By Philip Yeung
To bend or not to bend? That is not a Harvard question
Harvard is the richest, proudest and oldest university in America. Founded in 1636, it is older than the country itself. At US$52 billion, its endowment is bigger than the GDP of some 100 countries. If any entity is untouchable, indestructible and tamper-proof, it is Harvard. Now we are not so sure. Trump is throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, at this venerable institution.
What started as a political quarrel on alleged antisemitism on campus quickly escalated into governmental overreaching and micro-managing of its entire system, from academic hiring, student recruitment, to its financial status. First, Trump froze US$2.3 billion of its allocated federal funds, with another US$450 million added days ago. Then he decided to take a sledgehammer to its core existence, issuing an illegal order to the IRS to take away Harvard's tax-exempt status. Now, with the latest order, his punishment has gone nuclear, slapping a ban on its ability to accept foreign students and scholars, which make up 27% of its student body. This is a vicious vendetta, as the decertification order goes into immediate effect, with no grace period. It is intended to disrupt and disable the university. He wants Harvard to kowtow here and now. Foreign students must move to study at another university or lose their legal non-immigrant status. Luckily, the ban is temporarily blocked by a federal judge until its hearing on 29 May. But the fight has only just begun. Nothing insane like this has ever happened in US history. Will Harvard still be Harvard without its 6,800 international students?
Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He received an elitist education at U-Penn. But it seems that giving him an Ivy League education was a total waste, like casting pearls before swine. There is no trace of the benefits of education rubbing off on Trump---he is book-shy, work-shy, mentally lazy, dangerously impulsive and downright anti-intellectual. What's more, he is anti-science and anti-education. The first thing he did in his second term was to appoint a semi-literate woman to dismantle the entire federal Department of Education, while living with the stigma of the Trump University failure. It was shuttered amid scandal, brought down by lawsuits accusing it of unethical practices—not exactly in Harvard's league, is it? Everything Trump touches has turned to dust.
Trump is turmoil. Never-ending turmoil. This sick egotist wants to hog all the attention, and he is getting a double dose of it, on the world's biggest stage, in the most powerful post, dropping bombshell after bombshell. The rest of the world is scrambling to cope with his wild rampage.
I don't understand it: how could 77 million Americans have voted him back into office? They fully deserve buyer's remorse for their idiotic choice. First, the crazy tariff war, which is playing with people's livelihoods, and now an all-out war against Harvard. At this moment, the poor university is facing an onslaught of eight different investigations into its operations. Its First Amendment rights and autonomy are in serious jeopardy. Trump's four years will seem like a Harvard eternity.
Trump distrusts people with brains. That's why his cabinet consists of a circus of bird-brained clowns. He feels intimidated by smart people. He wants to dumb down the US society, so that the dumbest can lead from the front.
Trump ran on making America great again. So far, the country is veering off in the other direction. The tariff war may even tip the US and world economy into recession, driving up consumer prices and killing jobs. The brutal assault on higher education is dimming the one area where America truly shines in attracting the best and brightest from around the world, not to mention pumping US$50 billion annually into the US coffers. Trump's dumb moves are suicidal. His jaw-dropping follies are opening up opportunities for America's rivals, who must be rubbing their hands in glee. But as Napoleon famously said: "Don't interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." Get out your popcorn, America's unfriends. Under Trump, there will be uninterrupted mistakes galore, until Alzheimer's drives him out the door.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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