"The myth of Donald Trump, as written by Donald Trump, took yet another blow Monday," says The Washington Post's Aaron Blake. President Trump has frequently highlighted his attendance at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance as evidence of his first-rate intellect, but on Monday, the Post reported that he got into Wharton with a little help from his friends — or, rather, his older brother's friend.
In 1966, Fred Trump Jr. called his close friend James Nolan, then working in Penn's admission office, the Post reports:
"He called me and said, 'You remember my brother Donald?' Which I didn't," Nolan, 81, said in an interview with The Washington Post. "He said: 'He's at Fordham and he would like to transfer to Wharton. Will you interview him?' I was happy to do that." Soon, Donald Trump arrived at Penn for the interview, accompanied by his father, Fred Trump Sr., who sought to "ingratiate" himself, Nolan said. [The Washington Post]
Nolan said he was the only admissions official to talk to Trump and he gave him a rating, but the final decision rested with his boss, and "it was not very difficult" to get into Wharton in 1966, easily higher than 50 percent if you were transferring from another school. "I certainly was not struck by any sense that I'm sitting before a genius," he told the Post. "Certainly not a super genius." Former Wharton classmates say Trump was a middling student.
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.
None of this is to suggest Trump isn't smart. But added to his evident help staying out of Vietnam and much-greater-than-acknowledged financial boost from his father, it's more proof Trump "routinely relied on family or other connections at key junctures and has inflated the early successes that resulted," Blake says. This is "hardly the story of a self-made, brilliant budding real estate tycoon. It's a story that apparently could have gone much differently if its protagonist were not born a Trump."
-
August 30 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump's role reversal and King George III
-
5 bullseye cartoons about the reasons for mass shootingsCartoons Artists take on gun worship, a price paid, and more
-
Lisa Cook and Trump's battle for control the US FedTalking Point The president's attempts to fire one of the Federal Reserve's seven governor is represents 'a stunning escalation' of his attacks on the US central bank
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
