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A Very Stable Genius cover art

A Very Stable Genius

By: Carol D. Leonnig, Philip Rucker
Narrated by: Carol Leonnig, Hillary Huber, Philip Rucker
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Summary

The definitive insider narrative and the most fully characterised account yet of the chaos, scandal and destruction of Trump's first term, from two Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalists.

Drawing on nearly three years of reporting, hundreds of hours of interviews and more than 200 sources, including some of the most senior members of the administration, friends and firsthand witnesses who have never spoken before, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig take us inside some of the most controversial moments of Trump's presidency. They peer deeply into Trump's White House - at the aides pressured to lie to the public, the lawyers scrambling to clear up norm-breaking disasters and the staffers whose careers have been reduced to ashes - to paint an unparalleled group portrait of an administration driven by self-preservation and paranoia.

Rucker and Leonnig reveal Trump at his most unvarnished, showing the unhinged decision-making and incompetence that has floored officials and stunned foreign leaders. They portray unscripted calls with Vladimir Putin, steak dinners with Kim Jong-un and calls with Theresa May so hostile that they left her aides shaken. They also take a hard look at Robert Mueller, Trump's greatest antagonist to date, and how his investigation slowly unravelled an administration whose universal value is loyalty - not to country but to the president himself.

Grippingly told, A Very Stable Genius is a behind-the-scenes account of Trump's vainglorious pursuit of power in his first term - the rages and the frenzies, the dishonesty and the depravity - as his remaining loyal staffers eye the exits and he stares down the reality of impeachment.

©2020 Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig (P)2020 Penguin Audio

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Narrator is awful

Have been waiting for this to be released for ages, audible UK only had the German version! The narrator in this version is terrible- she sounds like a text to speech robot.

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20 people found this helpful

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  • 07-03-20

Terrible Narration. Sounds like text to speech.

This may be a good book but the narration is appalling. It really is like listening to a computer read text to speech. It does seem to get better as the book goes on but it's still pretty bad.

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11 people found this helpful

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Trump hating rubbish.

Biased journalistic nonsense. A disgrace to the authors. Typical one eyed Democrat bad loser rubbish. There fair criticisms to make of Trump as there are of many Democrats but they are lost here in hateful bile.

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10 people found this helpful

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Fascinating

Brilliant bit of insight into the general ambience of the White House under Trump, full of first-hand accounts, the sources are first-rate.
I disagree with other reviewers complaining about the narration, I positively like the measured delivery. Can't stand over-acting and over-emphasis, have sadly sent back some books where the narrator went OTT.

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9 people found this helpful

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So left wing & biased it hurts

Written with no objective views in place. Glad to return this one. So unbelievably one sided.

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8 people found this helpful

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Gripping.

A well written, highly engaging narrative of the last few years of US politics. Illustrates just how fragile all democracy is and why opposition must be so carefully balanced when those in power so clearly are not. Well worth reading.

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6 people found this helpful

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Insight

It is an insight into the petty, selfish and outright dangerous attitude this man has about how the presidency should benefit him first and then his friends. How he will happily throw loyal servants under the bus to keep himself safe.

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5 people found this helpful

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Be afraid, be very afraid!

The Trump adminstration, comes across as a vicious I win you must lose crèche without any adult supervision. Trump is very strong on loyalty, but just can't spell it. The only hope for the USA political system is if Trump does not to get re-elected. This is a truly damning indictment.

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Riveting and important

Read it faster per page than anything else I can think of. It lays out brilliantly that Trump is not a partisan issue. He will blunder America out of democracy if he is left in charge for too long. It was both sad and fascinating at every moment, a heartbreaking story of the American decline.

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Very frustrating

The dumbness of trump is mind boggling, says heaps about the American people for electing him & the Republican party for falling in line behind the dumbest person I have seen in public life, not only dumb but sociopathic, evil & narcissistic. And also, so frustrating that the Dem party dropped the ball or missed open goals on so many occasions..how he is still in power, I'll never understand it.😱

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5 people found this helpful