Trump on Controversial Book Written by 'Discredited' Author: 'Ronald Reagan Had the Same Problem'
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to criticize the “totally discredited” author Michael Wolff, whose new book makes explosive claims about Trump’s first year in office.
In an early-morning tweet, the president called “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” a “Fake Book” and compared himself to former President Ronald Reagan, who he said also had to deal with similar attacks from the “Fake News” media.
“I’ve had to put up with the Fake News from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author,” the president tweeted.
“Ronald Reagan had the same problem and handled it well. So will I!”
Trump seemed to be referring to questions about his mental fitness for office that have arisen from the book. As noted by The Washington Post, Reagan’s mental fitness was also questioned by the media while he was president.
In May 1987, for example, the cover of New Republic magazine asked, “Is Reagan Senile?”
That same year, a Washington Post article read, “Washington wags with an eye on past scandals have taken to rephrasing the central question of Watergate to fit the Iran-contra affair: The question, they say, isn’t ‘What did the president know and when did he know it?’ but ‘What did President Reagan forget and when did he forget it?’”
The article was referring to a Reagan’s prior Oval Office address in which he used somewhat vague terms to talk about the Iran-contra affair. Later, he told Congress under oath that he was not able to remember some of the information regarding the scandal.
In 1994, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. His son, Ron Reagan Jr., said in a 2011 interview that his father suffered from the disease while he was in office.
Trump’s mental fitness has become a hot talking point in recent days, with many claiming that the president is not fit to hold office.
As reported The Western Journal, Wolff has — during his book promotion tour — openly suggested that Trump is mentally unfit.
“I will tell you the one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common: They all say he is like a child,” Wolff told NBC “Today” host Savannah Guthrie last week. “And what they mean by that is, he has a need for immediate gratification. It is all about him.”
During a Sunday appearance on “Meet the Press, Wolff even claimed that within the White House, the concept of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — which details the process of how a president can be removed from office by his Cabinet — is “alive every day.”
Moreover, Wolff told the “Morning Joe” hosts point-blank on Monday that Trump is not fit for office.
“Is Donald Trump fit to be president, from everything you’ve seen?” co-host Joe Scarborough asked, according to Breitbart.
“No,” Wolff responded.
In a series of tweets Saturday, Trump defended his mental stability, noting that he is “a very stable genius.”
Many of the claims in Wolff’s book are unverified, while still others have been debunked.
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