Trump targeting US universities under the guise of antisemitism

1. The following are excerpts from Daniel Arkin's April 15, 2025 article on Trump's sweeping crusade against alleged antisemitism in US universities.

(Begin excerpts)
LOS ANGELES — In recent weeks, President Donald Trump’s administration has pointed to the fight against antisemitism as one reason it is threatening to pull hundreds of millions in funding from Ivy League universities and attempting to deport international student activists who protested against Israel’s war in Gaza.

....In a joint statement Tuesday, a coalition of 10 organizations representing a wide swath of American Jewry flatly rejected what they characterized as “the false choice between confronting antisemitism and upholding democracy.”

The organizations — assembled by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a pro-democracy group — made clear they believe that antisemitism has become more “visible, chilling, and increasingly normalized,” and “requires urgent and consistent action.” But they forcefully criticized the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on universities and pro-Palestinian protesters.

“In recent weeks, escalating federal actions have used the guise of fighting antisemitism to justify stripping students of due process rights when they face arrest and/or deportation, as well as to threaten billions in academic research and education funding,” the 10 organizations said. “Students have been arrested at home and on the street with no transparency as to why they are being held or deported, and in certain cases with the implication that they are being punished for their constitutionally-protected speech.”...

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the most prominent Jewish elected official in the country and the author of a recent book about antisemitism, blasted the White House for “making unprecedented demands of universities aimed at undermining or even destroying these vital institutions.”

Schumer, who is a Harvard graduate, said Monday that institutions of higher learning “must do more to fight antisemitism on campus,” but applauded the nation’s best-known Ivy League school for bucking Trump’s demands: “Harvard is right to resist.”.... (End excerpts)

Source Link: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...s-antisemitism-jewish-americans-re-rcna201334

2. The following are excerpts from a 02/26/2016 news report on the 2016 GOP debate headlined "Rubio gets under Trump’s skin".

(Begin excerpts)
“I’m not sure if Donald realizes this,” Rubio said at one point, accusing Trump of taking an anti-Israel position.

“A deal is not a deal when you’re negotiating with terrorists,” he chided at another.....

Rubio didn’t stop there. He hammered Trump for hiring foreign workers, lying about undocumented workers, running a sham through “Trump University,” and building his real estate empire on the back of his father’s fortune. At times, the mogul responded with the kind of bombast he’s become known for....

“Rubio did something big here,” said Curt Anderson, a former Republican National Committee political director who guided Bobby Jindal’s campaign. “He got under Donald Trump’s skin and he exposed him, and he did it with a smile. And he even seemed to be enjoying it.”... (End excerpts)

Source Link: https://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/republican-2016-debate-marco-rubio-donald-trump-219841

3. Poster's Comment:

The White House incumbent is targeting US universities under the guise of antisemitism. The seed of his sweeping crusade against alleged antisemitism in US campuses might have been sown long before Israel's genocidal campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza in retaliation against Hamas' terrorism.

During the 2016 GOP debate, Little Marco (now his foreign policy chief) accused him of taking an anti-Israel position and running a fake university (the now-defunct Trump University) which now seems to cast a long haunting shadow over US universities.

How can the "big, beautiful" university built by the greatest US President of all times lie forever in disgrace and oblivion in its grave?

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