A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America

Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig

Penguin, Jan 21, 2020 - Political Science - 512 pages

The instant #1 bestseller.

“This taut and terrifying book is among the most closely observed accounts of Donald J. Trump’s shambolic tenure in office to date."
- Dwight Garner, The New York Times

Washington Post national investigative reporter Carol Leonnig and White House bureau chief Philip Rucker, both Pulitzer Prize winners, provide the definitive insider narrative of Donald Trump’s presidency
 
“I alone can fix it.” So proclaimed Donald J. Trump on July 21, 2016, accepting the Republican presidential nomination and promising to restore what he described as a fallen nation. Yet as he undertook the actual work of the commander in chief, it became nearly impossible to see beyond the daily chaos of scandal, investigation, and constant bluster. In fact, there were patterns to his behavior and that of his associates. The universal value of the Trump administration was loyalty—not to the country, but to the president himself—and Trump’s North Star was always the perpetuation of his own power. 

With deep and unmatched sources throughout Washington, D.C., Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker reveal the forty-fifth president up close. Here, for the first time, certain officials who felt honor-bound not to divulge what they witnessed in positions of trust tell the truth for the benefit of history.

A peerless and gripping narrative, A Very Stable Genius not only reveals President Trump at his most unvarnished but shows how he tested the strength of America’s democracy and its common heart as a nation.

Contents

• One BUILDING BLOCKS: 11
• Two PARANOIA AND PANDEMONIUM: 25
• Three THE ROAD TO OBSTRUCTION: 39
• Four A FATEFUL FIRING: 52
• Five THE GMAN COMETH: 66
• Six SUITING UP FOR BATTLE: 81
• Seven IMPEDING JUSTICE: 95
• Nine SHOCKING THE CONSCIENCE: 129
• Ten UNHINGED: 147
• Eleven WINGING IT: 162
• Twelve SPYGATE: 183
• Thirteen BREAKDOWN: 198
• Fourteen ONEMAN FIRING SQUAD: 211
• Fifteen CONGRATULATING PUTIN: 225
• Sixteen A CHILLING RAID: 236
• Seventeen HAND GRENADE DIPLOMACY: 259
• Eighteen THE RESISTANCE WITHIN: 278
• Nineteen SCAREATHON: 294
• Twenty AN ORNERY DIPLOMAT: 316
• Twentyone GUT OVER BRAINS: 328
• Twentytwo AXIS OF ENABLERS: 349
• Twentythree LOYALTY AND TRUTH: 366
• Twentyfour THE REPORT: 380
• Twentyfive THE SHOW GOES ON: 395
• EPILOGUE: 412
• Acknowledgments: 419

About the author

Philip Rucker is the senior Washington correspondent at The Washington Post and led its coverage of President Trump and his administration as White House Bureau chief. He and a team of Post reporters won the Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award for their reporting on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. In 2021, the White House Correspondents’ Association honored Rucker with the Aldo Beckman Award for overall excellence in White House coverage. Rucker joined the Post in 2005 and previously has covered Congress, the Obama White House, and the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns. He serves as an on-air political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC and graduated from Yale University with a degree in history. He is also the co-author of I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year.

Carol Leonnig is a national investigative reporter at The Washington Post, where she has worked since 2000, covering Donald Trump’s presidency and previous administrations. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on security failures and misconduct inside the Secret Service. She also was part of the Post teams awarded Pulitzers in 2018, for reporting on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, and in 2014, for revealing the U.S. government’s secret, broad surveillance of Americans. Leonnig is an on-air contributor to NBC News and MSNBC, author of Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service, and co-author of I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America
• Authors: Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig
• Publisher: Penguin, 2020
• ISBN: 198487750X, 9781984877505
• Length: 512 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / American Government / Executive Branch; Political Science / American Government / National; Political Science / Corruption & Misconduct