Op-Ed: Trump Isn't Kidding About 'Super Genius' Uncle

President Trump has long hyped his late Uncle John as a "super genius." For those who think he's exaggerating, two scholars make the case in a Washington Post op-ed that Trump might actually be selling his uncle short. Two days before the anniversary of D-Day, Timothy Chu and Drew Endy of the Hoover Institution's Bio-Strategies and Leadership Initiative recount how the MIT electrical engineer quietly shaped some of World War II's most decisive moments. In particular, the younger brother of Fred Trump, the president's father, "played a crucial role in the development of radar for D-Day," they write, adding that "radar was hailed as 'second only to the atomic bomb' in winning the war."

Chu and Endy trace Trump's influence beyond Normandy: radar that helped blunt Hitler's V-1 attacks, equipment on the Enola Gay, reassurance that kept NASA's crewed flights on track after the Starfish Prime nuclear test in 1962, and early work in semiconductors and cancer treatment. Both President Truman and King George VI honored him for his war work, and, years later, President Reagan awarded him the National Medal of Science. The authors argue that his career offers a model for today's high-stakes tech rivalry and call for more John-Trump-style collaboration among scientists, soldiers, and policymakers. Read the full essay.