Donald Trump used a press briefing yesterday to force a string of aides and officials to praise his temperament while insisting once again that he is a “very stable genius”.
The farcical scenes were prompted by a number of baited comments from Democratic House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.
Earlier in the day she said she hoped the president’s family or staff would conduct an “intervention” with him for the “good of the country” after he threw what she called a temper tantrum at a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders on Wednesday.
“Maybe he wants to take a leave of absence,” she said. Asked whether she is concerned about Trump’s well-being, she replied: “I am.”
Trump immediately took the bait, using a media event about an aid package for farmers, to say: “I tell you what, I’ve been watching her and I have been watching her for a long period of time.
“She’s not the same person. She’s lost it. Cryin’ Chuck, Crazy Nancy … I watched Nancy and she was all crazy yesterday.”
Trump then went round the room asking his aides to confirm he had not lost his cool during the meeting, asking White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway: “Kellyanne, what was my temperament yesterday?”
“Very calm. No temper tantrum,” she replied.
This was then repeated with others in the room as they all took turns to shower him with praise.
For good measure, Trump described himself as “an extremely stable genius”, repeating a phrase he tweeted last year which was widely mocked a the time.
Then, just to really ram the point home, Trump fired off a string of tweets in attempt to show Pelosi really hadn’t got to him. Nope, not one bit.
Away from the insults, the exchages raised questions about whether Pelosi and Trump could work together on vital tasks this year, such as raising the debt limit and funding the government.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said staff-level work on critical policy and spending continues.
Yet Sanders also said on CNN that it was “lunacy” and “insane” for Democrats to think everyone could just proceed after Pelosi accused Trump of a “cover-up” just before the meeting on Wednesday.
“It’s very hard to have a meeting where you accuse the president of the United States of a crime and an hour later show up and act as if nothing has happened,” Sanders told reporters outside the White House.