Donald Trump’s questionable intelligence: All those false claims about his academic record and derision of others bespeak profound insecurity
In contrast to his attacks on “losers,” Trump frequently retweets comments from others congratulating him for how “smart” he is.
Only someone who doubts his own intelligence would feel compelled to make these kinds of public statements.
Trump surely knows that he didn’t get into Wharton on his own merits. He transferred into Wharton’s undergraduate program after spending two years at Fordham University in New York. According to Gwenda Blair’s 2001 biography, “The Trumps,” Trump’s grades at Fordham were not good enough to qualify him for a transfer to Wharton. Blair wrote that Trump got into Wharton as a special favor from a “friendly” admissions officer who knew Trump’s older brother, Freddy. The college’s admissions staff surely knew that Trump’s father was a wealthy real estate developer and a potential donor.
.. On at least two occasions in the 1970s — “A Builder Looks Back-and Moves Forward,” on Jan. 28, 1973, and “Donald Trump, Real Estate Promoter, Builds Image as He Buys Buildings,” on Nov. 1, 1976 — the New York Times reported that Trump “graduated first in his class” at Wharton in 1968.. Trump’s insecurity about his accomplishments is also revealed in his efforts to portray himself as an up-by-the-bootstraps self-made entrepreneur.“It has not been easy for me,” Trump said at a town hall meeting on Oct. 26, 2015, acknowledging, “My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.”.. Given this background — his lackluster academic record, his dependence on his family’s connections and wealth to get into college and to succeed in business, and his troublesome and abusive business practices — it shouldn’t be surprising that Trump is so insecure about his intellect and so thin-skinned about his accomplishments.