Trump stopped calling people 'stupid' for a while. Now he's back at it.

published 6 August 2018

President Trump had a long track record of calling people "stupid" — until he put "president" in front of his name.

Disparaging enemies' intelligence in tweets and interviews was Trump's go-to insult right up until his election, analysis from The Washington Post has found. November 2016 proved a turning point in Trump's vocabulary, but he's recently turned back to his dummy-spewing ways.

From June 2015, when he declared his candidacy, until his election, Trump used "stupid," "dummy," "dumb," or "low IQ" as an insult at least 53 times, per the Post. But he has mostly left those words out of his vocabulary throughout his presidency, save for the time he used one on MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski last July. Now, Trump's stupid-o-meter is through the roof once again, as he has disparaged someone's intelligence 13 times since the start of this year.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Whose intelligence Trump has insulted has changed as well, the Post points out. Before his election, Trump's opponents were usually fellow conservatives and usually white — think former President George W. Bush's adviser Karl Rove and radio host Glenn Beck. Now, Trump has gone after black people, namely Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and CNN host Don Lemon. Waters has been called "low IQ" seven times alone.

Explore More

Speed Reads Us News

To continue reading this article...

Create a free account

Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.

Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.

Cancel or pause at any time.

Already a subscriber to The Week?

Unlimited website access is included with Digital and Print + Digital subscriptions.
with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.

Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox