What is the main message of A Very Stable Genius?

The main message of A Very Stable Genius is a revealing account of the Trump presidency and its chaotic nature.

How long does it take to read A Very Stable Genius?

The reading time for A Very Stable Genius varies depending on the reader's pace, but it typically takes several hours. The Blinkist summary can be read in 15 minutes.

Is A Very Stable Genius a good book? Is it worth reading?

A Very Stable Genius is a compelling read that provides valuable insights into the Trump administration. It offers a well-researched and thought-provoking perspective.

Who is the author of A Very Stable Genius?

Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig are the authors of A Very Stable Genius .

A Very Stable Genius Summary of Key Ideas and Review | Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig

Name: A Very Stable Genius
Rating: 3.6 (113 reviews)
Author: Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig

Introduction

What’s in it for me? Take a tour of Trump’s White House

In July 2016, Donald J. Trump gave a speech accepting the Republican party nomination to run for the presidency of the United States. It was a foretaste of what was to come.

Trump’s predecessors had used this moment to emphasise unity and common purpose. They had been humble, extolled shared values, and spoken of “we” and “us.” That wasn’t Trump’s style. His speech was brash and bombastic. Most of all, though, it was self-centered.

“I am your voice,” he said, and “I will be your champion.” Most memorably, he insisted that “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.”

What has followed is a presidency seemingly powered by solipsism – an extraordinary, and at times extraordinarily chaotic, one-man show.

It has been a dizzying journey. As reporters who surf the news cycle every day, attempting to keep up with Trump, Carol Leonig and Philip Rucker know that better than most.

When history moves so fast, it’s hard to put things in perspective. That’s why they decided to hit the “pause” button and take stock of Trump’s first three years in office. It was time, they thought, to drill deeper and figure out what was really going on behind the scenes.

And that’s just what we’ll be doing in these blinks. We’ll join Leonig and Rucker in exploring the controversies and defining moments of Trump’s presidency so far.

Along the way, you’ll learn

how Trump’s disdain for expertise alienated the US military hierarchy;
what foreign leaders think about the American president; and
how Trump’s abusive behavior has affected his subordinates.

Key idea 1 of 7

An outburst early on in Trump’s presidency alienated the US military’s top brass.

On a scorching day in July 2017, Donald Trump attended a meeting in the Pentagon. It was held in room 2E924, aka “the Tank,” a secure, windowless conference room with a large table at its center. It’s here that America’s senior military leaders – the Joint Chiefs of Staff – meet to discuss confidential issues and grapple with the nation’s security. That day, however, they had a different agenda – educating the new president on America’s strategic priorities. They were in for a shock.

The key message here is: an outburst early on in Trump’s presidency alienated the US military’s top brass.

Trump had already been in office for five months when he took his seat in the Tank. In that time, officials had realized that the president’s attention span was limited. As they entered the room that day, Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, and Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense, knew that explaining foreign policy to Trump was going to be an uphill battle.

Desperate to keep the president focused, they had created a short presentation with plenty of graphics, maps, and charts. Over the next 45 minutes, Tillerson and Mattis tried to convince Trump that America’s safety depended on a complex web of overseas commitments, alliances like NATO, and free trade with economic partners.

Trump wasn’t happy. Not only did he resent being lectured like this, he also objected to Tillerson and Mattis’s internationalist language.

NATO, he began, was “worthless.” So-called allies were simply living on America’s dime. “We are owed money,” Trump said, his blood pressure rising, “and you aren’t collecting.” Then there were the troops stationed in the Gulf. “We spent 7 billion,” the president boomed. “Where is the fucking oil?”

Mattis objected, arguing that the purpose of these alliances and military bases wasn’t profit, but America’s security. Trump wasn’t interested. Why, he now demanded, hadn’t the United States won the war in Afghanistan? The president answered the question himself – because it was a “loser war.”

By this point, he was in a rage. What he said next stunned the room. “I wouldn’t go to war with you people,” he screamed, adding that the Joint Chiefs were a “bunch of dopes and babies.” It was a grave insult, and the Tank fell into shocked silence.

Later, when the meeting had broken up and Trump had left, Tillerson said what others were thinking. “He’s a fucking moron,” the secretary of state growled, referring to America’s commander-in-chief.

Key idea 2 of 7

Time and again, Trump demonstrates ignorance of subjects presidents have traditionally been expected to know.

Trump’s secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, was worried about containing China. But how should the United States go about that task? Tillerson’s answer was to strengthen America’s friendship with China’s next-door neighbor, India. To get the ball rolling, he arranged for Trump to meet the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.

As Modi talked about Chinese aggression, Trump interrupted him, telling him not to sweat it. “It’s not like you’ve got China on your border,” he stated. Modi left convinced that Trump couldn’t be trusted to protect India’s interests. Tillerson’s plan was dead on arrival. Trump’s ignorance had killed it.

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Key idea 3 of 7

Trump shows little respect for experts, is often abusive, and makes impossible demands.

Two kinds of people went to work for Trump in 2017: diehards convinced he was saving the world and skeptics who thought the world needed saving from him. These skeptics didn’t disagree with Trump’s political aims – they just didn’t trust his unorthodox methods. As they saw it, the impetuous president needed the cool-headed guidance of bonafide experts. As “the adults in the room,” this is what they could give him.

It was a flattering self-image, but it rarely survived contact with the reality of working in the Trump White House.

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Key idea 4 of 7

Trump often ignores his advisers and makes impulsive foreign policy decisions.

On February 26, 2017, Tillerson and Kelly were in Mexico to smooth over the hurt caused by Trump’s campaign pledge to make Mexico – a long-standing American ally – pay for a border wall. Just as it was looking like they’d succeeded, Trump made an off-the-cuff policy announcement in Washington: he was sending troops to the border to stop “bad dudes” from entering the United States.

It was exactly what Tillerson and Kelly had been reassuring their hosts wouldn’t happen. They’d been blindsided by their boss’s impulsive decision-making, and it wouldn’t be the last time that happened.

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Key idea 5 of 7

Despite the conclusions drawn by US intelligence services, Trump doesn’t view Putin’s Russia as a threat.

It’s a long-established rule of diplomacy that the personal rapport between leaders shapes the relationship between states. Anglo-American relations, for example, have never been cozier than when their heads of state got along – think of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt or Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

When Trump was elected, foreign leaders lined up to audition for the part of top ally. Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, presented Trump with a golden, $4,000 golf club while his British counterpart, Theresa May, was photographed holding hands with the president. Trump, however, only had eyes for one leader: Vladimir Putin.

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Key idea 6 of 7

Trump regularly attacks America’s closest allies.

On November 9, 2018, Trump received a phone call from the British prime minister, Theresa May, who congratulated him on his performance in the recent midterm elections. This was standard diplomatic protocol – a small gesture from a close ally designed to preserve its “special relationship” with the United States.

But Trump wasn’t in the mood for diplomacy. Over the next half hour, he laid into May, shouting that she was wrong about everything from Brexit negotiations to the EU’s “unfair” trade deals with the United States. British officials were shocked – they couldn’t remember a president treating a prime minister like this. For Trump, however, this was simply par for the course.

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Key idea 7 of 7

The Mueller Report contained a catalog of misconduct, but Trump was able to claim it exonerated him.

On March 22, 2019, former FBI director Robert Mueller released the results of an investigation opened two years earlier. His 448-page “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,” or the “Mueller Report,” was finally complete. America was about to find out if Trump had colluded with the Russians and broken the law. It was a question Mueller refused to answer.

The key message in this blink is: the Mueller Report contained a catalog of misconduct, but Trump was able to claim it exonerated him.

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