Trump calls self ‘stable genius’

USPresident Donald Trump yesterday rejected an author’s accusations thathe is mentally unfit for office and said his track record showed he is a‘stable genius’.Michael Wolff, who was granted unusually wideaccess to the White House during much of Trump’s first year, has said inpromoting his book, Fire and Fury — Inside the Trump White House, thatTrump is unfit for the presidency.Trump, in a series ofextraordinary morning posts on Twitter, said his Democratic critics andthe US news media were bringing up the “old Ronald Reagan playbook andscreaming mental stability and intelligence” since they have not beenable to bring him down in other ways.Reagan, a Republican who was the US president from 1981-1989, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994 and died in 2004.“Actually,throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stabilityand being, like, really smart,” said Trump, a former reality TV star.“Iwent from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star...to president ofthe United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as notsmart, but genius...and a very stable genius at that!”Trump, 71,issued the tweets from the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland,where he was meeting Republican congressional leaders and many Cabinetsecretaries about their legislative agenda for the year.The tweetswere another sign of Trump’s frustration at what he views as unfairtreatment by the news media of his presidency amid a federalinvestigation into whether he or his campaign aides colluded with Russiaduring the 2016 presidential campaign, in which he defeated DemocratHillary Clinton.Wolff’s book has proved to be another shock to thesystem for Trump and his top aides, coming just as he starts his secondyear in office. Wolff told BBC Radio in an interview broadcast yesterdaythat based on his interviews with the people around Trump that hebelieved the president was unfit for office.He told NBC News on Friday that White House staff treated Trump like a child.“Theone description that everyone gave, everyone has in common — they allsay he is like a child,” Wolff said.  “And what they mean by that, hehas a need for immediate gratification. It’s all about him.  This mandoes not read, does not listen. He’s like a pinball, just shooting offthe sides.”Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera told ‘Fox andFriends’ yesterday that he had spoken to Trump on Friday and that he was“very, very frustrated” that the issue of his mental fitness wasgetting traction.Trump is to undergo the first physical examinationof his presidency on January 12. The exam was announced on December 7after questions arose about Trump’s health when he slurred part of aspeech announcing that the United States recognised Jerusalem as thecapital of Israel.