Trumpian “Common Sense” and the History of IQ Tests

^{"Donald Trump Signs The Pledge" by Michael Vadon 
is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.}

This is the eighth installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring the history of eugenics and the ways it shapes our present. The series is organized by Osagie K. Obasogie in collaboration with the Los Angeles Review of Books, and supported by the Center for Genetics and Society, the Othering & Belonging Institute, and Berkeley Public Health.

AT A PRESS CONFERENCE on January 30, 2025, the morning after a tragic midair collision in Washington, DC, between a military helicopter and an American Airlines plane, President Donald Trump rationalized the crash by invoking the Federal Aviation Administration’s attempts to diversify its workforce. “The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.” Citing no evidence that diversity programs had anything to do with the accident, which killed 67 people, his point—presumably—was...