Mensa offers to administer IQ tests to Trump and Tillerson
It's time, once and for all, to separate the geniuses from the morons.
Mensa, a prominent "high IQ society," has offered to administer IQ tests to both President Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in an attempt to put Morongate behind them. It all started when NBC News and other organizations reported that over the summer, Tillerson had called Trump a "moron" after a meeting at the Pentagon; the report was quickly denounced by Trump and not denied by Tillerson. During an interview with Forbes on Tuesday, Trump was asked about Tillerson's alleged comment, and Trump said he thought it was "fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win." At least he challenged Tillerson to an IQ test rather than, say, a duel.
Mensa later entered the fray, with spokesman Charles Brown telling The Boston Globe that the group is willing to test Trump and Tillerson, and is in fact "happy to offer our test to anybody really who's interested in joining our society," noting that Trump and Tillerson are not and never were members. You don't have to be the world's smartest person to read between those lines.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
6 trailside homes for hikersFeature Featuring a roof deck with skyline views in California and a home with access to private trails in Montana
-
How Mike Johnson is rendering the House ‘irrelevant’Talking Points Speaker has put the House on indefinite hiatus
-
Lazarus: Harlan Coben’s ‘embarrassingly compelling’ thrillerThe Week Recommends Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin play father-and-son psychiatrists in this ‘precision-engineered’ crime drama
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
