Trump on questions about mental stability: I’m ‘a very stable genius’
President Trump on Saturday launched a remarkable defense of his mental fitness for office, calling himself a “very stable genius” and “like, really smart.”
Trump made the defense in a series of tweets that appeared to push back on questions raised by a new book that painted a chaotic and dysfunctional picture of his campaign and the early months of his presidency.
“Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart,” Trump tweeted.
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The president said that while doubts about his mental capacity have been frequently raised by his critics, he proved them wrong with his stunning victory in the 2016 election and his career in television and business.
“I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius….and a very stable genius at that!” he said.
Questions surrounding Trump’s fitness for office have intensified after the release of “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” by author Michael Wolff. The book contains explosive claims, including doubts among Trump’s senior aides about his mental fitness for office.
A psychiatrist said she recently met with a group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill to review Trump’s mental health.
Trump’s response all but guarantees those questions will continue to be raised.
Reporters asked press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about Trump’s fitness to serve two days in a row this week, an unprecedented level of questioning surrounding a sitting president’s mental health.
Sanders hit back at questions surrounding Trump’s mental health Friday, saying that what “is really mentally unstable is people that don’t see the positive impact that this president is having on the country.”
“It’s absolutely outrageous to make these types of accusations and it’s simply untrue, and it’s sad that people are going and making these desperate attempts to attack the president,” she said on “Fox & Friends.”
Trump tweeted from Camp David, where he is meeting with Republican congressional leaders, Cabinet officials and senior staff to plot their legislative agenda and chart a course for the 2018 midterm elections.
— Updated 8:40 a.m.