Donald Trump has long touted his supposedly astronomical IQ. His secretary of state reportedly called him a moron. Mensa has now offered to solve this not-quite-a-mystery once and for all.
Donald Trump is "like, a smart person," according to Trump.
But apparently, not smart enough to realize the risk incurred to his pompous claims of brilliance by challenging everyone around him to an IQ test.
After it was reported that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a "moron" — or an "effing moron," according to MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle — Trump told Forbes magazine that the report was likely "fake news," but couldn't let the story drop there.
"If he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests," Trump declared.
That sound you just heard was the folks at Mensa sharpening their No. 2 pencils.
"American Mensa would be happy to hold a testing session for President Trump and Secretary Tillerson," Mensa's communications director, Charles Brown, said.
Trump ought to be eager to take up the challenge, considering how often he has touted the idea of IQ tests for anyone he deems deficient intellectually — including his former primary opponent and now Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, back in 2015.
As Philip Bump notes at the Washington Post, "Bragging about his IQ has been a consistent theme over [Trump's] time in politics, as has his casually challenging others to an IQ-off." Bump cites over a dozen times when Trump had either crowed about his own IQ, sneered about the low IQ of others, or challenged them to a brain duel.
Of course, the reliability and validity of IQ tests has long been in question, but it's not as though Trump puts any stock into nerdy things like science, especially if it might get in the way of his ceaseless self-serving puffery.
As more and more people speak openly of their concerns over Trump's stability and fitness for office — including some in his own party and even the White House — it becomes clear that this IQ silliness is yet another way for him to attempt to distract the public from the utter mess and real danger his administration poses to the world.
You don't need to be a Mensa member to see it, either.
