'Madman and a genius': Trump forgets names and goes on bizarre rant about Unabomber
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
President Donald Trump delivered a meandering speech in Pittsburgh on Tuesday in which he couldn’t remember names and shared anecdotes that seem false.
At a Pennsylvania “Energy and Innovation” summit hosted by Rep. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), Trump admitted he initially thought artificial intelligence was “not [his] thing.”
He also said during his speech at the event that his uncle — whom he described as a “noted physicist” involved with radar during WWII — had taught Theodore Kaczynski at MIT.
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Kaczynski came to public attention as the “Unabomber” after he was arrested in April 1996 for mailing or hand‑delivering 16 homemade bombs over 17 years. The campaign killed three people and injured 23 — targeting academics, airline personnel and others in the education and tech sectors.
“Do you know who Kaczynski was? There's very little difference between a madman and a genius,” Trump said.
Quoting a conversation with his uncle, he said: “What kind of a student was he, Uncle John? He said: ‘What kind of a student — seriously, good ... he’d go around correcting everybody. But it didn't work out too well for him. Didn't work out too well, but it's interesting in life.’"
But the The Independent reported Tuesday that those details are false. Kaczynski never attended MIT — he earned his degrees from Harvard and the University of Michigan. Moreover, there’s no record of Trump’s uncle having taught him at any institution.
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Adding to the unease, Trump struggled to pronounce the name of his aide Michael Kratsios.
The president also seemed to forget who was accompanying him on the trip.
“I want to introduce Dan Meuser. Dan Meuser is here,” Trump said. “Where’s Dan?” “They all stayed in Washington,” McCormick told the president.
“Oh, they’re in Washington working on our next bill? Good,” Trump said.
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Watch the video of Trump's comments below, or by clicking this link.
