President Trump’s Mentions of DEW and Involvement Therein

“We have weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is.” – President Trump 9 Apr 2025

Trump’s comments matter because of his uncle, John G Trump: Professor at MIT, developer and patent-holder of high-energy, high-voltage physics technologies, said to have been involved in the recovery of Tesla effects and papers after his death.

That exact line is from an Oval Office press availability on April 9, 2025, during a Q&A with reporters about China tariffs and the risk of escalation beyond a trade war.

In the official White House transcript of that event, Trump says (full sentence):

“We’re very powerful. This country is very powerful. It’s far more powerful than people understand. We have weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is, and it is the most powerful weapons in the world that we have—more powerful than anybody even—not even close. So nobody is going to do that.” (GovInfo)

Source details

Who: President Donald J. Trump
What: Remarks and exchange with reporters on China tariffs and escalation
Where: Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. (GovInfo)
When: April 9, 2025
Official transcript: Published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo) as part of “Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2025” daily compilation. (GovInfo)
Also reported in media/transcript services: News and transcript outlets (e.g., Rev, Newsweek and others) quoted the same line from that Oval Office session. (Newsweek)

Trump has made other, earlier vague claims about secret or highly advanced U.S. weapons (for example in interviews quoted in Bob Woodward’s Rage), but that specific phrasing — “weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is” — traces to the April 9, 2025 Oval Office remarks.

Here are some of the better-documented times Trump has talked about “secret” or ultra-advanced U.S. weapons, beyond the “weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is” China-tariff quote you asked about earlier:

Dec 5, 2019 – Bob Woodward interview (for Rage / The Trump Tapes)

Context: On-the-record interview with journalist Bob Woodward.
Key line: “I have built a nuclear — a weapons system that nobody’s ever had in this country before. We have stuff that you haven’t even seen or heard about. We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before. There’s nobody — what we have is incredible.” (The Washington Post)

Feb 2020 – Remarks linked to budget / National Governors Association (hypersonic ‘superfast missiles’)

Context: Talking about defense spending and nuclear forces; versions of this line show up in coverage of his budget rollout and a National Governors Association speech.
Key line (about hypersonic weapons): “We’re buying new — we have the superfast missiles, tremendous number of the superfast. We call them ‘superfast,’ where they’re four, five, six, and even seven times faster than an ordinary missile… We need that because, again, Russia has some. And China, as you know, is doing it.” (Business Insider)

May 15, 2020 – Space Force flag ceremony, White House (“super-duper missile”)

Context: Presentation of the U.S. Space Force flag in the Oval Office.
Key line: “We’re building, right now, incredible military equipment at a level that nobody has ever seen before… We have a — I call it the ‘super-duper missile.’ And I heard the other night, 17 times faster than what they have right now… We have one 17 times [faster], and it’s just gotten the go-ahead.” (Trump White House Archives)

June 13, 2020 – West Point commencement (re-upping the ‘superfast missiles’ theme)

Context: U.S. Military Academy graduation speech; again bragging about hypersonic-type systems.
Key line (similar wording, repeated): “We have the superfast missiles — tremendous number of the superfast. We call them ‘superfast,’ where they’re four, five, six, and even seven times faster than an ordinary missile.” (Business Insider)

2019–2022 – Various interviews about nuclear submarines as “most powerful machines ever built”

Context: TV/radio interviews (e.g., Fox Business and other outlets) where he’s talking about U.S. nuclear forces and Russia.
Typical line: “We have the greatest submarines in the world, the most powerful machines ever built… The most powerful machines ever built and nobody knows where they are.” (ABC News)

Dec 2019 quote resurfacing in 2020–2022 coverage (secret nuclear weapon system)

Context: When Rage and later The Trump Tapes came out, outlets re-ran that “I have built a nuclear — a weapons system…” line and discussed what system he might be referring to (low-yield SLBM warhead, hypersonic systems, etc.). (The Washington Post)

April 9–10, 2025 – China tariff escalation, Oval Office (“weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is”)

Context: Q&A with reporters about raising tariffs on China to 125% and whether this risks escalation beyond a trade/economic conflict.
Key line (the one you’re tracking): “We’re very powerful. This country is very powerful. It’s far more powerful than people understand. We have weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is, and it is the most powerful weapons in the world that we have, more powerful than anybody even — not even close. So nobody is going to do that.” (Newsweek)

Here’s a compact timeline/table of well-documented times Trump publicly talked about ultra-advanced or “secret” U.S. weapons:

