LF: A Brief History of Trump’s Allies Calling Him an Idiot

If Michael Wolff is to be believed, “100 percent of the people around” Donald Trump don’t think he’s fit for office. “They all say he is like a child . . . it’s all about him,” Wolff said during an interview in early January, adding, “They say he’s a moron, an idiot.” In the past week, the whisperings gathered by Wolff seem to have been confirmed, or at least validated, by a handful of leaked comments by Trump staffers from before they joined the White House. The most recent: a New York report published Monday detailing a series of messages sent by White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah while he was still working for the Republican National Committee.

In the messages, Shah reportedly called Trump a “deplorable” and celebrated the release of the Access Hollywood tape as “some justice.” The White House defended Shah as a “talented operative and skilled communicator” who had already disclosed the messages, and Shah himself appeared on Fox Business to say that Trump had eventually “won [him] over.” But by then, Shah had joined the ranks of a list that’s likely to grow over time—as one White House adviser told New York’s Olivia Nuzzi, “You hear them say things like, I’m serving the country” . . . “That’s code for, I hate the fucker.”

Back in February 2016, Pruitt, who is currently under investigation for potential abuse of taxpayer dollars, was (like Shah) a Jeb Bush supporter. On February 4, the Environmental Protection Agency head reportedly told a local Oklahoma radio station that Trump “would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama—and that’s saying a lot.” In a subsequent interview on February 11, Pruitt added that Trump would be “an empty vessel when it comes to things like the Constitution and rule of law,” and that he was “very concerned that perhaps if [Trump is] in the White House, that there may be a very blunt instrument as the voice of the Constitution.” (In a statement rebutting the claims, Pruitt, like Shah, said his opinions had changed after meeting Trump, whom he now called “the most consequential leader of our time.”)

The secretary of State allegedly called Trump a “moron,” and spent months thereafter dismissing rumors that he was stepping down, but neither confirmed nor denied the rumor. “I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that,” he told reporters at the time.

Back in November, the National Security Adviser reportedly called Trump an “idiot” and a “dope” during a private dinner, where he also allegedly took swipes at Jared Kushner. The general denied both claims.

According to Wolff’s Fire and Fury, Barrack, a fellow billionaire and one of Trump’s closest associates, reportedly told a friend that Trump was “not only crazy—he’s stupid.” Barrack denied the comments, though as one of the few people in the Trump orbit safely ensconced outside the White House, there’s certainly more where that came from.

If Wolff is right, the National Economic Council director’s suffering may go deeper than even outward appearances suggest. Per Wolff, an e-mail “purporting to represent the views of Gary Cohn” circulated the White House in April and read, in part:

“It’s worse than you can imagine. An idiot surrounded by clowns. Trump won’t read anything—not one-page memos, not the brief policy papers; nothing. He gets up halfway through meetings with world leaders because he is bored. And his staff is no better. Kushner is an entitled baby who knows nothing. Bannon is an arrogant p---k who thinks he’s smarter than he is. Trump is less a person than a collection of terrible traits . . . I am in a constant state of terror and shock.”

Cohn denied the comments. Meanwhile, Republicans outside the White House have shown even less restraint, particularly if they are no longer seeking office.

The Tennessee Senator, who announced last year that he would not run for re-election, called the White House an “adult day care” after a long series of skirmishes over whether Corker had asked Trump for his endorsement or not. The feud continues to this day, with Trump inventing a new nickname for Corker (“Liddle”), and Corker going out of his way to record his own interviews with reporters to ensure that his criticisms are reported accurately.

Flake, who has been critical of Trump since the latter launched his presidential campaign, continues to slam the president on a regular basis—the latest volley found Flake denouncing Trump for his attacks on the media, calling him a “president who cannot take criticism.”

The senior senator from Arizona has frequently criticized Trump in the halls of Congress. Though he hasn’t gone as far as calling Trump an idiot or thereabouts, he has dinged Trump’s human-rights rhetoric as “sad”, acalled “America First” mentality “half-baked, spurious nationalism”, so perhaps it’s only a matter of time.

Bannon, who spent his brief employ in the White House mixing effusive praise for the president with occasional backbiting to the press, was just as candid about Trump’s limitations before he joined the campaign. Trump is a “blunt instrument for us,” he told Ken Stern for Vanity Fair in mid-summer 2016, mere weeks before he became Trump’s campaign C.E.O. “I don’t know whether he really gets it or not.” Bannon’s running commentary on Trump’s mental capacity hasn’t stopped since he was exiled from the White House, either. “He’s like an 11-year-old child,” Bannon joked to a friend in November, my colleague Gabriel Sherman reported in December. He’s said repeatedly that he thinks Trump could be removed from office under the 25th Amendment.

That's nothing. The real fools are the ones still protesting his winning over a year after he has been sworn into office.

Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah joins a growing club.