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FalsePoliticsLast updated: July 10, 2026

Donald Trump Has A Very High IQ

The claim that Donald Trump has a very high IQ is common in political debates, but there is no verified public IQ test result to support it. His own professor at Wharton reportedly called him the 'dumbest student' he ever had, classmates remembered him as unprepared and disengaged, and Trump himself confused a basic cognitive screening test with an IQ test.

Written by Iggy Pomp · Reviewed by Igor Pomper · Last updated July 10, 2026

What we know

Donald Trump has repeatedly described himself as having a "very high" IQ, including a 2013 tweet stating "Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest - and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure, it's not your fault." No independently verified, publicly released IQ test result exists to support this claim.

Accounts from people who knew Trump academically complicate the self-description. A New York Times investigation and subsequent reporting cited a professor who taught Trump at the Wharton School describing him as the dumbest student he ever had in more than 40 years of teaching, though the specific attribution and quote have been disputed by some who question the original sourcing. Multiple Wharton classmates interviewed by news outlets including the Washington Post and Boston Globe during the 2016 campaign said they did not recall Trump as an academically distinguished student, contradicting his own repeated claims of having been a top student there.

Trump's claim to have been "first in his class" at Wharton has been specifically fact-checked and found false; university records and reporting on Wharton's actual graduation honors from that era show no evidence supporting the claim, and Trump was not listed among the honors graduates. Reporting by the Associated Press and other outlets also found that Trump was admitted to Wharton's undergraduate program as a transfer student with the help of a family friend who worked as an admissions officer at the time, a detail relevant to assessing the independent strength of his academic credentials on entry.

In a frequently cited 2020 interview, Trump described a cognitive assessment he had taken, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a screening tool designed to detect early signs of dementia and cognitive impairment rather than to measure general intelligence, as a "very hard" test that he said he "aced," a conflation that neurologists and cognitive testing experts pointed out reflects either a misunderstanding of what the test measures or an intentional exaggeration, since the Montreal Cognitive Assessment is explicitly not designed as an IQ test and does not produce an IQ score.

No credible, independently administered and verified IQ test result for Trump has ever been made public. Claims about a person's intelligence based on self-report, absent any verifiable testing data, cannot be confirmed or denied with confidence, but the specific supporting anecdotes Trump and his defenders have offered, including the Wharton "first in class" claim, have been checked against available records and found unsupported.

Psychologists who study intelligence measurement note that IQ tests are standardized instruments requiring controlled administration by qualified professionals, and that self-reported claims of high intelligence, absent a verifiable test result, carry no more evidentiary weight than any other unverified personal claim, regardless of the person's public prominence or business success, which are themselves influenced by many factors beyond measured cognitive ability, including family wealth, market conditions, and risk tolerance.

Common claims

  • Donald Trump has an IQ of 156 (or another specific high number).False
  • Trump graduated top of his class at Wharton.False - his name does not appear on the 1968 Dean's List or among any honours graduates
  • His Wharton professor called him the dumbest student he ever had.Supported by multiple independent accounts
  • Trump passed a cognitive test, which proves he has a high IQ.False - the Montreal Cognitive Assessment is a dementia screening tool, not an IQ test
  • Trump was admitted to Wharton on his own merit.Disputed - his biographer documented a special favour from an admissions officer

Evidence hierarchy

01Professor William T. Kelley's repeated assessment of TrumpKelley told his close friend Frank DiPrima over 100 times that Trump was 'the dumbest goddam student I ever had', citing his arrogance and belief that he already knew everything. Kelley taught marketing at Wharton for 31 years before retiring in 1982.02Trump's name absent from the 1968 Wharton Dean's List and honours listsThe Daily Pennsylvanian published the 1967-68 Dean's List with 56 names. Trump's name does not appear there, nor among cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude recipients in the 1968 commencement programme.03Wharton classmates describe Trump as unprepared and not a leaderClassmates including Stephen Foxman, Steve Perelman and Louis Calomaris described Trump as disengaged, unprepared and not among the strongest students. Foxman said he recognised virtually all names on the Dean's List and Trump was not one of them.04Trump admitted to Wharton with help from a family friendAccording to The Washington Post and biographer Gwenda Blair, Trump's transfer from Fordham to Wharton was facilitated by a friendly admissions officer known to his brother Freddy, not purely on academic merit.05Trump mistakes Montreal Cognitive Assessment for an IQ testOn October 27, 2025, Trump publicly described taking an 'IQ test' at Walter Reed. Experts confirmed it was the MoCA dementia screening. The test's developer Ziad Nasreddine stated explicitly it is not correlated to IQ tests.

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Related terms

Trump Is A LiarTrump Has Narcissistic Personality DisorderTrump Is A CheaterTrump Believes He Is Above The Law