American popular culture, ever promoting the myth that we live in the land of the free and the brave, wants us to believe that we stand up to bullying. Even if bravery is in short supply at times, like during McCarthyism, someone like attorney Joseph Welch ultimately comes to the rescue. Breaking the spell, the First Amendment hero stands strong: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”
It’s hard to imagine who would dare to exhibit such defiance today.
These days, the assault on freedom comes not from an alcoholic senator but a teetotaling president. Donald Trump’s presidency isn’t even 10 weeks old, yet his threats have already prompted wealthy and powerful institutions to surrender their fundamental values.
On March 8, Trump canceled $400 million in federal research grants to Columbia University for what he called “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students” during last spring’s encampment protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Though there’s still little to no evidence that pro-Palestinian demonstrators made antisemitic statements or committed antisemitic acts — every directly sourced claim of anti-Jewish speech turns out to be anti-Zionist instead — accusing Columbia of inaction is unfair.
In a notable set of setbacks for academic freedom even before Trump returned to the White House, Columbia forced out its president, banned two pro-Palestinian student groups (including one run by Jewish students), fired at least one professor and suspended, expelled or revoked the degrees of dozens of students. To prevent demonstrations, Columbia even commandeered a public street running through campus by indefinitely locking its gates.
Trump demanded more. So, choosing stability over principle, Columbia appeased him further. Though there’s no credible allegation against it, the school’s Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department will be neutered and discredited as it’s placed into a watered-down form of federal receivership. Columbia will create an anti-protester security squad. Protesters will no longer be allowed to wear masks, so it will be easier for pro-Israel groups to dox those remaining who haven’t yet been expelled, banned and cowed into silence.
Stability is proving elusive. Several Columbia students have been arrested by Trump’s immigration officers for participating in pro-Gaza events. One, Mahmoud Khalil, a recently graduated master’s alumnus, was dragged from his university-owned apartment and is now in a notorious for-profit Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana. Wary of Trump, Columbia officials have expressed nary a syllable of concern.
Not to be out-wussed, the University of Maine system reversed its policy and banned transwomen from women’s sports after Trump threatened to pull $30 million a year in research funding.
Then Trump threatened to remove national security clearances from a major Democrat-aligned law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. So the firm agreed to dilute its DEI policies and donate $40 million in pro bono work to causes to be specified by the White House. A Washington, D.C., lawyer — speaking anonymously, naturally — told NBC News the firm’s decision to cut a deal was “as craven and despicable a decision as you will find.”
Then there’s the media. ABC News will give $15 million to Trump’s future presidential library to settle a defamation case it would normally have fought and likely won. Meta will do the same, to the tune of $25 million. If it looks like a bribe …
It’s not so much whether or not they have abandoned laudable stances in favor of bad ones to curry favor with Trump. Anyone who reveres free speech should agree with the University of California’s abandonment of the woke requirement that faculty members sign “diversity statements” — another change prompted by a Trump threat to slash federal funding.
Whether Trump is right or not is not the point. The problem is that he’s getting his way by thuggery rather than persuasion.
He is the president. He has the bully pulpit. The fact that he’s not leveraging his position to try to convince citizens of what’s wrong and how it should be fixed signals that he does not believe buy-in is necessary. This is not the way things work in a representative democracy.
It is Trump’s authoritarian style, more than his politics, that ought to animate resistance.
But who will stand up to him?
If a law firm with $2 billion in annual revenue (and a thousand lawyers) and an Ivy League university with a nearly $15 billion endowment won’t tell the president to pound sand, who will? Though Trump’s threats to Columbia and Paul, Weiss would have been a hit to their bottom line, neither would have been existential. They would have survived. They might even have thrived as liberal clients and alumni wrote checks in support.
Perkins Coie, another firm in Trump’s crosshairs, is doing what it does best — it’s suing and has obtained a restraining order against the president.
If the story of Trump’s attempt to govern by individual fiat is to have the kind of happy ending we saw to McCarthyism in 1954, it will take longer and be harder to achieve after so many well-connected and deep-pocketed institutions that could have easily resisted caved in so quickly. If and when Trump’s wrath homes in on smaller targets with fewer resources, we will need people with more courage than we have seen in a long time.
Ted Rall (Twitter: @tedrall), the political cartoonist, columnist and graphic novelist, co-hosts the left-vs-right DMZ America podcast with fellow cartoonist Scott Stantis.
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To bad for these leftist infested institutions. Let them stand on their own two-feet.
“But who will stand up to him?”
I’m really sorry to say this as a MAGA, but at this moment, no dissent within the MAGA ranks is allowed. It’s crazy!
Any mild criticism of POTUS from a MAGA now brings the universal reflexive response “the Democrats suck way more.” Which is absolutely true, but completely beside the point, and is a flat-out refusal to even address the substance of the criticism.
“Thou shalt not question Trump because Democrats suck” is where we are in MAGA now.
[cue knee-jerk defenses of McCarthy and other assorted lefty bashing (oops, ‘Pythas’ beat me to it!)]
