New Bwogger Leah Sandler reports on Wednesday’s book talk with the authors of the New York Times best-seller “A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America”. 

The room was packed for a Wednesday night. The political turbulence of the past few days weighed down the room, from the Iowa caucuses to the State of the Union Address and the Senate’s acquittal of Trump. But rather than trying to find an escape from what can feel like the smothering chaos of American politics in 2020, the room was filled with people eager to immerse themselves in all things politics, and more specifically, all things Trump. The event in question was a conversation between two Washington Post Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Carol Leonnig and Philip Ricker, as well as Steve Coll, the current Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and former Washington Post reporter. The conversation focused on Leonig and Ricker’s new #1 New York Times best-selling book, A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America.

The conversation opened with a discussion about the structure and title of the book. The book title reflects a phrase President Trump often uses to describe himself, “a very stable genius”, and the book is organized chronologically, following the first three years of Trump’s presidency. The book is unique in that its index is organized by characteristics the authors associate with President Trump including “childishness”, “impulsivity”, “rages”, and “racism”.

Coll asks the audience if Trump is a genius, eliciting laughter from everyone in the room. Leonnig responds highlighting that President Trump has an incredible ability to connect with his constituents. However, Rucker notes that we can’t judge “whether [Trump’s ability to dominate the media] makes him a genius.” The talk then transitions into one of the subcategories of their index: ignorance.

Leonnig and Rucker describe Trump as “dangerously uninformed”, providing an example in which Trump tells India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, that India does not share a border with China (when, in fact, it does). Trump’s top staffers agree with this characterization of Trump, however, they prefer the euphemism “very narrowly educated.” What is extraordinary about this book are the sources and the tremendous insight they provide into the president. Although Leonnig and Rucker did not speak with President Trump himself, many of their sources come from very high-level people in his administration, contacted through secret meetings and encrypted texts; the book is a collection of interviews with people who work very close to him. Many of their sources initially refused to speak to them when Leonnig and Rucker were reporting for the Washington Post, however, as this book is framed as a biography and contemporary history book, these civil servants in the Trump White House volunteered because they see speaking out to be imperative in the face of Trump’s historical legacy.

Leonnig and Rucker move onto the subject of President Trump’s tendency to lie, noting that they had to be “sparing with that term.” They had to redefine the word “lie” beyond all falsehoods, to something with conscious intent rather than a misunderstanding of reality. As an example, Leonnig and Rucker identify Trump’s birther crusades about Obama to be a lie but feel hesitant to characterize his constant use of false statistics as lies.

Leonnig and Rucker characterize the current state of the presidency as “a presidency of one”, where President Trump sees the executive branch as all-powerful. Before Coll opened up the floor for questions, Leonnig stated that Trump’s presidency from impeachment to the Access Hollywood tapes would have “floored” any other presidential candidate, however, Trump has seemingly survived it all.

 The floor opened for questions, the main question being the possibility of President Trump winning a second term. Leonnig and Rucker responded saying that they are reporters focusing on the past and present and thus are not here to speculate. However, they conceded that if Trump does get elected for a second term, he will be emboldened. And that alternatively, if Trump loses, the Democratic party fears that there is a real possibility that he might not concede.

Now, this collaboratively written book does not hold any prophecies, to the chagrin of many audience members and admittedly myself, as I search for meaning or at least some sort of fact right now. This book, like many of their colleagues, writes history in real-time. It is clear through their work, that you certainly must understand the magnitude of the time we are living in now.