In a 2018 article on the publishing market for books about Donald Trump, Steven Perlberg of BuzzFeed News reported that Rucker and Leonnig were collaborating on a new Trump book, and that unnamed reporters covering the president had "been approached with the promise of large six-figure advances".[13] North American rights to the book were purchased by Penguin Press, while UK and Commonwealth rights were purchased by Bloomsbury Publishing. US and UK editions were scheduled for simultaneous publication on January 21, 2020.[14]
Four days before the book's official release date, the Washington Post published an excerpt from the book highlighting Trump's confrontation with Secretary of State Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Mattis.[15] One day prior to the book's release, Trump accused Rucker and Leonnig of fabricating most of the stories in A Very Stable Genius, calling the authors "two stone cold losers".[16] A German translation, titled Trump gegen die Demokratie (lit. Trump against Democracy), was published by S. Fischer Verlag on the same release date as the English version.[17]
