U.S. President Donald Trump holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump continued his efforts to concentrate and consolidate power, launching attacks on Harvard University, The Federal Reserve Bank, and on “The Democrats,” including Democratic U.S. representatives who have called for the House to impeach him. Critics, including legal experts, are once again sounding alarms.
In a largely false missive, President Trump attempted to pressure the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, once again threatening the independence of the 112-year-old institution that sets and implements monetary policy.
The President also declared he is removing the tax exempt status from Harvard University, established 389 years ago, making it the oldest higher education institution in the country. Trump’s reason: “It’s what they deserve!”
And, in another, lengthy broadside, Trump lashed out at his political opponents, declaring Democrats “are really out of control,” and claiming they “have lost everything, especially their minds!”
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Trump alleged that Democrats have “two ‘No Name,’ little respected Congressmen, total Whackjobs both, throwing the ‘Impeachment’ of DONALD J. TRUMP around, for about the 20th time, even though they have no idea for what I would be Impeached.”
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) introduced seven articles of impeachment that, he said in a statement include “a sweeping abuse of power, flagrant violations of the Constitution, and acts of tyranny that undermine American democracy and threaten the rule of law.”
Among other criticisms, Trump falsely alleged he had to clean up, as he described, “the Highest Inflation in our Country’s History.” Under President Biden, the highest inflation was 9.1%, less than half the highest inflation in recorded U.S. history, and far lower than at other times the U.S. has experienced.
Trump ended that complaint with this threatening statement about Democrats:
“These are total LOWLIFES, who hate our Country, and everything it stands for. Perhaps we should start playing this game on them, and expel Democrats for the many crimes that they have committed — And these are REAL crimes. Remember, ‘Shifty’ Adam Schiff demanded a Pardon, and they had to use the power of the Auto Pen, and a Full Pardon, for him and the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, to save them from Expulsion, and probably worse!”
In calling for the Fed to lower interest rates, Trump made this claim:
“Gasoline just broke $1.98 a Gallon, lowest in years, groceries (and eggs!) down, energy down, mortgage rates down, employment strong, and much more good news, as Billions of Dollars pour in from Tariffs. Just like I said, and we’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!! Consumers have been waiting for years to see pricing come down. NO INFLATION, THE FED SHOULD LOWER ITS RATE!!! DJT”
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According to AAA, which published the national average price of gas daily, Friday’s average is $3.18. The price of groceries overall has risen since Trump took office, egg prices at the retail level remain high. Trump repeatedly promised to lower the cost of “groceries” on “day one.” More than 100 days later, he still has not.
Mortgage rates have dropped over the past two weeks, according to the Associated Press, and employment remains strong, but a CBS News fact check published this week refutes most of the claims Trump made.
Political and legal experts sharply criticized President Trump, with many singling out his attack on Harvard as especially egregious.
“That’s blatantly illegal,” wrote New York Times columnist David French, a conservative, about Trump’s attack on Harvard. “Every American who cares about free speech should find this revolting. Is this a power we want to give presidents?”
“This is the President using the IRS to punish people for free speech,” noted former Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer, also responding to Trump’s Harvard attack.
“This is what fascist do,” added The Atlantic’s Dr. Norman Ornstein, the well-known political scientist.
“Trump’s directive to the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax exempt nonprofit status is clearly unlawful,” wrote U.S, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). “It can’t be done without legitimate cause and the courts will not allow it to happen. But it goes directly to Trump’s attempt to crush dissent and his war against free speech and academic freedom. Any institution of higher learning who he disagrees with and who refuses to bow down to his views he will try to destroy. That is un-American and undemocratic and we must not allow it to happen.”
Professor of Law and former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance, the well-known MSNBC legal analyst, responding to Trump’s Harvard threat, added: “This is what drunk on power looks like. It’s why we don’t have kings. (Also, he’ll lose in court if he follows through).”