Trump insists he has the ‘highest of IQs’ and it’s something he got from his uncle who taught at MIT
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President Donald Trump appeared to suggest that he inherited the “highest of IQs” from his late uncle, a celebrated physicist and engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The president made the claim in a sit-down interview with TIME , where he also discussed his feud with the mainstream media, his makeover of Washington, D.C., the war in Iran, and his push for AI.
Trump pivoted from answering a question about whether he “trusted” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to making the claim that his uncle is responsible for his IQ level.
“Did you see the story about my uncle?” Trump asked the reporters. “I have the highest of IQs. I have the highest. I'm fine, and I understand that stuff. You know, my uncle was at MIT for 41 years, and you know, I'm a—I believe in genetics, frankly, and I understand.”
Dr. John Trump was a professor of engineering at MIT and hailed as a pioneer in cancer research. He was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, two years before he died in 1985.
The president’s comment was mocked on social media, where users pointed out the obvious problem.
“Trump doesn’t understand how genetics work,” one person responded on X. “Unless his Uncle is actually his Father, than [sic] any intelligence would come from Trump's Parents/Grandparents, not his Uncle.”
“Absolutely nobody believes that if you have a smart uncle that you are as smart as your uncle,” someone else said.
“Just because your uncle’s smart doesn’t make you smart too,” another said.
Trump has mentioned his late uncle before. In early 2024, he posted a black-and-white photograph of Dr. Trump with some associates at the renowned institute on social media. “My Uncle, Dr. John Trump, at MIT (long before it was woke!)” he said.
He cited Dr. Trump’s “good genes” during a 2016 campaign speech. “Dr John Trump at MIT, good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart,” Trump said.
He raised eyebrows last year when he falsely claimed his uncle had taught Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, who earned a bachelor's degree at Harvard and a master’s and a PhD at the University of Michigan before going on his deadly terror spree.
“The President's very proud of his family,” Trump’s then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to questions about the dubious claim last year.
“In fact, I have a or the President has a letter from his uncle on the MIT letterhead that sits in the Oval Office dining room.”
