President Donald Trump seems to be on a mission to prove he’s the brainiac of Washington D.C., and he’s not afraid to throw shade to do it.
In yet another media blitz, Trump decided to take aim at two of his loudest Capitol Hill critics. Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett, by challenging them to take IQ tests. Standing outside the White House on Tuesday, just before jetting off to an AI summit in Pittsburgh, the 79-year-old threw out a bold jab.
“AOC, look, I think she’s very nice. But she’s very low-IQ, and we really don’t need low-IQ,” he said. “Between her and Crockett, we’re going to give them both an IQ test to see who comes out best.”
Trump: “AOC — look. I think she’s very nice. But she’s very low IQ, and we really don’t need low IQ. Between her and Crockett, we’re gonna give ’em both an IQ test to see who comes out best. I took a real test at Walter Reed medical center and I aced it. Now it’s time for them… pic.twitter.com/IlEUZd8Zlb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 15, 2025
Of course, the President has zero authority to force elected members of Congress, who serve in a coequal branch of government, to take any such test. Still, Trump was convinced he’d come out the winner.
“Now, I took my test. I took a real test at Walter Reed Medical Center, and I aced it,” he added, referring to the cognitive exam he took in April. “I got every one of all those questions right. Now it’s time for them to take a test.”
One small detail though: that wasn’t an IQ test. It was the MoCA exam, a cognitive screening typically used to detect signs of dementia. It involves tasks like clock drawing and animal identification, not critical reasoning or intelligence metrics.
And while Trump continues to insist his IQ is “one of the highest,” he’s never shown proof. In fact, quite the opposite. His former fixer Michael Cohen told Congress in 2019 that Trump once demanded he threaten every school he attended, including Fordham University and UPenn, against ever releasing his grades or test scores.
Being completely transparent here, Trump just compared his “accomplishment” in not failing a test for dementia to; AOC, a graduate cum laude from Boston University and Rep Crockett, an attorney.
The man is a cretin. pic.twitter.com/9dl1L3FgN4
— Once or ‘X’ Republican – 🇺🇦 🌮 (@oncerepublican) July 15, 2025
“I’m talking about a man who declares himself brilliant but directed me to threaten his high school, his colleges and the College Board to never release his grades or SAT scores,” Cohen testified. He even submitted letters he wrote on Trump’s behalf.
Then there’s the damning claim from Trump’s own niece, Mary Trump. In her explosive 2020 book, she alleged that his late sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, once told relatives Donald had someone else take the SAT for him.
Despite that legacy of academic secrecy, Trump has made “low-IQ” one of his go-to insults, especially for women of color. Earlier this year, he called Rep. Crockett a “lowlife” and “a very low-IQ person.”
But this time, Crockett wasn’t about to let it slide. Appearing on Laura Coates Live, she hit back hard.
“Um, it is absolutely ridiculous that I live rent-free in his mind in a time in which the American people are suffering,” she said. “He absolutely consistently buys into this idea or continues to put it out there that women of color somehow are low IQ. Let me be clear. I have a lot more education than he does. This is just what it is degree wise. I have earned my degrees. My daddy didn’t have to make a phone call to get me into anything because that wasn’t a possibility. Okay, so we can stop playing games as if I am somehow lesser than.”
Crockett is a licensed attorney with a law degree. AOC, meanwhile, graduated cum laude from Boston University with a double major in economics and international relations.
Social media quickly sided with the congresswomen. One commenter wrote, “AOC graduated cum laude with dual-degrees in economics and international relations. Crockett has a law degree and passed the bar. Calling them low IQ is laughable.”
Another dared Trump to actually follow through. “Please please please have both AOC and Donald Trump take the same IQ test, and please please please release the results. I will make a bet with anyone that AOC scores higher.”
Still, Trump has yet to share his own scores, but has launched an aggressive “war on academia.” In his second term, Trump’s administration targeted elite universities like the University of Pennsylvania (his own alma mater), suspending federal funding under the banner of “fairness” over transgender athlete policies.
If this isn’t proof of his dementia, I give up.
“President Donald Trump challenged Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who he deemed “low IQ,” to an intelligence test to “see who comes out best.”
Pleaseohpleaseohplease…
— Old Guy Rant (@OldGuyRant2) July 17, 2025
But critics say the real motive is vengeance against institutions he feels rejected by, especially as backlash against DEI programs and liberal professors grows on the right.
For now, though, it’s clear. Trump may have brought the fight to AOC and Crockett, but both women came armed with facts, degrees, and more receipts than he bargained for.
