Trump’s war on Harvard is a war on American principles

President Donald J. Trump has a grudge against Harvard University, based on real and imagined offenses.

By banning the world-famous liberal (aha!) university from enrolling foreign students, as Trump has just done, he is punishing the foreign students, more than the university. 

It is an example of the lawfare that Trump is always complaining about. It is an example of too-powerful central government that Republicans are always complaining about.

It is an example of ripe hypocrisy. Harvard is suing to stop the ban.

Trump’s main beef is that Harvard has not acted firmly enough against perceived campus anti-Semitism, and there is something to that charge. It is one of the reasons Trump earlier cut off federal funding to Harvard, along with his claim that Harvard is a threat to democracy. (Does that phrase sound familiar?)

In addition to anti-Semitism, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cited campus violence, and Harvard’s “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party."

I don’t know what that means, but if true, one could possibly defend banning Chinese students, but Trump’s move bans all foreign students from Harvard, such as from India, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and, of course, Israel.

So Israeli students are banned from Harvard in the name of battling anti-Semitism. It’s Trump Logic.

Trump Logic seeks to punish the university, but instead punishes innocent students. (If there are guilty students, throw them out, after a fair hearing.)

It is undeniable that Harvard —  America’s oldest and most prestigious university — is a bastion of liberal thought, maybe even Woke principles. Not to mention DEI.

Notwithstanding that, alumni such as Vice President JD Vance, Trump whisperer Steve Bannon, son-in-law Jared Kushner, former insiders Anthony Scaramucci and Kayleigh McEnany, all survived Harvard with their conservative credentials intact.

Trump defenders: Brigham Young University is a bastion of conservative thought. How would you feel about a Democratic President putting it in the crosshairs?

The crackdown tarnishes America’s global image.

Like free speech, academic freedom is a foundational principle of America. Each can make us uncomfortable at times, that is true.

I am more uncomfortable with a government that defies law, freedom, and common sense.

I said that about President Joe Biden’s insane border policy, and his attempt to illegally wash away student debt.

And I say that about Trump's vendetta against Harvard University.