Problem is, those in any position to do anything about what’s happening — as you so correctly relate — won’t.
With the possible exception of the judiciary, which is the one venue I’m paying attention to most, especially in relation to how they respond to the dragnet Trump has cast over pro-Palestine activists.
How this plays out in the coming months is going to be one of the most important sagas in determining whether America retains its defining constitutional character or not.
My apologies for this re-post (below) of a comment that I made in response to one of Mr. Giraldi’s articles earlier this month on this topic.
It’s worth repeating.
I’m sorry Mr. Rall, but the cult of personality surrounding Trump has reached the stage that the pertinent question will not be:
“But who will stand up to him?”
Rather, the question (à la Stalin, or Netanyahu in the U.S. Congress) will soon be:
“But who will be the first to stop applauding him (during his now-mandatory standing ovations) and sit down?”
General question:
Can anybody explain why POTUS won’t fire Plainly Obvious Leaker Mike Waltz? He knows how to fire people, and he knows we in MAGA love it when he fires people; I know I do!
All the MAGAs I know seem fine with keeping a Plainly Obvious Leaker in the highest level of US government. Here’s how they explain it to me: “Yeah, but the Democrats suck even worse.” (As I said in a comment above, that response is usually not relevant to the substance of the question.)
So I can’t explain it. Maybe youse guys can. It bothers me.
Oh BTW, here’s Greenwald a day or so ago, citing the Ingraham interview, inter alia, essentially proving that Waltz is indeed the Plainly Obvious Leaker. 15 minutes:
Video Link
I’m happy to see Trump not wussing out and bringing the hammer down on these illegal immigrants and pro-Hamas protestors.
75% of what Trump does is performance art, like sending Noem down to the prison in El Salvador with her tits popping out of her shirt, just to cock-tease those former gang bangers behind bars now.. Try to enjoy it.
Ted Rall above:
Maga’s are fucking retarded morons….Trump could walk into their home and butt fuck their six year old in front of them and they’ll say “But the democrats suck more.” Just unbelievable….Idiots are too stupid to accept the fact that both sides equally suck the damn same. And the fact that Trump is the one killing free speech makes him suck ten times more than Biden and Harris both, Fuck him, and fuck stupid Maga too. That’s why they get to join the club with the libtards, now people are calling the other side Magatards.
I’m sorry what’s the problem again? Ted?
Well, I didn’t know that men pretending to be women are at the same ideological and moral level as folks protesting Jewish genocide of Palestinians. But I guess you can learn something new every day.
Pro tip to Rall–when it comes to ‘wussdom’, there is really nothing more ‘wuss’ than a sexually perverted man going around acting like he is a girl. Except maybe someone who defends that sort of deranged behavior.
Natural abhors disorder. Human societies are part of the natural order. When disorder (I think that word aptly describe the Biden administration) overtakes a society, it will be stopped eventually. It may be nasty, it may be messy, but it will be stopped. The bully is not the only corrective mechanism in a society but he is often the last resort.
Also, remember that the dreaded McCarthy was vindicated. As the Soviet records proved, communist infiltration was a big thing in his day. If he was a bully, he was a necessary one because the non-bullies who could have done something did nothing; those who could have at least said something remained silent. It is indeed unfortunate, but sometimes you have to chop down doors, knock down walls, and smash windows to put out a fire before it rages out of control.
Extremism has its uses — and its remedies. Remember that as toxic as fentanyl is (100 times stronger than morphine), it is a drug approved for use in cases of extreme pain.
The ENTIRETY of “the land of the free home of the brave” CAN FALL LIKE DOMINOS
We are watching institution after institution protect their paycheck:
“Journalism”/”Main Stream Media”…..an advertising dependent joke.
Shareholder Corporate Governance (falling to stock indexing where even SIFI or GSB banks have to answer to fund managers like Blackrock, and request regulatory protection from demands made) (falling to new corporate incorporation venues like “nevada” LOL, and “texas”….u hear of that texas federal bankruptcy court getting caught up in racketeering charges..the entire court! lol)
Can’t sue a corporation without a million dollars in savings, and without going through “arbitration”.
White Shoe Law firms, entirely craven to federal gov for the most juicy clients.
The entire civil service/regulatory state…dismantlable within week/s.
Individual “free” opinion…belongs to AI bot ridicule/downvotes/shadow-banning/disintermediation
“Private” and “Public” universities….turn on your TV….laughable.
Your university degree and subsequent “career” dependent on “references and its own deep state HR departments”
University research that goes against grain, squashed by money/grant seeking deans of departments, in all fields from social, economic, to biologic, and STEM [god forbid someone come up with truly encrypted telephony] etc..
Healthcare, entirely dependent on Federal gov.
Property Insurance….soon obsolete, dependent on federal gov
The control is endless. Literally endless.
Perhaps the lesson to be learned here is that sometimes it takes a bully, e.g. Trump, to stand up against other, worse bullies, e.g. the blob and its many tentacles, antifa/blm, DIE, the MSM, the MIC and deep state, et al.
