How have fact‑checkers debunked viral IQ claims about public figures like Trump?
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Executive summary
Fact‑checkers have repeatedly shown that the viral claim Donald Trump scored 73 on an IQ test rests on a fabricated newspaper clipping and manufactured evidence rather than verifiable records, with organizations such as Snopes, PolitiFact and Full Fact finding no proof the score exists [1] [2] [3]. Those investigations combined image forensics, searches for original reporting and checks of archive records to conclude the story is false while noting that Trump has never released an official, independently verified IQ score [1] [4].
1. How the sensational claim first presented itself — and why it was plausible to the public
The story circulated as an apparent newspaper clipping claiming that a former New York Military Academy counselor’s records revealed a score of 73 for Trump, a format that looks authoritative to many readers; fact‑checkers found the clipping traceable online back to at least 2019 and linked to no legitimate news outlet, which raised immediate red flags [2] [3]. The anecdote included a named discoverer and quotes that lent narrative detail — a common pattern in viral fabrications — yet searches for corroborating contemporaneous reporting turned up nothing, undermining the clipping’s plausibility [2] [1].
2. The toolbox fact‑checkers used: sourcing, image forensics and archival searches
Investigative checks started with archival and keyword searches to see if a real newspaper had published the story; fact‑checkers reported zero results in credible news databases, which is significant because a legitimate scoop about a president’s IQ would be widely reported [1]. Image analysis flagged the photograph used to portray “William Askew Jr.” as a stock photo from an Adobe library, and reverse‑image searches showed the clipping’s elements were not traceable to any authentic print edition, a combination that helped discredit the artifact [1] [2].
3. What fact‑checkers concluded about the evidence and its gaps
The consensus among Snopes, PolitiFact and Full Fact is that there is no evidence Trump scored 73 and that the circulating image is a manufactured news item; Full Fact explicitly rated the claim false because no evidence supports the 73 figure, and PolitiFact described the image as fabricated and miscaptioned [2] [1]. Multiple outlets noted Trump has never publicly released an IQ score, so the absence of official documentation makes the specific numeric claim unverifiable and therefore implausible absent reliable provenance [4].
4. Why the claim keeps resurfacing: psychology, politics and platform mechanics
Even after debunking, the clip resurfaces because it fits partisan narratives and is easily reshared on platforms where context is lost; fact‑checkers and reporting noted the claim’s reappearances on social media and the way partisan actors weaponize IQ memes to mock opponents, which sustains circulation despite earlier corrections [3] [5]. The recycled content often gets new life when political tensions spike, and social platforms’ resharing mechanics let old fabrications look novel again, a dynamic documented in multiple fact‑checks [2] [1].
5. Alternate viewpoints, limits of the debunking, and implicit agendas
While fact‑checkers agree the specific 73 score is unsupported, they also note limits: no fact‑check can prove a negative forever — they can only show that no verifiable source or archive supports the claim now — and several articles concede Trump has not released an official IQ number, leaving the broader question of any private test unresolved [4] [2]. Reporters and readers should also be aware of implicit agendas: opponents gain leverage by spreading humiliating numbers, while supporters can dismiss corrections as politically motivated, a polarization that fact‑checkers acknowledge as part of the story’s persistence [3] [5].
6. Practical takeaway: how fact‑checkers’ methods reduce harm and what remains uncertain
By combining archival searches, image forensics and sourcing checks, fact‑checkers dismantled the specific 73‑IQ claim and exposed the fabricated evidence, thereby removing a key talking point from circulation and giving journalists a documented explanation to share [1] [2]. However, because no publicly released, independently verified IQ score for Trump exists, any future claim of a numeric score requires primary documentation or credible contemporaneous reporting to be treated as reliable — a standard the fact‑checkers applied in these cases [4] [1].