White House on Trump’s IQ Challenge: Can’t You Guys Take a Joke?

Yes, of course he was.

After the news of President Trump stupidly suggesting an IQ test between himself and his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the White House now feels the need to backtrack.

As I told you earlier today, Trump is apparently still miffed about reports that Tillerson was considering resigning in July, and that in a moment of anger, he called the president a “f**king moron.”

Tillerson later held a televised announcement, denying he’d ever considered abandoning his post.

Notably, he didn’t refute the claims that he’d called Trump a moron, and reports followed closely after that the president was furious that that one, very important detail was left out of his announcement.

To be fair, Tillerson simply refused to talk about the “moron” comment, and later, the State Department denied he said it. The reporter who first brought the comment to light, however, stands by her sources.

Also notably, if Trump is still obsessing over the comment a week later, wouldn’t that mean he actually believes Tillerson did say it?

Whatever the case, the Forbes interview, where Trump compared Tillerson’s level of intelligence to his own, and promised Tillerson would come out lacking was too much for social media and was a fire that needed to be put out, quickly.

Speaking to the press on the issue earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders gave an “Aw, shucks” explanation for the comment.

“[Trump] certainly never implied that the secretary of state was not incredibly intelligent,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Tuesday.

OH… I guess it’s all in the wording, right?

So is he saying that Tillerson is smart, but he’s more smarter?

Trump did inform us all on the campaign trail that he had the best brain and the best words.

“He made a joke, nothing more than that,” Sanders said. “He has full confidence in the secretary of state. They had a great visit earlier today and they’re working hand-in-hand to move the president’s agenda forward.”

Uh-oh.

How many times have we heard about the president’s “full confidence,” only to see another contestant kicked off the island?

I think maybe a good rule of thumb is that when you’re in a position as crucial as the presidency, especially when there are political storms raging on every side and from foes of every stripe, it’s probably not a great idea to joke about the intelligence of your top diplomat. In fact, keep joking to the minimum and stick to the job.

At least, that’s what I would do, if I had a best, good brain.

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