene, after Axios reported in December 2018 that former New Jersey Gov. 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. Trump Leaked His Own Conversations With Chris Christie They are supposed to be my people,’ Trump told Kelly,” the authors write. 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).Īt one point, after the department blocks the release of what the president believes was a pro-Trump memo, he calls Kelly ranting. “I’m a total act and I don’t understand why people don’t get it,” Trump replies, according to Scaramucci. “I’m a Total Act and I Don’t Understand Why People Don’t Get It”Īnthony 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?” ‘That’s all I need to know … I’ve sized it all up. “‘I have had a two-hour meeting with Putin,’ Trump told Tillerson.
“Tillerson’s years of negotiating with Putin and studying his moves on the chessboard were suddenly irrelevant,” the duo writes. Months later, Trump touted himself as an expert on Russia while “dismissing the expertise of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.” Trump Cut Off a Secretary of State Candidate Interview Because He Was So Eager to Meet Putinĭuring 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. I cannot count on this man as a partner.’”Īfter the meeting, the aide explains to them, “‘the Indians took a step back’ in their diplomatic relations with the United States.”ģ. “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. 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. Trump seemed to alarm Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his aides by saying India doesn’t share a border with China. “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.” “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. 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. Rucker and Leonnig describe Trump as having very limited knowledge about the history of Pearl Harbor. 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. The Post has released a preview of the book, providing several alarming new anecdotes about Trump’s volatile and “dangerously uninformed” actions in office. 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.