PoliticsDonald Trump Mocked by Critics for Saying He Named the GENIUS Act After Himself: 'Must Be a Bad Joke'
Donald Trump made the joke on August 19.
Aug. 20 2026, Updated 4:27 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump faced mass mockery after repeating a joke he first made when initially signing the GENIUS Act in July 2025, stating, "I signed the GENIUS Act. I named it after myself."
The backronym officially stands for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act.
Trump first quipped that Congress "named it after me" during the bill's official signing ceremony in July 2025.
While hosting technology and cryptocurrency executives at the White House on Thursday, August 19, he revisited the line, remarking that he did not want to use his own explicit name, so he just called it the GENIUS Act instead.
Donald Trump was mocked by critics for saying he's a 'genius.'
The GENIUS Act establishes a federal regulatory framework for dollar-backed payment stablecoins.
The event and Trump's push for further digital asset legislation (such as the Clarity Act) drew mixed reactions and political scrutiny regarding his administration's close alignment with the cryptocurrency sector.
Critics, political opponents and social media users widely mocked the statement, taking it literally or viewing it as a peak display of his trademark bravado and self-praise.
Detractors pointed to it as a continuation of his "stable genius" self-branding.
'Stable Genius'
Many users linked back to his infamous 2018 tweets about him being a 'stable genius.'
Many users immediately linked the comment back to his infamous 2018 tweets, in which he declared himself a "very stable genius," and posted memes that juxtaposed the two moments.
Comments like "if it's called the GENIUS Act, it definitely isn't named after Trump" spread widely among detractors.
Opponents used reaction GIFs and memes (ranging from SpongeBob SquarePants to fictional characters like Wile E. Coyote, "Super Genius") to suggest that truly smart people do not feel the need to call themselves geniuses repeatedly.
“'Many people don't realize the J in my name stands for genius,' probably Trump," quipped one X account.
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Donald Trump frequently brags about his health.
“Trump prides himself on his two greatest assets: ‘mental stability and being, like, really smart.’ But he named the GENIUS Act after Melania. Didn’t she get an Einstein Visa, or something?” noted one critic of his third wife, who obtained her legal permanent residency (green card) in 2001 using the EB-1 visa — widely nicknamed the "Einstein visa"— which is reserved for individuals with "extraordinary ability.”
“Just wait until he signs the Rapist Act, coincidentally and more accurately named after himself,” noted another, referencing how a jury found that Trump raped writer E. Jean Carroll.
Trump has frequently cited his performance on medical tests as proof of his intelligence.
“Must be a bad joke. Donald isn’t a genius — but he probably is the luckiest, vilest moron that ever lived. This still hasn’t been settled — flagrant criminality,” noted another of the 34-time convicted felon.
Trump has frequently cited his performance on medical tests as proof of his intelligence. He famously scored a perfect 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) during a routine physical.
However, medical experts emphasize that the MoCA is a dementia screening tool used to check for cognitive impairment — not an IQ test designed to measure general intelligence.
