By It is difficult to comprehend that there are any secrets about Donald Trump which are more shocking than the clownery he displays on the world stage every day. And yet, here we are with more dished dirt.
Yesterday the President was forced to defend himself against accusations made in a new book by Bob Woodward, the Watergate reporter who helped bring down president Nixon.
Press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed the claims as "nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad".
Here's five of the most explosive claims in Woodward's new book, Fear: Trump in the White House, which POTUS is at pains to tweet are definitely not true.
His staff think he is an "idiot"
Trump's intelligence is the basis of many of the insults and accusations hurled behind his back in the forthcoming book. According to the Washington Post who have published details from it, "White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly frequently lost his temper and told colleagues that he thought the president was 'unhinged'".
They add that, "In one small group meeting, Kelly said of Trump: “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”
To be honest though, Welcome To Crazytown 2020 on a red hat would probably do record sales come next election.
Trump allegedly wanted to assassinate Assad
According to Woodward's book, Trump ordered Defence Secretary James Mattis to murder Syrian President Bashar-al Assad in response to his regime's chemical attack on civilians in April 2017.
"Let’s f**king kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the f**king lot of them," he reportedly said, presumably getting his blood-thirst from watching Don Jr play 'Call of Duty', and not the Army draft which he dodged five times.
As the Washington Post report, "Mattis told the president that he would get right on it. But after hanging up the phone, he told a senior aide: “We’re not going to do any of that. We’re going to be much more measured.”
Having used his Twitter account to make idle nuclear threats to 'Rocket Man' Kim Jong Un, the news that Trump apparently wanted to assassinate Assad will probably only shock the Syrian President himself.
His lawyers think he is too stupid to testify
Woodward's book delves into the Robert Mueller investigation and Trump's attorneys' fears about him testifying. In March, two of Trump's lawyers Jay Sekulow and John Dowd met with Mueller and his team to do a practise run of an interview Trump would face in January.
Following the interview Dowd reportedly told Mueller's team: “I’m not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot. And you publish that transcript, because everything leaks in Washington, and the guys overseas are going to say, ‘I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?’”
Woodward recounts that Trump told Dowd, “I’ll be a real good witness”, to which he responded, “You are not a good witness. Mr. President, I’m afraid I just can’t help you”, and resigned the following morning.
He called Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded"
Trump isn't the only one who gets insulted in this merry tale. According to Woodward old Jazzy Jeff Sessions was constantly on the receiving end of "withering presidential attacks".
Trump told former staff secretary Rob Porter that Sessions was a “traitor” for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, according to Woodward.
He also stuck the knife in further adding, “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner ... He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”
"Being a southerner is a GREAT thing," was Trump's very concrete way of debunking the claim on Twitter last night.
Mattis said he has understanding of a “fifth or sixth grader”
Perhaps one of the most worrying and least amusing revelations by Woodward is Trump's inner circles shock at his "lack of curiosity and knowledge about world affairs and his contempt for the mainstream perspectives of military and intelligence leaders."
In one particular incident Trump questioned why they were spending money on having a U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula in order to swiftly detect a nuclear attack. Mattis told him, “We’re doing this in order to prevent World War III”.
Woodward writes that after Trump left the meeting room, “Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like — and had the understanding of — ‘a fifth- or sixth-grader.’ ”
Fear: Trump in the White House is published 11 September. Pre-order here to make Trump happy!
