The Trump administration has been relentless—merciless—in its attacks on America’s oldest and most prestigious university, continually stripping Harvard of funding, trying to force it to get in line. The goal is to control the university and its curriculum, make no mistake. And Harvard is fighting back hard, with lawsuits and defiant words from its president, its faculty, and its students.
Donald Trump’s determination to basically destroy Harvard—taking away its free speech rights and no longer allowing for independent thought and education free of government control, in line with what he’s doing to other universities—is in sharp contrast to how Trump is dealing with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, a threat to Europe, the U.S., and the world.
Over the weekend, Trump feigned outrage over Putin’s escalation of the war in Ukraine, after Russia launched one of the worst attacks on Ukrainians since the beginning of the war.
Trump looked weak and also compliant. To watch the video of him answering questions as he was going onto Air Force One is to see Trump faking anger, making as if he’s furious at Putin for “killing a lot of people” while he and Putin are supposed to be having talks. “I don’t like it all,” Trump said, sounding completely phony.
“I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” he said when asked about the attacks. “I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him… What the hell happened to him?”
This was vintage Trump, both lying about having a supposed close relationship with Putin—having told Americans during the presidential campaign that Putin will listen to him and end the war immediately—and then professing shock that Putin is doing what he’s doing, explaining that it’s just “crazy.”
Putin, of course, has been doing what he’s doing for three years now in Ukraine and for many years before that elsewhere. So Putin hasn’t changed and become “crazy.” But that’s how Trump tries to excuse himself.
When asked if Trump would now move ahead with more sanctions, Trump only said, “Absolutely.”
Yet when the European Union further sanctioned Russia last week, the U.S. did not join. And it likely won’t. Don’t forget that Russia was the only country that didn’t get hit with tariffs on the so-called “liberation day.”
Trump is doing Putin’s bidding. He professes outrage and then makes like he can’t understand what’s happening. But does nothing. Putin is determined to take Ukraine—and then he’ll continue on. As David Sanger at the New York Times put it, everyone is on to Trump, as he’s done this over and over.
The result is a strategic void in which Mr. Trump complains about Russia’s continued killing but so far has been unwilling to make Mr. Putin pay even a modest price.
One European official said that in a meeting with European leaders, it was clear Trump was moving on from the war, leaving our longtime ally Ukraine to fend for itself, which means a complete takeover by Russia.
“He said, essentially, ‘I’m out,’” the official told the Times. Putin has now seized more land, and there is no stopping him.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon is actually preparing for war with Russia should Putin take Ukraine and invade other European countries.
Of course, that makes no sense, particularly since Trump has teased pulling out of NATO—unless Trump wants a war with Putin in Europe and then plans to conquer him. Or maybe it’s just the Pentagon—the generals—preparing despite what the lunatic commander in chief is saying.
Whatever is going on, it’s all so dangerous. And if Trump only spent half the energy he’s expending against Harvard on Putin, he’d beat him back. But Trump is focused on his grievances, attacking elite universities, while his bromance with Putin has him going soft on the dictator—even as the Pentagon is preparing for the scenario the president might actually create—no matter what the outcome is for the U.S. and the world.
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