About

Very Stable Genius is a memorable quote from United States President Donald Trump, who after a scathing report on his mental capacity to handle the role of president was released, defended himself in a series of tweets that were met with even more scrutiny.

Origin

On January 6th, 2018, President Trump responded to reports that questioned his mental stability found in the exposé Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff. The book shared accounts from Trump's own staff who questioned the president's mental health. In s series of three tweets, ^[1] he defended himself and said, "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. 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 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!" The posts received more than 33,000 retweets and 130,000 likes each. However, the final one, in which he calls himself "a very stable genius" received more than 102,000 comments as well.

Spread

Shortly after the president tweeted, people online began mocking the president for his choice of words. CNN's Jake Tapper tweeted,^[2] "I'm smart," along with a gif from the film The Godfather: Part 2, in which one of the characters cries, "I'm smart!" The post (shown below) received more than 6,100 retweets and 21,200 likes in less than three days.

Throughout the morning, more people mocked the president's use of the phrases "very stable genius" and "being, like, really smart." These insults were often paired with pictures that highlighted people's issues with Trump, his supporters and administration.

Later that day, the hashtag #verystablegenius began trending.

That day, Redditor ^[4] dareez posted a picture in the /r/pics subreddit of Trump failing to grasp the structure of an interlocking handshake. The poster named the thread "Stand back everyone, stable genius at work." The post (shown below) received more than 137,000 points (73% upvoted) and 6,000 comments.

On Jnaury 7th, Redditor ^[5] bluebird749 posted "What is the very stable genius meme about?" in the /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit. Within 24 hours, the post received more than 100 points (84% upvoted).

Stephen Miller's Jake Tapper Interview

On January 7th, 2018, White House adviser Stephen Miller appeared on CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper. Miller, who was asked to defend the president's tweets and his mental state, discussed the policies and accomplishments of the president. However, after being pushed by Tapper to answer questions regarding the tweets, the exchange turned hostile. Tapper ended the interview, and according to reports, Miller had to be escorted off the set by security.^[3]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References