President Donald Trump has called House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and conservative podcaster Candace Owens “low IQ” individuals in his latest social media attacks. In a post on Truth Social on Friday evening, Trump wrote that Owens’ “stock, which was never very high, has fallen a long way,” adding, “I believe, in this case, without verification, she is an extremely Low IQ individual!” He also criticised Owens for targeting France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, over unsubstantiated claims that she is transgender—allegations that have prompted a defamation lawsuit from the Macrons.
Minutes later, Trump turned his attention to Jeffries, whom he had previously derided as a “low IQ person” on Tuesday. The president wrote: “Hakeem ‘High Tax’ Jeffries is a Low IQ individual who is not smart enough to be ‘running’ the Democrat Party, and certainly not smart enough to be involved in running the United States of America.” Trump added that “it’s people like this who almost destroyed our Nation with their High Tax, Open Border Policies.”
Trump routinely uses the term “low IQ” against opponents of all backgrounds, but has most often applied it to minority figures, including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Representative Jasmine Crockett, Representative Maxine Waters, and former Vice President Kamala Harris. Karrin Vasby Anderson, a communications professor at Colorado State University, described the characterisation as “a racist dog whistle with a long history in the U.S.”
Both Jeffries and Owens have been vocal critics of Trump. Owens, who endorsed Trump in 2024, recently accused him of being unable to “put together a coherent thought,” while Jeffries has branded Trump a “wannabe king” and a “disaster for the economy.” Responding to Trump’s latest insult, Jeffries said: “It's extraordinary to me that Donald Trump keeps recycling [these] low IQ insults. This is from the dumbest president ever.”
