Ever since excerpts from Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House were published last week, there has been fire, fury and frenzy on Twitter.
On January 3, explosive bits from the book, touted as a tell-all account of US President Donald Trump’s time at the White House, appeared in various publications. The book has made several sensational claims, including the assertion that no one from Trump’s campaign, including the candidate himself, expected a victory and that Ivanka Trump had her eye set on taking over the American presidency from her father. Wolff said he gleaned this information from conversations with the president and his staff during his time as a White House reporter, a period during which he claims he had free access to the presidential estate.
In the days since, the panicked US administration has tried everything from discrediting the author to legal threats as damage control. All that the hectic activity achieved, however was to hasten the the release of the book – it came out on January 5 midnight instead of its planned January 9 launch – and ensure it sold out within hours.
Much of this drama played out on social media, with Trump posting a flurry of tweets almost daily, denying that Wolff had access to the White House and alternately calling the author a “liar”, a “phony” and a “loser”.
But with the book turning out to be huge success upon its launch, even though questions about Wolff’s credibility have been raised by numerous publications, the US President on Saturday morning put up a series of tweets defending his mental abilities. Reiterating that he is “like, really smart”, Trump pronounced himself a “very stable genius”.
Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018
....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018
....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018
For Twitter users, this was the crowning glory of an eventful week that had provided much fodder for social media hilarity. As expected, the jokes, memes and GIFs poured in, with several celebrities also joining in the fun.
Hahahahahaha pic.twitter.com/9BfapDD6IQ
— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) January 6, 2018
Is it just me who read the 'being, like, really smart..' bit in Gretchen Wiener's voice from Mean Girls? https://t.co/2ICyp07jUg
— Carrie Hope Fletcher (@CarrieHFletcher) January 6, 2018
mostly i’m just pissed that trump stole “i’m a very stable genius” because that was my specific brand of delusion from like 2009-2014
— 👨🏻 (@anti__cool) January 7, 2018
#stablegenius you say pic.twitter.com/Sae0Jz1snt
— Giles Paley-Phillips (@eliistender10) January 6, 2018
I’m, like, really smart. Genius. Super duper smart. Bigly intelligent. Best brain. Big boy words.
— Red Stable Genius Painter (@Redpainter1) January 6, 2018
~ Donald J. Trump, President pic.twitter.com/gnyVuE5Z7U
The main difference between Barack Obama and #stablegenius pic.twitter.com/JEGtpTIBJR
— Christie Walker (@LaChristie) January 7, 2018
Trump’s “stable genius” comment gave horses all over the world their moment of fame on Twitter and the equine animal was invoked innumerable times on the micro-blogging website.
Stable genius. pic.twitter.com/E0e2aOkzGB
— Kal Penn (@kalpenn) January 6, 2018
The original #stablegenius pic.twitter.com/wt9biCTtnK
— sherean (@sherean) January 6, 2018
Can you spot the Stable Genius in the picture? #StableGenius pic.twitter.com/jnWQxXmorT
— W Smith Ω 👉🏼 I Block Idiots (@WesSmith123) January 7, 2018
Comments on Trump’s mental faculties aside, Wolff’s book has also inspired much humour on Twitter, with people imagining how his time at the White House would have transpired and weighing in on how Trump’s response to Fire and Fury... boosted interest in the publication.
costanza gets job at White House pic.twitter.com/D86bQWdMSv
— Seinfeld Current Day (@Seinfeld2000) January 6, 2018
#FireAndFury spark notes:
— P-Fleegs (@PPFleegrr_87) January 5, 2018
- President Trump
- lol wut
- Chaos
- He said what!?!
- The struggle for power
- Tantrums
- Russian rumors
- Cleaning house
- Where’s my win?
- Bye Bye Bannon
I'm laughing at the RNC's talking points on #FireAndFury, because even if Wolff completely made up half the book, then only half of the White House Staff will have been confirmed to have told him Trump is senile & dumb as a rock. https://t.co/U3lHUFldTe
— Matt Scharfstein 🇺🇸 (@MattAsherS) January 7, 2018
Trump is really mad about Michael Wolff's book. I wonder who read it to him.
— John Leguizamo (@JohnLeguizamo) January 6, 2018
One of the most surprising parts of "Fire and Fury" is how Donald Trump accidentally started a national book club.
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) January 6, 2018
Wolff’s work has also provided a creative outlet to Twitter users, who chipped in with their own editions and excerpts of the book. While user Happy Toast came up with a pop-up version of the book for easy readability, @pixelatedboat produced a fictitious extract from Fire and Fury that proved too realistic for comfort.
I've made a pop-up easy reader version of Fire and Fury so Donald can see what all the fuss is about pic.twitter.com/xMASZUKjSn
— HappyToast ★ (@IamHappyToast) January 6, 2018
Wow, this extract from Wolff’s book is a shocking insight into Trump’s mind: pic.twitter.com/1ZecclggSa
— the gorilla channel thing is a joke (@pixelatedboat) January 5, 2018
The satirical extract, which claimed that Trump’s staff had created a 24*7 “gorilla channel” where the president could watch the apes fighting all day, was mistaken for the real thing by so many users that @pixelboat changed his username to clarify that it was a joke.
— Super Deluxe (@superdeluxe) January 5, 2018
please stop calling our customer service hotline to ask if we have The Gorilla Channel
— Netflix US (@netflix) January 6, 2018