Daily
Kos is a group blog and internet forum focused on liberal American
politics. Additionally, the site features a participatory political
encyclopedia, glossaries, and other content. It is sometimes considered
an example of "netroots" activism.
The late professor William T.
Kelley taught marketing at Wharton School of Business and Finance,
University of Pennsylvania, for 31 years, ending with his retirement in
1982. Kelley taught marketing management both to undergraduate and
graduate students at Wharton. Dr. Bill was one of my closest friends
for 47 years when we lost him at 94 about six years ago. He would have
been 100 this year.
Donald J. Trump was an undergraduate student at Wharton for the latter two of his college years, having graduated in 1968.
Professor
Kelley told me 100 times over three decades that “Donald Trump was the
dumbest goddam student I ever had.” I remember his emphasis and
inflection — it went like this: “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn
student I ever had.” Kelley told me this after Trump had become a
celebrity, but long before he was considered a political figure. Kelley
often referred to Trump’s arrogance when he told the story that Trump
came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything.
This has
relevance now because as recently as this week, President Trump
challenged the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of the United States to
an IQ contest. This came within two days after NBC reported that
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the President a “moron” or a
"f**king moron." The president has frequently bragged that he was a
great student at a great school (Wharton). Thus, the public is entitled
to a contrary view from somebody who was there (Dr. Kelley), and I
faithfully report it here.
Another biographer, Gwenda Blair, wrote in 2001 that Trump was admitted
to Wharton on a special favor from a “friendly” admissions officer. The
officer had known Trump’s older brother, Freddy.
Trump’s classmates doubt that the real estate mogul was an academic powerhouse.
“He was not in any kind of leadership. I certainly doubt he was the
smartest guy in the class,” said Steve Perelman, a 1968 Wharton
classmate and a former Daily Pennsylvanian news editor.
Some classmates speculated that Trump skipped class, others that he commuted to New York on weekends. . . .
1968 Wharton graduate Louis Calomaris recalled that “Don ... was loath to really study much.”
Calomaris said Trump would come to study groups unprepared and did not “seem to care about being prepared.”