Trump attacks Tillerson with an old favourite – the IQ challenge

DONALD TRUMP, the US president, reached for one of his favourite measures of manhood yesterday in the ongoing spat with his secretary of state, challenging Rex Tillerson to an IQ test.

Last week, Mr Tillerson restated his loyalty to Mr Trump after leaks had suggested he considered resigning during the summer and had, in private, described the president as a “moron”.

In typical style, Mr Trump said he would be happy to settle the question of his intelligence once and for all. “I think it’s fake news, but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests,” he told Forbes magazine. “And I can tell you who is going to win.”

Mr Trump’s words mark the latest humiliation for the man who serves as his envoy to the world. Mr Tillerson has become increasingly isolated while the president seeks guidance on foreign policy from the retired and serving generals who staff his national security apparatus.

While Mr Tillerson works diplomatic channels to rein in North Korea’s atomic weapons programme and tries to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, the Commander-in-chief has repeatedly said military power is the only way to deal with Kim Jong-un’s regime and has signalled that he plans to decertify the nuclear limitation agreement with Tehran this week.

Although much of the tension has remained private, Mr Tillerson has complained that Mr Trump prevented him making key appointments.

At the same time, Bob Corker, a retiring Republican senator who chairs the foreign affairs committee, has warned that Mr Trump risks leading America into “world war three” with his unthinking public pronouncements.

In the Forbes interview, Mr Trump responded to criticism that he has undermined his secretary of state with provocative tweets. “I’m not undermining,” he said. “I think I’m actually strengthening authority.”

However, he still felt the need to use IQ to prove who was boss. Mr Trump has a history of boasting about his IQ and using the idea of measurable intelligence to put down others. In 2007, George W Bush was his target. In an interview with broadcaster Howard Stern, Mr Trump said: “I really don’t think he has much of an IQ. I can’t imagine he has any IQ at all.”

During the last election those who received the IQ treatment included Barack Obama, climate change activists, experts in general, and Republican opponents such as Rick Perry: “He should be forced to take an IQ test before being allowed to enter the GOP debate,” Trump tweeted.

In May last year, Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, said the then Republican candidate’s views on Islam were based on ignorance. “Let’s do an IQ test,” was Mr Trump’s pithy response.