Donald Trump, Who Bragged About Passing a Cognitive Test, Is Attacking AOC’s Intelligence

Tom Williams/Congressional Quarterly/Zuma

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

President Donald Trump was back at it with the racism and sexism Thursday morning, lobbing insults at prominent women of color during an appearance on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox News show.

After referring to Sen. Kamala Harris as a “mad woman,” Trump turned his attention to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), making unfounded claims about her academic performance. “AOC was a poor student,” he said. “This is not even a smart person, other than she’s got a good line of stuff. I mean, she goes out there and she yaps.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s high school research on longevity, including how antioxidants can prolong the lifespan of roundworms, earned her an asteroid named in her honor. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, says the “very stable genius” paid someone else to take the SATs for him.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate