--- title: Donald Trump Genes: Watch Him Talk About his Genetics description: In interviews over the years, Trump has credited his genes for everything from his health to his success. canonical: https://time.com/4936612/donald-trump-genes-genetics/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-12T15:39:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:22:21.738Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Loves to Talk About His 'Good Genes' og:description: "I had a good gene pool from the standpoint of that so I was pretty much driven." og:url: https://time.com/4936612/donald-trump-genes-genetics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt220e620c82a17e89/6988dd45096a9464b769f88a/gettyimages-843825652.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump answers reporters' questions during a joint news conference with Amir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Loves to Talk About His 'Good Genes' twitter:description: "I had a good gene pool from the standpoint of that so I was pretty much driven." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt220e620c82a17e89/6988dd45096a9464b769f88a/gettyimages-843825652.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Loves to Talk About His 'Good Genes' by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 12, 2017 3:39 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump answers reporters' questions during a joint news conference with Amir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump answers reporters' questions during a joint news conference with Amir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2017 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 12, 2017 3:39 PM UTC President Trump brags a lot about his genes. In interviews over the years, Trump has credited his genes for everything from [his health](http://time.com/4493743/donald-trump-dr-oz-health-claims-fact-check/) to his [success](http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/02/11/donald.trump.marriage.apprentice/index.html), and he’s noted that his children and grandchildren will benefit from them as well. When he was interrupted by his granddaughter, Arabella, during [an interview with the New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-transcript.html) in July, Trump noted that she has learned some Chinese. “She’s unbelievable, huh?” he said. “Good, smart genes.” Trump’s statements on the influence of genetics go farther than what most scientists would say. While genes can contribute to the abilities of some athletes, they aren’t generally viewed as determining things like success in business. Watch this video to see Trump repeatedly talk about his genes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4936612/donald-trump-genes-genetics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4936612/donald-trump-genes-genetics/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Loves to Talk About His 'Good Genes'","datePublished":"2017-09-12T15:39:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:22:21.738Z","description":"\"I had a good gene pool from the standpoint of that so I was pretty much driven\"","url":"https://time.com/4936612/donald-trump-genes-genetics/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Genetics","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt220e620c82a17e89/6988dd45096a9464b769f88a/gettyimages-843825652.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt220e620c82a17e89/6988dd45096a9464b769f88a/gettyimages-843825652.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Donald Trump answers reporters' questions during a joint news conference with Amir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2017 in Washington, DC.","caption":"U.S. President Donald Trump answers reporters' questions during a joint news conference with Amir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2017 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4936612/donald-trump-genes-genetics/","name":"Donald Trump Loves to Talk About His 'Good Genes'"}}]}] ```