Trump-level Intelligence

EDITOR: I was blessed to be born with a high intelligence aptitude, and my IQ score was measured as a fair amount greater than Donald Trump's "alleged" ranking of 16th among the 45 US Presidents. I was also blessed with the opportunity to achieve a B.S. with Departmental Honors and graduate work in Physics and Applied Physics, which included working on an experiment as a grad-student that went up on the Space Shuttle twice. (I still have the poster of the mission!)

Our current President is 15 years older than I, though my having grown up in upstate NY, I was familiar with his oft reported behavior in the news for decades since his late thirties. My observations of him then through now are, although he is clearly bright and talented, he appears to lack a wide-ranging intellectual curiosity, which results in him being less informed about many topics that his aptitude would otherwise suggest he could excel.

President Trump is also the oldest of the forty-five presidents at their final inauguration - beating Joe Biden by 159 days, so there is legitimate question (and exhibited behavior) of possible cognitive decline despite his repeated claims of acing his cognitive tests. I have no doubt that I have lost a step myself in the last 20 years.

So, if you were to ask me, which I know you have not, I would have to say that Donald Trump is a pretty smart guy, but perhaps not the "wise guy" he thinks he is. Of course, the response you would receive depends on who you ask, and the context in which you ask it.

Daniel Wells
Tracy, CA