Date	Setting / Location	Example line (shortened)	What he’s talking about (inferred)	Sources
Dec 5, 2019 (revealed Sept 2020)	Interview with Bob Woodward for Rage (audio later released as The Trump Tapes)	“I have built a nuclear — a weapons system that nobody’s ever had in this country before… We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before.”	Some kind of new or upgraded nuclear weapons system (commentators often speculate low-yield SLBM warhead or closely held modernization program).	(Quincy Institute)
May 15, 2020	Oval Office, Space Force flag unveiling	“We’re building… incredible military equipment… We have, I call it, the ‘super-duper missile’… 17 times faster than what they have right now.”	Hypersonic “super-duper missile” – widely interpreted as the AGM-183A ARRW or related hypersonic program.	(The Week)
Jun 13, 2020	Commencement address, U.S. Military Academy, West Point	“We have the superfast missiles… we call them ‘superfast,’ four, five, six, even seven times faster than an ordinary missile.”	Again referencing hypersonic or very high-speed missiles, similar to “super-duper” missile remarks.	(Business Insider)
Mar 22, 2022 (aired Fox Business)	TV interview about Russia/Ukraine and nuclear threats	“We have the greatest submarines in the world, the most powerful machines ever built… and nobody knows where they are.”	U.S. nuclear-armed submarines (attack and ballistic-missile subs) as stealth strategic deterrent; framed as unmatched secretive power.	(MS NOW)
Various 2022–2024 replays	Clips and articles quoting same Fox Business segment	Same “most powerful machines ever built, and nobody knows where they are” line repeated and re-quoted.	Re-circulation of the nuclear-submarines boast as evidence he talks about hidden strategic weapons.	(Freethought Blogs)
Apr 9–10, 2025	Oval Office remarks to reporters about escalating tariffs on China	“We’re very powerful… We have weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is, and it is the most powerful weapons in the world that we have, more powerful than anybody even, not even close.”	Vague reference to unspecified secret or highly classified weapon systems (no program named). Often interpreted as a general brag about black-program capabilities.	(newsarenaindia.com)

President Trump's mentions of DEW - Trump dew galore

Short version:
Most of what you wrote about John G. Trump is accurate, with one nuance about the Tesla papers. He and Vannevar Bush really were part of the same small wartime science elite, but the “Bush → Bush presidents” connection is genealogically very distant and not evidence of a tight family or operational link.

Table of Contents

1. John G. Trump – what’s solid and what’s embellished

“Professor at MIT”

Verdict: True.

John George Trump (1907–1985) was an American electrical engineer and inventor who spent most of his career at MIT. He became a professor and led the high-voltage research program there. (Wikipedia)
He directed the MIT High Voltage Research Laboratory from 1945 to 1980 and taught at MIT from the mid-1930s into the 1970s. (Rincón educativo)

“Developer and patent-holder of high-energy, high-voltage physics technologies”

Verdict: True in substance.

Trump’s core work was high-voltage electrostatics and high-energy electron beams. He was Robert Van de Graaff’s first PhD student and helped make Van de Graaff generators more compact and controllable, then redeployed them for medical and industrial use. (Wikipedia)
He co-founded High Voltage Engineering Corporation, which built particle accelerators used for cancer therapy, nuclear physics, and industrial irradiation. (Wikipedia)
He held patents on these kinds of systems—for example, a U.S. patent on “High Energy Electron Treatment of Water” is explicitly attributed to Dr. John G. Trump and High Voltage Engineering Corp. (Wikipedia)

So the characterization “developer and patent-holder of high-energy, high-voltage technologies” is accurate.

“Involved in the recovery of Tesla’s papers after his death”

Verdict: Partly right, but the wording is off.

What actually happened, based on FBI and government records:

When Nikola Tesla died in January 1943, the Office of Alien Property Custodian (OAPC) moved in and seized his papers and equipment from the New Yorker Hotel. This was the “recovery” step, and it was done by that office, not by Trump personally. (PBS)
The government then brought in John G. Trump, described in the documents as an MIT engineer working with the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, to analyze the technical content of Tesla’s seized papers for possible military value. (PBS)
After about three days of review, Trump reported that Tesla’s late-life ideas were mainly speculative and did not contain new, workable principles for weapons or power transmission. (PBS)

So:

It is correct that John G. Trump was the government scientist who evaluated Tesla’s confiscated papers.
Saying he was involved in the “recovery” is slightly misleading. The seizure/recovery was done by OAPC; Trump’s role was technical evaluation of what had been seized.

Related wrinkle: Tesla’s “death beam” and Project Nick

The U.S. Air Force later pursued a beam-weapon feasibility program called Project Nick, and some copies of Tesla’s beam-weapon papers reportedly went to Wright-Patterson AFB for this effort. Those copies later went missing, which fuels a lot of speculation. (PBS)
Available documents show no evidence that Trump himself used Tesla’s designs to build secret weapons; if anything, his assessment was that Tesla’s late proposals lacked viable engineering detail. (Reddit)

2. John G. Trump and Vannevar Bush – how they intersect

Contemporaries at the top of the wartime science machine

Verdict: True, and they were directly connected.

