Professor Trump, and the Unabomber: Unpacking a Bizarre Tale
President Trump has a talent for weaving lies with a few sprinkles of truth that make his stories sound believable. In the pantheon of Trumpian anecdotes, few rival the strange and persistent tale involving his uncle, MIT professor Dr. John G. Trump, and the domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. Over the years, Donald Trump has invoked his late uncle’s name in discussions of intelligence, conspiracy theories, and even time travel. However, one particularly eyebrow-raising thread is his conflation of Dr. Trump and the FBI’s hunt for the Unabomber, a tale that demands to be untangled.
Trump Spins Bizarre Tale Linking His Uncle to the Unabomber
Speaking at an event focused on energy and innovation on Tuesday, Trump launched into a tangent to “brag just for a second” about his uncle’s intellect. He began by erroneously declaring that his uncle was “the longest-serving professor in the history of MIT.” In reality, John G. Trump was indeed a distinguished and long-serving professor, but not the longest-serving.
Trump then rattled off a list of academic credentials, claiming his uncle held degrees “in nuclear, chemical, and math.” That, too, was inaccurate or a lie. According to public records, John Trump earned two degrees in electrical engineering and one in physics, none in chemistry or mathematics.
But the most eyebrow-raising moment came when Trump declared, “Kaczynski was one of his students.” There is no evidence to support this erroneous claim. Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, was a math prodigy who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and later taught at UC Berkeley, not MIT.
Trump’s story, riddled with embellishments and factual errors, appears to be part of a broader pattern of exaggerating personal and familial accomplishments, this time by inventing an implausible academic link between his uncle and a domestic terrorist.
“My Uncle Was at MIT”: Trump’s Go-To Genius
Donald Trump has frequently referenced his uncle, Dr. John Trump, to bolster claims about his intelligence. In a 2016 interview, Trump stated:
“My uncle was a great professor at MIT for many years. I like to say, ‘My uncle was a great genius scientist at MIT’… good genes, very good genes.”
— NBC, June 2016
Dr. John Trump was, in fact, an electrical engineer and physicist who taught at MIT and worked with the National Defense Research Committee during World War II. He notably examined the papers of Nikola Tesla after Tesla died in 1943 on behalf of the FBI and the Office of Alien Property, a fact Trump has invoked to suggest his family is entwined with secret government knowledge.
Enter the Unabomber
The strange twist comes when Trump began referencing the Unabomber in speeches and interviews. In a 2020 campaign rally, Trump said:
“You know, my uncle was at MIT, he was a great guy. And he worked with the government on all sorts of stuff — nuclear, energy, everything. They had him looking at Tesla’s stuff. And he helped the FBI, you know, with the Unabomber, too.”
— Trump Rally, October 2020, Michigan
This claim raises immediate red flags.
Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was finally identified and captured in 1996 after a decades-long FBI investigation. Dr. John Trump died in 1985, eleven years before Kaczynski was caught, and five years before the infamous Unabomber manifesto was published. There is no public record, government documentation, or scholarly citation linking Dr. Trump to the FBI’s Unabomber case.
Timeline Clash: Facts vs Fiction
Let’s consider the timeline:
- Dr. John G. Trump:
- Born: August 21, 1907
- Died: February 21, 1985
- Fields: Electrical engineering, high-voltage radiation, radar technology
- Role with FBI: Reviewed Nikola Tesla’s documents in 1943
- Ted Kaczynski (The Unabomber):
- Born: May 22, 1942
- Bombing Campaign: 1978–1995
- Arrested: April 3, 1996
There is no overlap between Dr. Trump’s professional life and the active investigation of the Unabomber. In fact, Dr. Trump passed away before the FBI even coined the acronym “UNABOM”.
Origins of the Myth
The confusion may stem from the mystique surrounding Dr. Trump’s examination of Nikola Tesla’s papers. Tesla, a long-time favorite among conspiracy theorists, is said to have researched death rays and time travel. This fed into online rumors that John Trump had uncovered advanced technologies, sparking fringe theories that Donald Trump had access to “hidden knowledge” — including the ability to predict the future or even engage in time travel (a concept ludicrously bolstered by the Barron Trump books written in the 19th century and unearthed in modern meme culture).
The Unabomber story appears to be another Trumpian embellishment, a means to stitch together disparate pieces of real history, personal pride, and dramatic fiction to tell a story of inherited genius and government intrigue.
Trump and the Art of Fabrication
This anecdote is not isolated. Trump’s pattern of “truth-adjacent storytelling” — blending fact with invention- is a well-documented rhetorical strategy. As presidential historian Timothy Naftali noted:
“Trump doesn’t necessarily lie in the traditional sense. He mythologizes. He builds stories where he’s the hero, or the genius by association. It’s performance, not briefing.”
— CNN Interview, July 2023
When he brings up his uncle, it’s often to validate his intelligence or claim proximity to complex scientific and national security matters, even if the details don’t withstand scrutiny.
Genius Inherited?
Pablo Picasso, one of the most revolutionary artists in history, had four children. Despite growing up around his creative genius, none of them became groundbreaking artists themselves.
His son Paulo Picasso was a motorcycle racer and chauffeur. His grandchildren pursued careers in fashion, photography, and business, but none reached or even approached Picasso’s artistic brilliance.
Talent may run in families, but genius is a lightning strike, not a bloodline.
Myth as a Mirror
Trump’s tale about his uncle and the Unabomber isn’t just a misremembering, it’s an illustration of his broader pattern of self-aggrandizing myth-making. Like many of his claims, it contains a kernel of truth, a brilliant uncle, and a connection to Tesla, but quickly veers into the fantastical, unanchored by reality or a clear timeline.
For those tracking how misinformation becomes normalized through repetition, it’s a cautionary tale in real time.
-Ben Cable
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