Did Stephen Colbert "reveal" Donald Trump's "1970 Wharton IQ test"? No, that's not true: This claim and its variations originated from accounts that warned their audiences that they do not post factually accurate content. The rumor spread in variations that contradicted each other on the name of the TV host, school, test type and even the name of the person who supposedly took it. Lead Stories found no evidence that any of the versions was ever true.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on YouTube on January 6, 2026, under the title:
This is what the video's thumbnail image looked like on YouTube at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at YouTube.com/@FlashFable-v8b)
The clip's description, however, said that the claim was about a "fiction late-night moment". It continued further:
⚠️ DISCLAIMER: This is a fictional dramatization created solely for entertainment.
At the 2:33 mark, the clip included what appeared to be a video quotation from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:
... we have the results of their IQ test right here.
That, however, was not taken from a recent episode -- that fragment had been online on the show's official account since October 11, 2017 (archived here).
The episode's description reads:
Donald Trump claims his IQ is higher than his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's. Well, Mr. President, it's time to put your ability to calculate mathematic equations involving money where your mouth is!
In a genre of political satire, the show referenced real-life news reports.
In the fall of 2017, Tillerson, an oil executive and the 69th U.S. Secretary of State (archived here) under Trump's first administration, told reporters (archived here) at the time that the U.S. was engaged in negotiations with North Korea. Trump responded to it (archived here) on X, then-Twitter: "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man."
Trump then gave Forbes an interview published on October 10, 2017 (archived here). In part, it reads:
He counterpunches, in this case firing a shot at Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who reportedly called his boss a moron: 'I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.'
At the 2:30 mark in the real recording of Colbert's show, we can hear a longer version of the quote from the video reviewed in this fact check:
...we have the results of their IQ test right here. Tillerson scored 120. It's above average, not genius, but still pretty good. And we have Donald Trump's results right here. It's a drawing of a big truck that says, 'MAGA'. And there's Trump right there saying, 'Honk-honk!' And here's Rex Tillerson, but Trump calls him 'Rex Smellerson'. So it's a toss-up!
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at youtube.com/@ColbertLateShow)
Lead Stories reviewed that 2017 episode of the show: It said nothing about the Wharton School (archived here).
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at youtube.com/@ColbertLateShow)
Previously, videos making the same claim had appeared on YouTube on January 1 (archived here) and January 3, 2026 (archived here). In both cases, the clips were published with identically worded disclaimers. They said that the accounts only offered "fictionalized dramatization" and that their content "is not intended to assert factual claims."
Searches across Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) showed no credible sources confirming the claim:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page at yahoo.com)
Remarkably, variations of the claim dould not agree on the name of the TV host, the university, the type of the test and even on the person who supposedly took it.
For example, on November 10, 2025 (archived here), a version of the same claim discussed Jimmy Kimmel instead of Stephen Colbert. It was shared on an online forum after being reposted from a now-terminated YouTube account:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at elitetrader.com)
However, Trump wouldn't have taken any Wharton tests in the 1970s because he graduated in 1968, as the school's official magazine (archived here) and the Washington Post (archived here) previously wrote.
Another variation of the claim (archived here) discusses Harvard instead of Wharton, but not only did Trump never go to that school -- he denied (archived here) that he ever applied to Harvard.
One more version (archived here) alleged that the person who "revealed" the test was U.S. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (archived here) and that it was JD Vance who took the same "1970 IQ Wharton Test", despite not being born until 1984 (archived here).
That video was also posted with a self-debunking warning:
⚠️ DISCLAIMER: This is a fictional dramatization created solely for entertainment. Any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental.