Vannevar Bush (1890–1974) was an MIT engineer and science administrator who created and headed the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) and then the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), coordinating U.S. wartime research (radar, proximity fuzes, beginnings of the Manhattan Project, etc.). (National Park Service)
In 1940, John G. Trump joined Vannevar Bush’s newly formed NDRC, and during WWII he served as an assistant director of MIT’s Radiation Laboratory and as NDRC’s secretary for radar—positions that sat squarely under Bush’s umbrella. (Wikipedia)

So:

They weren’t just contemporaries; Trump was part of Bush’s wartime research structure.
Both are central characters in the story of how U.S. radar, high-voltage electronics, and early nuclear work were organized and run.

3. Vannevar Bush and the Bush presidents – what’s actually connected?

You asked about “bush connections between vannevar and both presidents bush.” There are two different types of “connection” people talk about: genealogical and institutional/political.

3.1 Genealogical / family connection

This gets muddied online, so here’s the clean version:

Modern biographical commentary on Vannevar Bush often says “no relation to either President Bush” in the sense of no close family tie. (Scribd)
More detailed genealogy work, however, shows that Vannevar Bush and George H. W. Bush share a 17th-century ancestor, Sarah Hamlin (née Bearse), making them seventh cousins once removed. The Bush family genealogy page notes this explicitly and adds that it’s unclear whether Vannevar is patrilineally connected to the Bush political line. (Wikipedia)

So:

There is a documented, very distant cousinship between Vannevar Bush and George H. W. Bush (and by extension George W. Bush).
It is not a close kinship, and there is no evidence of them functioning as a tight “family network” in the way Prescott Bush and his descendants did.

If you think in conspiratorial terms, it’s easy to over-interpret that distant link. From a straight historical standpoint, it’s more like a genealogical curiosity than an operational connection.

3.2 Institutional / structural connection

Where the real connection lies is in structure and policy, not blood:

As OSRD director, Vannevar Bush built the template for the U.S. national-security science system—big federal contracts to universities and labs, military-funded R&D pipelines, and postwar science policy outlined in his famous report Science, the Endless Frontier. (Scribd)
That architecture persisted into the Cold War and beyond, shaping the environment in which George H. W. Bush (CIA director, then president) and George W. Bush operated. Defense laboratories, classified R&D, contractor ecosystems, etc., all trace back in part to Bush’s wartime arrangements.

So you can say:

Vannevar Bush is a kind of “intellectual ancestor” of the Bush-era national-security state, but
The Bush presidents’ power comes through Prescott Bush’s political/financial line, not through any secret Vannevar-Bush family channel.

4. How all of this fits together

Putting your points in a quick matrix:

John G. Trump – MIT professor

Accurate. Long-term MIT faculty, head of the High Voltage Research Lab. (Wikipedia)

Developer and patent-holder in high-energy, high-voltage physics

Accurate. Pioneer in high-voltage engineering, co-founded High Voltage Engineering Corp., held relevant patents and led practical applications in cancer therapy, industrial irradiation, wastewater treatment, etc. (Wikipedia)

Involvement with Tesla’s papers after Tesla’s death

Substantively accurate but usually mis-phrased.
He didn’t physically “recover” them; that was the Office of Alien Property.
He did conduct the government’s official technical evaluation of those seized papers and concluded they lacked new, workable principles. (PBS)

Contemporary to Vannevar Bush

Accurate and stronger than that.
Trump served inside Bush’s NDRC/OSRD structure and helped implement the radar side of Bush’s wartime science program. (Wikipedia)

“Bush connections” between Vannevar Bush and Presidents Bush

Genealogically: They’re distant cousins (shared 17th-century ancestor → 7th cousins once removed). No evidence of a close family link or collusive relationship. (Wikipedia)
Structurally: Vannevar Bush’s wartime and postwar science-policy system formed much of the institutional landscape later navigated by the Bush presidents; that’s a systems-level connection, not a direct personal one. (National Park Service)

5. “Anything related” – the interesting overlap zone

If you want to dig further, the nexus you’re orbiting around includes:

MIT as a hub: Both Vannevar Bush and John G. Trump are MIT figures who plugged the institute directly into the U.S. war machine—radar, high-voltage accelerators, and early nuclear-related work.
OSRD/NDRC as the wartime command center: Bush at the top, Trump in the radar/high-voltage segment, all feeding into systems that ultimately lead to the Manhattan Project and later Cold-War military tech. (Wikipedia)
Tesla’s mythic late-life inventions vs. Trump’s grounded engineering: The FBI/OAPC bring in Trump as the sober high-voltage guy to see if Tesla’s notes hide a workable beam weapon. His conclusion is basically “no,” while the Air Force still plays with beam-weapon concepts independently (Project Nick). (PBS)

So there is a real, documented triangle:

Tesla’s late speculative weapon ideas → seized by OAPC → evaluated by John G. Trump → within a wartime R&D structure designed by Vannevar Bush → whose architecture persists into the era of the Bush presidencies.

The historical record supports a tight institutional network of elite engineers and administrators, plus a distant Bush–Bush cousinship.

Endnotes

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