--- description: President Donald Trump on Saturday defended calling himself "like, really smart" on Twitter and insulted Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff. title: Trump Doubles Down on Tweet Saying He's 'Like, Really Smart' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump Doubles Down on 'Stable Genius' Tweet at Camp David  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 6, 2018 7:33 PM CUT  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 6, 2018 7:33 PM CUT During a visit to Camp David Saturday, President Donald Trump doubled down on his morning [tweets](http://time.com/5090982/donald-trump-twitter-stable-genius/?xid=homepage "undefined") in which he called himself “like, really smart” and “a very stable genius.” When asked by a reporter why he felt compelled to tweet about his mental state, Trump said the messages were meant to refute accounts of his presidency — and allegedly dubious competence — in [Michael Wolff](http://time.com/5089728/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-trump-white-house/ "undefined")‘s book [_Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House_](http://time.com/5090567/donald-trump-michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-library/ "undefined")_._ After saying he was a “very excellent student” at “the best colleges, or college,” Trump boasted about his success in business, television and politics. He then said Wolff “doesn’t know me at all” and did not interview him for the book, [as Wolff has claimed](http://time.com/5089521/michael-wolff-fire-fury-donald-trump-book/ "undefined"). “I don’t know this man. I guess ‘Sloppy Steve’ \[Bannon\] brought him into the White House quite a bit,” Trump said. “That’s why Sloppy Steve is now looking for a job.” You can see Trump’s full response in the video above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5091242/trump-michael-wolff/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5091242/trump-michael-wolff/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Doubles Down on 'Stable Genius' Tweet at Camp David","datePublished":"2018-01-06T19:33:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:46:26.647Z","description":"He defended calling himself 'like, really smart'","url":"https://time.com/5091242/trump-michael-wolff/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5091242/trump-michael-wolff/","name":"Donald Trump Doubles Down on 'Stable Genius' Tweet at Camp David"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Criticises Author of \"Fire and Fury\" And Defends Tweet about His Own Intelligence","description":"US President Donald Trump on Saturday defended his tweets about his own mental state and intellect, and hit out at Michael Wolff, the author of a controversial new book bashing Trump's White House.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/M9R0HGkK/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-01-06T18:52:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/M9R0HGkK.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5091242/trump-michael-wolff/","duration":"PT59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5091242/trump-michael-wolff/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```