THE BOOK – AT 12:53 P.M. ET: "The book," the one everyone is talking about, is already destroying itself.  A number of people are coming forward to point out mistakes.  Some are saying they weren't where the author, Michael Wolff, says they were.  Others are rebelling about Wolff's claim that his book will wreck Trump's presidency.  I sense that a number of decent journalists don't want to be associated with the book.

Among the more asinine assertions by Wolff is that Mr. Trump is stupid, has trouble reading, and may even have a reading deficiency.  We point out that the president is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He also makes speeches during which he uses...a teleprompter.  You have to read from a teleprompter, the last time I looked.

It is reported that the president has a short attention span.  No, he probably processes information quickly and dismisses the padding in a briefing or paper, and there is plenty of padding in Washington.  When I was in the CIA, an analyst told me that, when a new country was formed in Africa, President Eisenhower asked that he be provided with a map, with a red arrow pointing at that country.  The analyst giggled, as if this showed that Mr. Eisenhower was stupid.  My own private reaction was that, if I were president, that's exactly what I'd want done.  Presidents are busy. 

President Reagan admitted that he fell asleep at Cabinet meetings.  He explained that he knew he wasn't missing anything.

Other critics of the book are asking why, if Mr. Trump is so mentally challenged, it never seems to show in public.  I guess he has a secret brain working for him, just as Dick Cheney was said to be George W. Bush's brain by people, the same kind who ridicule Trump, who charged that Bush wasn't bright enough to be president.

Trump responded to the personal criticisms in the book with a Twitter storm this morning, and I wish he hadn't.  He hurts himself when he takes the bait and descends to the level of a gossip factory.  Let others do the defending.  The president should be above it.

There's an old line in politics:  When your opponent is committing suicide, don't get in the way.  The author of this new book is appearing on television making grandiose claims and appearing the ambitious fool.  Don't get in his way.

One thing that could be useful is to counter Wolff's claim that everyone around Trump – 100 percent, he emphasizes – believes he is unfit for office.  I suggest circulating among those closest to Mr. Trump a letter firmly rejecting the charge, and having them sign it.  A very simple step, but one that would place the author in the position of a liar.

January 6,  2018