President Donald Trump is very smart, OK? It’s the press than makes him seem “uncivil.”
That’s the message Trump was trying to spread Wednesday, answering a variety of questions from reporters before boarding Marine One to head to Dallas, Texas.
“You know, people don’t understand. I went to an Ivy League college. I was a nice student. I did very well,” he said, responding to a question about whether he should be more civil.
It’s not the first time Trump has boasted of his intelligence by bragging about graduating from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania’s business school, in 1968. During the campaign he brought it up a few times to defend his smarts and the fact that he has “the best words.”
“I’m a very intelligent person. You know, the fact is, I think, I really believe, I think the press creates a different image of Donald Trump than the real person,” he said.
The question about Trump’s civility is likely in reference to the way he has treated the widow of a soldier who was killed in Niger earlier this month, publicly refuting her claims that she felt disrespected by the President during a condolence phone call because Trump didn’t remember her husband’s name and suggested her husband “knew what he was signing up for.”
Responding to a different question about claims that he didn’t remember the soldier Sgt. La David Johnson’s name, he said he has “one of the great memories of all time.”
