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A Very Stable Genius
A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America | Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig
13 posts | 15 read | 1 reading | 4 to read
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 unique presidency with shocking new reporting and insight into its implications. I alone can fix it. So went Donald J. Trumps march to the presidency on July 21, 2016, when he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in Cleveland, promising to restore what he described as a fallen nation. Yet over the subsequent years, as he has undertaken the actual work of the commander in chief, it has been hard to see beyond the daily chaos of scandal, investigation, and constant bluster. It would be all too easy to mistake Trumps first term for one of pure and uninhibited chaos, but there were patterns to his behavior and that of his associates. The universal value of the Trump administration is loyalty - not to the country, but to the president himself - and Trumps North Star has been the perpetuation of his own power, even when it meant imperiling our shaky and mistrustful democracy. Leonnig and Rucker, with deep and unmatched sources throughout Washington, D.C., tell of rages and frenzies but also moments of courage and perseverance. Relying on scores of exclusive new interviews with some of the most senior members of the Trump administration and other firsthand witnesses, the authors reveal the forty-fifth president up close, taking readers inside Robert Muellers Russia investigation as well as the presidents own haphazard but ultimately successful legal defense. Here for the first time certain officials who have felt honor-bound not to publicly criticize a sitting president or to divulge what they witnessed in a position of trust tell the truth for the benefit of history. This peerless and gripping narrative reveals President Trump at his most unvarnished and exposes how decision making in his administration has been driven by a reflexive logic of self-preservation and self-aggrandizement - but a logic nonetheless. This is the story of how an unparalleled president has scrambled to survive and tested the strength of Americas democracy and its common heart as a nation.
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EmMcKee
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"The president, this advisor added, had thought to himself, "Am I intellectually as smart as Jimmy Carter? No, but I don't need to be. Do I have the vast reservoir of political cachet that the Bushes have? No, but I don't need that. What do I have? I can go one-on-one playing tennis. I don't need to play chess. I don't need long-range, strategic diplomacy."

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danibel
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Currently reading

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Becker
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Pickpick

This is basically just a well organized summary of everything (and I mean everything) that has happened in Trump‘s world since he took office. I always read these things with a grain of salt but if only 10% of it were true it would still be outrageous 🧐

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midath75
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Pickpick

I‘ve never been a fan of Trump even before he became president. Most of the things in this book we‘ve heard in the news but others, if true, is sad and infuriating. This is a sad time for the country.

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amma-keep-reading
Pickpick

I devoured the audiobook! It plays like a true crime investigative news story: intriguing, well researched, thorough and organized telling.

Political nonfiction are outside my realm of interest but this was worth the read/listen.

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SailorJohn
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Impressing amount of detail. Even knowing the plot I ‘enjoyed‘ it? Let‘s just say I was glad to have read it.

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MallenNC
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I put this ebook on hold weeks ago and it finally came in when I‘m not sure I can focus on it. It fits today‘s #chaos prompt for #MagnificentMarch that‘s for sure.

OriginalCyn620 It definitely would fit! 🙄 4y
28 likes1 comment
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BookishMarginalia
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Because sometimes one has to face reality.

Bette 👁👁 THAT is a frightening cover. 4y
LunaAubry @Bette Reminds you of the Eyes of God from The Great Gatsby, yeah? 4y
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