Trump blocks foreign student visas in escalation of war on Harvard

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The news, in brief …

• "Elon's telling the truth!"

  Elon Musk’s about-face on the administration he just left has left him with unlikely allies in Congress. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., lauded the former head of DOGE while criticizing Trump’s spending bill, saying it would explode the national debt and “get rid of Elmo.”

• Trump reportedly “furious” at Musk’s crusade against “big, beautiful bill”

  Musk has called Trump’s spending plan an “abomination” and asked that his followers pester their representatives to “kill the bill.” While Trump has not spoken publicly about the growing rift, he’s said to be “furious” with Musk in private.

• Former Biden spox turns her back on Democrats

  Karine Jean-Pierre, a White House spokesperson during the Biden administration, announced that she is no longer a Democrat on Wednesday. The public turn was part of an announcement of her upcoming book, “Independent.” Former White House staffers and colleagues called the announcement a “grift” and a “dumb idea.”

Today’s top story …

Veni, vidi, visas

Donald Trump understands the power of symbols.

It’s why he slaps his gilded name on everything he owns. It’s why he likes to hop behind the wheel of big, manly trucks. It’s why he’s paying special to Harvard University in his ongoing war against higher education.

The nation’s oldest university is a global stand-in for academia and Trump knows that if he can bring the Ivy exemplar to heel, he won’t even have to make good on promises to otherwise dismantle the American education system. Owning the eggheads would be come one of those conservative talking points with the half-life of uranium and conservatives would be muttering about them alongside Obama phones and tan suits in the wastelands.

So, Trump had a problem with Harvard. And it only got bigger when the university proved to be no pushover. After the school fought his funding freezes and judges stopped his initial pause on international student visas, Trump flipped the lid open on the nuclear football. He issued a proclamation on Wednesday night that suspended entry for foreign Harvard students and directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revoke existing student visas that meet similar criteria.

“We are still waiting for the Foreign Student Lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country,” Trump is quoted as saying in the press release. “Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents, and probably for good reason!”

Luckily for Harvard’s potential students, the school has extensive humanities departments and also understands the power of a symbol. Harvard’s president has repeatedly refused to give an inch to Trump and the proclamation will likely find itself in a courtroom alongside every other broadside Trump has launched.

What do you think? Has Trump found a workaround after judges have repeatedly blocked his attacks? How will Harvard respond? Sound off in the comments.

Make me smarter …

The right’s 60-year war on higher education

Trump might be using novel tactics, but he’s far from the first Republican to prioritize attacks on education. Read more.

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Before you go …

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