'He taught the Unabomber': Trump claims his uncle was longest serving MIT professor - is it true?

At a campaign-style event in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump made a characteristically meandering claim that his uncle, the late Dr John Trump, was the longest-serving professor in the history of MIT and had taught one of America’s most notorious domestic terrorists, the Unabomber. But while the anecdote grabbed attention, almost none of it appears to be true.

“I have to brag just for a second,” Trump said at the Energy and Innovation event hosted by Senator Dave McCormick. “Although my uncle was at MIT, one of the great professors, 51 years, whatever. He was longest serving professor in the history of MIT… Kaczynski was one of his students.”

Trump: My uncle was at MIT, one of the great professors. 51 years whatever… three degrees in nuclear, chemical and math. Kaczynski was one of his students? Do you know who that is? There is very little difference between a mad man and a genius. pic.twitter.com/56fpC1sDsS

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 15, 2025

Referring to the late Ted Kaczynski, who carried out a 17-year bombing spree that killed three and injured 23, Trump added: “I said, what kind of a student was he? Uncle John, Dr John Trump? He said seriously good. He said he’d go around correcting everybody. But it didn’t work out too well for him.”

The problem? Kaczynski never attended MIT , and Trump’s uncle was not the longest-serving professor there.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had earlier told Newsweek that while Dr John Trump had a long and respected academic career at the university, he was not its longest-serving professor. Based on MIT’s records, at least 10 professors have served 53 years or longer. Trump’s uncle worked at MIT in various capacities from 1933 until his death in 1985, with 37 years as a full professor and later roles as senior lecturer and professor emeritus.

There’s also no evidence that Kaczynski who completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard and earned graduate degrees in mathematics at the University of Michigan, ever studied at MIT. In fact, by the time Trump’s uncle had already been working at MIT for decades, Kaczynski was still a child.

The real story of the Unabomber
Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, later dubbed the “Unabomber” by the FBI, lived in a remote cabin in Montana where he built homemade bombs and conducted a campaign of terror against scientists and industrial targets between 1978 and 1995. A mathematical prodigy, he had taught briefly at Berkeley before turning against modern society.

Kaczynski’s identity was revealed after his brother recognised his writing style in a published manifesto. He was arrested in 1996, sentenced to life in prison, and died in 2023 aged 81.

Despite Trump’s repeated anecdotes, the MIT-Unabomber connection appears entirely imagined.