President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was “quite impressed” with his own intelligence.
Trump made the odd claim during a speech in North Carolina, where he credited himself with the idea of giving U.S. service members a $1,776 check last year during the holidays as a “warrior dividend.”
“I wanted to get a bonus for the military,” he said, although the money had actually already been allocated by Congress, which set aside $2.9 billion as part of a military housing supplement.
“So it came out to my desk, ‘Sir, we can give $1,775,’” Trump recalled. “I looked at the number, and I said, ‘Wait a minute, for $1 more, it’s $1,776,’ which is pretty good.”
The president couldn’t help but pat himself on the back over the tweak.
“I was quite impressed with my intelligence,” he said. “I’m a high-IQ person, after all.”
Trump claimed that “everyone” told him it would be “impossible” to reach that $1,776 number.
The president has frequently bragged about his intelligence, often citing his results on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment as proof. In May, for example, he claimed to have gotten a “perfect” score, which he said shows his “extreme intelligence.”
Just one problem: The assessment is not an intelligence test.
Trump’s critics say the real test is what he’s said and done in public.
And they’re not exactly impressed by what they’ve seen: