Trump’s Angry New Attack on Harvard Is Already Blowing Up in His Face
As Trump’s assault on Harvard grows more unhinged, a leading free speech advocate explains how all this is already backfiring on Trump by stiffening institutional resistance to him—and what must happen now.
After raging at Harvard earlier this month, President Donald Trump is now revoking the university’s right to receive foreign students. The administration sent an unhinged letter to Harvard making the announcement while demanding extensive information about international students, a grotesque abuse of power. The White House statement justifying this seethed with angry, McCarthyite nonsense. We think this is already backfiring: Harvard is reportedly very likely to take legal action, and the university will probably be able to stop the move. We talked to Jonathan Friedman of PEN America, who explains why Trump’s assault on Harvard is already getting universities to band together, how it’s leading to renewed public support for the university system, and why Harvard’s potential success beating this back will only stiffen institutional resistance to Trump.
