Did william t kelley call Trump his dumbest student

1. The origin story: a friend’s decades‑long recollection

The widely reported line about Kelley calling Trump “the dumbest goddamn student I ever had” originates not from a recorded interview with Kelley but from attorney Frank DiPrima, a long‑time friend who said Kelley told him the phrase “100 times over the course of 30 years” ^[1]. Multiple outlets replicate DiPrima’s account and his remembered inflection as the source for the remark ^{[2] [5]}.

2. No direct contemporaneous primary quote from Kelley

Available sources show no contemporaneous primary source — no recorded lecture, memo, or published interview from William T. Kelley himself — in which Kelley is quoted directly using that language. TruthOrFiction and other outlets explicitly attribute the statement to DiPrima’s memory rather than to any direct Kelley document or on‑the‑record interview ^[1].

3. How the line entered the public record and has been reused

After Kelley’s death, DiPrima’s account was published and then cited widely; media and political outlets have repeated the phrase as emblematic of an alleged professor’s low opinion of Trump ^{[5] [2]}. The phrase has also been echoed in blogs, political sites and longform pieces about Trump’s time at Wharton ^{[6] [7]}.

4. The counterpoint: Trump shared a falsified quote claiming the opposite

In at least one documented episode, Donald Trump himself shared a fabricated quote attributed to Kelley that said the reverse — that Kelley called Trump “the smartest student I ever had.” Reporting flagged that item as false and contrasted it with the DiPrima recollection that Kelley actually disparaged Trump ^[4]. That episode demonstrates active dispute over which words Kelley used and how his view was represented.

5. Assessing reliability and competing interpretations

The strength of the claim rests entirely on DiPrima’s long‑term recollection; outlets reporting the line note that Kelley was deceased and unable to confirm or deny the anecdote ^{[1] [5]}. Some coverage treats DiPrima’s account as credible because of his long friendship with Kelley, while other reporting highlights the lack of a direct primary source and thus the story’s reliance on second‑hand memory ^{[1] [2]}.

6. Why this matters: memory, attribution and political reuse

The dispute matters because a professor’s alleged characterization of a future president is politically potent; the fact that the report is second‑hand and surfaced after Kelley’s death leaves room for both genuine recollection and questions about accuracy. Reporting also shows how the line has been weaponized in public discourse — both by those repeating the insult and by Trump’s camp, which promoted a fake, flattering counterquote ^{[4] [2]}.

7. What the provided sources do and do not say

The available sources consistently report DiPrima’s recollection and note Kelley’s supposed repeated use of the phrase ^{[1] [2] [5]}. They also document an instance where Trump shared a false, opposite quote attributed to Kelley ^[4]. The provided reporting does not include a direct, contemporaneous quotation from Kelley himself, nor do these sources present independent corroboration beyond DiPrima’s account ^[1].

8. Bottom line for readers

If you ask “did William T. Kelley call Trump his dumbest student?” the best summary from current reporting is: William T. Kelley is widely reported to have been described that way by his longtime friend Frank DiPrima, who said Kelley repeated the line for decades ^[1]. However, there is no cited primary, on‑the‑record source from Kelley himself in the materials provided, and the topic has been subject to active misattribution and falsification in public discourse ^{[4] [2]}.