{"id":1080,"date":"2020-01-28T15:28:06","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T15:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/?p=1080"},"modified":"2020-01-29T16:40:07","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T16:40:07","slug":"a-very-stable-genius-donald-j-trumps-testing-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/a-very-stable-genius-donald-j-trumps-testing-of-america\/","title":{"rendered":"A Very Stable Genius &#8211; Donald J. Trump&#8217;s Testing of America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"329\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/A-Very-Stable-Genius-Donald-J.-Trumps-Testing-of-America-by-Philip-Ruckerand-Carol-Leonnig.jpg\" alt=\"Reflections by George Kennedy on &quot;A Very Stable Genius - Donald J. Trump's Testing of America&quot; by  Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig\" class=\"wp-image-1081\" srcset=\"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/A-Very-Stable-Genius-Donald-J.-Trumps-Testing-of-America-by-Philip-Ruckerand-Carol-Leonnig.jpg 329w, https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/A-Very-Stable-Genius-Donald-J.-Trumps-Testing-of-America-by-Philip-Ruckerand-Carol-Leonnig-197x300.jpg 197w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 329px) 100vw, 329px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some reflections by George Kennedy on&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<strong>A Very Stable Genius \u2013 Donald J. Trump&#8217;s Testing of America\u201d&nbsp;by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Washington Post <\/em>national investigative reporter Carol Leonnig and White House bureau chief Philip Rucker, both Pulitzer Prize winners, join a lengthening roster of noted Washington insiders illuminating the calamity that is the Trump presidency. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> The authors offer in excruciating detail examples of presidential leadership without direction; leadership without strategic calculation; and presidential action with disastrous outcomes.&nbsp; There are no constraining principles, values, or parameters for a chief executive with an authoritarian personality; a president obsessed with the universal recognition accorded his predecessor, Barack Obama; and, a president seething over the ridicule he faces from allies and adversaries alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leonnig and Rucker describe the 45<sup>th<\/sup> President as enthralled with his innate genius who rages at the absence of the plaudits, notably the Nobel Peace Prize, he feels are his due. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authors write \u201cThe universal value of the Trump administration is loyalty \u2013 not to the country, but to the president himself \u2013 and Trump&#8217;s North Star has been the perpetuation of his own power, even when it meant imperiling our shaky and mistrustful democracy&#8230;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&#8230;\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the most damning observation of this President was offered by a former senior administration official who offered:&nbsp; \u201cThis is a presidency of one&#8230;Trump unleashed, unchained, unhinged.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig Some reflections by George Kennedy on&nbsp; \u201cA Very Stable Genius \u2013 Donald J. Trump&#8217;s Testing of America\u201d&nbsp;by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig Washington Post&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bookshelf"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1080"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1084,"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions\/1084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgealfredkennedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}