Better than anyone · 2024 campaign · № 47
Understands nuclear 'maybe better than anybody' because his uncle taught at MIT
“the one program I hated to upgrade, hated it, was the nuclear program. And I understand it maybe better than anybody. My uncle was at MIT, a professor, the longest serving professor in the history of MIT.”
- Said
- , Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity, New Holland Arena, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- Subject
- nuclear weapons
- Topic
- Foreign policy
- Era
- 2024 campaign
What the record showed
Snopes found that John Trump was one of MIT's longest-serving professors but not the longest, and that his degrees were in electrical engineering and physics rather than 'nuclear, chemical, and math.' Trump himself later put his uncle's tenure at 41 years (July 24, 2026). He repeated the family-credential argument on June 12, 2025 ('my uncle is a big shot at MIT, the smartest guy'), on March 13, 2026 in Hebron, Kentucky ('That means I have much better blood'), and on July 24, 2026 ('My uncle was very big into nuclear for 41 years at MIT, but they've advanced somewhat since those days').
Sources
- Trump says US heading into 'World War III territory' under Biden-Harris administration: 'Clowns'
- Trump's Bizarre Flex On His Smarts Has Critics Howling
- Was Donald Trump's Uncle a Professor at MIT?
- Remarks on Signing Legislation Regarding Congressional Disapproval of EPA Rules Relating to Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Standards in California
- Donald Trump Claims 'Much Better Blood' Because His Uncle Was an MIT Professor
- Remarks on United States Nuclear Innovation and an Exchange With Reporters