'Learned this at his father's knee': Trump biographer reveals motivation for settlements

20 August

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 14, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump's ongoing effort to force universities, media companies and other institutions to pay millions of dollars to his administration is all part of a particular pattern, according to one Trump biographer.

In a Wednesday article, the New York Times reported on Trump's largely successful push to compel major colleges, large law firms, international trading partners and even private companies to hand over large amounts of money as a show of compliance with his administration. The paper began by noting that the administration secured a $200 million commitment from Columbia University in New York on top of $50 million from Brown University in Rhode Island and potentially a $500 million deal from Harvard University that would ensure federal investigations into the university cease and its federal funding is restored.

The Times also observed that Trump has repeated this pattern with various countries who do business with the U.S. In South Korea, government authorities agreed to make $350 billion in investments in the U.S. and buy $100 billion of liquefied natural gas in order to get out of paying steep tariffs. Japan pledged $550 billion in investments, while the European Union committed to $600 billion.

Additionally, tech companies Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices agreed to give the federal government 15 percent of its sales of artificial intelligence chips to China in order to be able to do business in the world's second-largest economy. The Times referred to the arrangement as "highly unusual."

Journalist Tim O'Brien, who wrote a biography of Trump, told the Times that the exchange of money being the common denominator in all of these arrangements is a deliberate strategy: Both as a means of strong-arming opponents and as a way to judge who is the most loyal.

"He learned this at his father’s knee," O'Brien said. "Money is a scorecard, and it’s a very easy way to demarcate who’s in control, who has the power, and who wins."

The Times learned that where payments went seemed less important to the Trump administration than the initial commitment of funds. While Columbia paid its $200 million to the U.S. Treasury, Brown sent its $50 million in the form of state-run workforce development programs. Times reporter Jess Bidgood wrote that the point simply seemed to be that "the administration had forced the university to pay somebody."

Click here to read the Times' report in its entirety (subscription required).

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