Al Franken touts his ‘Trump U’ degree in ‘megalomania studies’
In a rare instance of a politician reverse-résumé-polishing, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken in jest claimed a degree from Trump University — which never did grant degrees — at the Democratic National Convention Monday on night.
Speaking on the first night of the convention, shortly before helping comedian Sarah Silverman introduce singer Paul Simon, Franken said he had a doctorate in “megalomania studies” from the Republican nominee’s namesake unaccredited business school.
“Sure I had to empty out my 401-K and take a reverse mortgage on my house to pay tuition,” Franken told the crowd in Philadelphia, “but Mr. Trump, or rather some people who say they once met him, convinced me it was worth it.”
Trump University seems likely to play the same role at the DNC as “Benghazi” did last week for the Republicans: as shorthand for the lack of trustworthiness each party is trying to pin on the opposing candidate. The school, now defunct, is the defendant in three ongoing lawsuits alleging that it defrauded students of thousands of dollars in tuition for useless courses. Trump has denied the allegations, but stumbled into another controversy when he charged the judge in one of the cases with bias on account of his Mexican heritage.
For the record, Franken went to Harvard.
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