Hello again, I'm Norman Alney. We begin this edition of To the Point with President Trump,

describing himself. I'm an extremely stable genius. Let's hear that again. I'm an extremely

stable genius. That phrase is now the title of a book about President Trump. It's sort of.

It's called a very stable genius.

It became an instant bestseller after it was released last month.

The intent is obviously ironic.

Whatever a very stable genius means to the president, it means something else, something very different to the book's authors.

Carol Lenig and Philip Rucker have both won multiple prizes as reporters for the Washington Post.

They are well-established journalist and much admired. In their authors note, they call their book a

pause in the dizzying journey of covering Donald Trump. They are both on the line from Washington,

and thank you both for joining us. Thank you, Warren. Thank you and thanks for having us.

Let us start with some of the stories you tell that are already becoming part of what you could call Trump lore, I think.

Carol, tell us about Pearl Harbor.

Well, it was one of the more dramatic things that Phil and I learned in the course of reporting this book.

It is part of the feature of our reporting, which is people keep telling us these stories in which the president seems unaware of the American story, unaware of American history, world geography, and not very curious to learn about it. But how this

unfolded was like this. The president was going on his first trip to Asia, and his advisors

thought it would be a good idea for him to break up the long, long flight by having a stop

in Hawaii. And while he was there, of course, they took the opportunity

to take him on a tour of Pearl Harbor locations, including a boat ride out to the USS, Arizona.

Unfortunately, while the president was there on the boat about to launch and head out to see the

memorial to the soldiers who died there in the attack by the Japanese, the president about to launch and head out to see the memorial to the soldiers who died there in the

attack by the Japanese, the president turned to his chief of staff, John Kelly, seeming to know

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