Trump makes ‘ridiculous’ claim about his uncle – and is swiftly fact-checked

It was at the start of October that US president Donald Trump claimed he has the “highest of IQs” thanks to his late uncle Dr John Trump, and just weeks later, the 80-year-old has now said the same relative “invented radar” – which he didn’t.

Speaking in Florida on Friday, when he cast his vote early for the November midterms, the Republican reeled off a list of updates around the ongoing war in Iran, including ‘knocking out’ 259 ships.

“They’ve knocked out the … all of the … actually some of the things my uncle invented - the radar. My uncle invented radar, can you believe it?

“From MIT, Dr John Trump. He’ll probably be very angry at me that I knocked out the radar.”

Except, Dr Trump didn’t invent radar technology, as Britannica, the US National Weather Service (NWS) and the American Physical Society (APS) all point to its basic principles originating in the 1880s with German physicist Heinrich Hertz.

The same sites also mention German engineer Christian Huelsmeyer, who was granted a patent in numerous countries for an “obstacle detector and ship navigation device”.

NWS and Britannica reference the work of Lawrence Hyland, at the US Naval Research Laboratory, in the 1930s – the same decade which saw Scottish physicist Robert Watson-Watt, considered by many to be a radar “pioneer”, granted the British patent for a radar system for air defence.

So what about Dr Trump?

A 2016 article by Physics Today, updated in 2018, states that he “concentrated his own wartime work on the new technology of radar”, and was part of a “microwave committee” working on radar research and development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which later became the MIT Radiation Laboratory or ‘Rad Lab’.

But as editor-in-chief of The Dispatch, Jonah Goldberg, wrote on X/Twitter in response to Trump’s claims, Dr Trump “did do important work on radar development in WWII”, but “the claim he invented radar is ridiculous”:

And he wasn’t the only one to challenge the US president’s assertion, with political commentator Jo Carducci responding to Trump saying “can you believe it” with “actually, we can’t. Because he didn’t”:

“No,” another account simply replied:

Similarly, Jonathan Pie, the fictional reporter created by British comedian Tom Walker, wrote: “No Donald, I can't, because he didn't. However, your uncle was a clever man. You just got the surname - and a chronically inflated ego, along with verbal diarrhoea”:

“Fact check: false,” tweeted Republicans against Trump:

Canada Hates Trump commented: “If you think Trump’s uncle invented radar, you’re a f***ing idiot”:

And author Mike Carlton said: “The stupidity, the ignorance, are breathtaking”:

Awkward.

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