The book is organized around specific episodes of conflict within the Trump administration, under chapter titles that include 'Unhinged', 'Shocking the Conscience', and 'Paranoia and Pandemonium'. The authors requested an interview from Trump, but he declined their request. The book draws on more than 200 interviews with sources, who are not named in the book. Rucker and Leonnig have suggested that A Very Stable Genius is an effort to make sense of conflicting images of Donald Trump as 'a success, a master in some ways, and also a chaotic, undisciplined, impulsive leader'. Responding in a series of tweets, he said 'Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart' and that his achievements in life qualified him as 'not smart, but genius.and a very stable genius at that!' He continued to describe himself as 'a very stable genius' on multiple subsequent occasions. The title refers to a phrase Trump has repeatedly used to describe himself, starting in January 2018 when a book, Fire and Fury, raised questions about his mental stability. A Very Stable Genius ranked first on bestseller lists from The New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly, and received generally positive reviews in international media. It focuses on specific incidents of conflict with senior advisors, including former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. The book presents an account of the first three years of the presidency of Donald Trump.

Trump's Testing of America is a 2020 book by Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig.

A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker