Political scientist warns Trump’s 'vendetta' against Harvard 'will not stop' there

26 May

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona on April 8, 2025 (DHS photo by Tia Dufour/Flickr)

On Friday, May 23, Judge Allison Burroughs temporarily blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's efforts revoke Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students. Harvard, in its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), attacked the revocation as a "blatant violation of the First Amendment."

Burroughs' ruling was applauded by civil libertarians, who argue that President Donald Trump's vendetta against Harvard has implications that go way beyond that Ivy League university.

Jan-Werner Müller, a Guardian columnist and professor of politics at Princeton University in New Jersey, makes that point in his May 26 column.

"Attacks will not stop, and it is naive to think that this is all primarily a Harvard problem, or even only a challenge to higher education," Müller argues. "Noem’s letter to Harvard makes clear that Trump and his sycophants will weaponize the state against anyone who incurs their displeasure. Courts may prevent the worst, but the whole pattern has to end if we want to have any hope of living in a country free of fear and featuring at least minimum respect for the rule of law."

Müller continues, "As Harvard’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security rightly pointed out, Noem’s revocation fits into the Trump Administration’s orgy of vengeance prompted by Harvard’s refusal to comply with evidently illegal demands issued in mid-April."

Trump and Noem, Müller warns, are making a concerted effort to "instill fear" in the president's critics.

"It is a well-known pattern in authoritarian regimes that underlings try to please the leader by anticipating his wishes and imitating his style," the Guardian columnist/Princeton professor explains. "Official letters, posts, and press statements from DHS and the Department of Education not only fail to provide evidence and violate procedural safeguards; they not only make up ad hoc demands that have no basis in law — they also contain the signature capital letters, spelling mistakes, and kindergarten-level invective familiar from the president's rhetoric."

Müller adds, "It is governance driven by a desire to please Fox viewers, online MAGA mobs, and the avenger-in-chief…. But Noem's rhetoric also aligned with the logic of authoritarian populist leaders who claim uniquely to represent what they call 'the real people': even citizens will not be free from the accusation by Trump and his sycophants that they are not proper Americans."

Jan-Werner Müller's full column for The Guardian is available at this link.

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