On Monday, reports surfaced that President Donald Trump had dropped his demand for $200 million as a “settlement”—aka protection racket bribe—from Harvard University.
Apparently, those reports drove Trump into a fit of pique. Rather than doing a relatively normal thing like saying, “Those reports are incorrect and we are still seeking a settlement,” Trump popped on over to Truth Social Monday night to say that now he wants $1 billion from Harvard and will open criminal investigations as well.
So Trump initially wanted $500 million from Harvard, but then it appeared he would have been mollified by $200 million—at least until news about that leaked. Now, he’s pulling a Dr. Evil and demanding $1 billion. Nothing says “totally legitimate government action” like random, ever-shifting demands for huge sums.
Of course, this isn’t the only way the administration is continuing to wage war on Harvard. It also terminated billions in grants to the school, but a lower court decision from September held that holding back $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard was unlawful. In December, the administration appealed that decision.
Related | How long can Harvard withstand Trump’s torment?
Much of the attack on Harvard is predicated on the vague accusations of antisemitism that Trump has leveled at multiple schools. In this instance, that accusation is somewhat undermined by the Department of Justice attorney assigned to handle the case.
No, it’s not because Michael Velchik went to Harvard for his undergraduate degree and law school. That’s totally fine. Rather, there’s the problem of his demonstrated affinity for … Hitler?
Yes, while a senior at Harvard, Velchik wrote a paper for a Latin class from the perspective of Hitler, which disturbed the instructor enough—rightly so!—that Velchik was told to redo the assignment. Did this dampen Velchik’s ardor for Hitler? No, it did not.
Eighteen months or so later, as Velchik was getting ready to enter law school, he told a buddy how much he loved Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and that it was his favorite book he read in the past year. Even after starting law school, Velchik couldn’t stop burbling on to his peers about just how great Hitler was. While sharing brief reviews of 76 books he’d read recently, he said “Mein Kampf” was “fascinating” and that Hitler “certainly excelled as an orator.”
Not mentioned in this loving paean to Hitler? His responsibility for the Holocaust and for killing millions of Jewish people.
It is indeed a curious world where a DOJ attorney who loves Hitler so darn much he had to read his book and write as if he were Hitler himself is somehow the administration’s champion for combating antisemitism.
Harvard has continued to fight the administration even as other universities have bent the knee and agreed to its demands. The storied Ivy League school knows full well that paying Trump does not actually protect universities from additional attacks.
After Brown University agreed to a settlement, the administration nonetheless demanded that it, along with eight other schools, sign a 10-point “compact” to get preferential access to federal funds.
None of this is legal, and Congress or the Supreme Court could easily stop the administration from doing this. But since they won’t, Trump will continue his assault on America’s universities.
