Harvard

For the past several weeks, one of the many shitshows developing across the Trump Administration is his weird, self-imposed war against the Ivy League- specifically, Harvard and Columbia University. Whereas Columbia knuckled under when federal funding was withheld, Harvard drew a hard line and refused Trump’s demands, to much applause from the left and more threats from the administration. Today, Trump bragged that he was “taking away” Harvard’s tax-exempt status as a nonprofit institution and doubled down on his insinuations that Harvard is a hotbed of anti-Semetism, Democrats and Communism who are simultaneously unworthy of the protection of the law. His captive herd of fellatio-givers has enthusiastically parroted his claims; it’s safe to say that the Administration is hostile to resistance from imperial directives. This has the mildly-inconvenient side effect of clashing with “the law“, which is fairly clear in that the President is not allowed to direct the removal of tax-exempt status or any other tax action against an individual or an entity. Let me make that clear- it is literally illegal for the President to direct a specific tax action targeting a person or a corporate entity. Legally, Trump is in the same field as demanding sexual favors from a Secret Service agent….deeply illegal.

Now, I know the Republican counterargument. Harvard is mean to conservatives. The Ivy League is liberals. DEI LGBTQ Communism! Here’s the thing though. The exact same arguments can be made of a host of conservative institutions.

The National Rifle Association and its “affiliated” Institute for Legislative Action? Both nonprofit organizations that strongly oppose “liberal” policies and agendas and blatantly dabble in politics. The American Enterprise Institute or Federalist Society or Heritage Foundation or Cicero Institute or Foundation for Moral Law or nearly countless other advocacy groups, non-profits, churches, schools, religious schools, etc…all of these are defined by their right-wing political advocacy and missions, blatantly, and they enjoy immunity from taxation because of that. I don’t think that is a bad thing; if anything, our democracy thrives precisely because advocacy groups are allowed to function and flourish. If a university can be stripped of its tax status by the whim of a President, then why not their advocacy group? For that matter, why not the political campaigns (and their associated funds) or their parsonages or their endowments? Do conservatives and Republicans really believe that a future Democratic administration, scarred and scrappy after clawing through electoral purgatory and every Republican obstacle possible, would withdraw from the opportunity to punish Republican institutions?

What makes this entire line of attack even stupider is that it is a complete waste of Trump’s time and fading political energy. Attacking Harvard does nothing to advance his own agenda and risks much- boundary-defining court precedents, alienation of allies on the federal and state level, and providing Democrats with a focus of leadership against him. Harvard will probably thrive in an adversarial environment where their brand is associated with truth, resistance to power and learning so dangerous that the Trump Administration tried to suffocate it; there is literally no scenario where Harvard meekly surrenders and pulls a Columbia, in that their reputation is now invested thoroughly in defiance and their long-term business interests are squarely aimed at people not named Trump and who are unlikely to be his sycophants; Harvard’s administration and leaders and faculty and students all realize the immutable reality that Trump’s power is fading daily. If anything, they will emerge as the leaders of a true resistance movement within academia and the courts as more skittish institutions join them as the threats from Trump grow nearer and more ominous. A wise President would leverage their liberal perception to his advantage, hoist their excesses as a foil to their preferred agenda, and avoid courting the bounds of their power on pointless exercises like “how many entitled rich kids are going to pretend to care about this issue today?” in favor of things that actually matter. Trump did this in his first term and somehow managed to succeed well enough at it that a weird opposition to education wasn’t a defining feature of his first administration for most Americans. Instead, Trump has handed his enemies a gift-wrapped way to isolate him politically, wall him off legally and divert his attention into something pointless.

Eventually, this will all pass. Harvard will be richer, stronger in academia in terms of reputation and integrity, and the Presidency will have some sorely-needed shackles on its abilities to threaten indiscriminately. Trump will have spent precious time, political capital and reputation on a losing fight that will ultimately define his second term, and students will still look at Republican provocateurs like Charlie Kirk and think “douche” out loud.