Unfortunately, Trump cannot and will not stand up against the biggest bully in the schoolyard. Like most blob politicians he is Israel’s bought and paid for shabas goy, his servitude ensured by the money and power of domestic Zionists like Miriam Adelson and other Jews
People have gotten killed when they enticed someone into a sexual opportunity, pulled down the person’s pants and there was a cock where a vagina was expected.
so how many trannies have you killed, juju? or was it justifiable homicide, because you were defending yourself?
You made this Talmudic dystopian bed. Now lie in it.
They should have sent that repulsive Jew skank Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to El Salvador. Now that would be torture.
The reason they aren’t standing up to him is because deep down, they know he’s right. DIE will kill the golden goose, men shouldn’t be playing ladies sports and foreigners shouldn’t be leading demonstrations in this country. Very simple stuff.
Women Sports is crap, not even women support it as much as they support male dominated sporting events. Men sports is where all the money and ticket sales goes. The WNBA gets heavily ignored compared to the NBA and those women ball players don’t get those huge million dollar contracts either. There was never a big drawing or interest in women sporting events at all, even before Trans people got involved. It always sucked. No point in blaming them for why female sports suck.
They even have women Hockey teams now, lol who the hell watches that?
The reason they aren’t standing up to Trump got nothing to do with trans people or DIE. It’s because they are all owned by the same individuals. The Golden Goose is already dead because all of these shitty wars.
Or, applying Occam’s Razor, because a lot of medical and scientific research depends on receiving that money:
‘Art of the deal’, after all.
Adolf certainly attempted to do just that to a particular tribe. And almost succeeded.
You know, the same tribe committing genocide now in the Levant.
The tribe that’s kiboshing free speech so no one, goyim or hebe, can ever again openly criticize it.
The Mudtalic tribe that HeAmHomo, er, MeAmJojo gets pegged by nightly as he fellates Fido while dreaming of draining Bibi’s johnson.
That voldemortal tribe whose name cannot be uttered.
As if in most such cases, they didn’t already know what to expect? Almost all trannies are easy to spot. That stupid and old Jewish man who was a female impersonator and enjoyed wearing an admiral’s uniform for some bizarre reason, they use strange words for it, something like ‘Public Health Branch in Uniform’ (I forget the correct name, but that is close), would attract nobody but Tel Aviv (Jaffa) homosexual granny-fuckers.
Before Trump, it looked like the owners of America loved genital mutilation and having unqualified negros running everything from the military to nuclear power plants. They had a deranged homosexual who thought he was a momma running the transportation dept. Maybe, enough of them have realized that if they let this go on, the US becomes a dysfunctional 3rd world country with guys like Luigi shooting corporate executives?
Girls sports is important to some parents nowadays. I know families that are very involved with them. Professional women’s sports don’t make money, but a lot of young girls are participating and their parents don’t like to see them losing to boys who tuck.
The only right noncitizens should possess is the right to be detained and expelled.
Ivies like Columbia filled themselves up with Jews (6% top high school graduates) at the expense of whites (70% of top high school graduates). Now they’re paying the price.
With the addition of international students from the Third World to a large population of hysterical Jews on campus, it was only a matter of time before imaginary “pogroms” started taking place. I don’t feel sorry for Columbia at all.
And I’m not losing sleep over the “death of science” resulting from less research funding for people who promoted the Covid scam, “climate change”, the cancer industry, 54 genders, “Lockdown protests are dangerous for spreading Covid, but BLM riots are not,” pointless torturing of animals for “research,” studies whose results can’t be duplicated, surveillance state technology, etc. BTW, McCarthy was right.
Funny when the anti-liberty-ists face oppression from the government, they have to either fold up, or give up their ideology and fight for liberty.
Not that the ivy leagues would have ever fought for liberty; even now they are fighting only for their endowments and entitlements to endless money pits.
And every single one of those killers should have been exonerated via Jury Nullification.
Fags are creepy predators who should be rendered extinct if keeping their ghastly and inhuman behavior in the closet is insufficient and they need 99.999% of the world to exalt and accommodate their abominable behavior.
Fuck the Ivy Leagues. The U.S., and humanity, in general, would experience a vast boon, if the four key groups were to be bulldozed into mass graves:
Editors
Edjewcaters
Elites
Experts
Women shouldn’t be playing men’s sports, either. Things were a little better when there was some separation. Now, we have ‘women’s rugby’, of both types (league and union), and it’s supposed to be an Olympic sport. How many women play world-wide?
I would guess in the low thousands.
What kind of women play?
I would guess mainly just dykes, but with a few aggressive heterosexual fatties in the mix.
So, why not let trannies join in? They are very tough wimmins, surely they can allow some hard contact, in a contact sport, from a female impersonator or two.
“Though there’s still little to no evidence that pro-Palestinian demonstrators made antisemitic statements or committed antisemitic acts — every directly sourced claim of anti-Jewish speech turns out to be anti-Zionist instead — accusing Columbia of inaction is unfair.”
You seem to be saying that it is unfair that these protestors were arrested, because they actually are not anti-Semitic. This implies that if they actually were anti-Semitic, well, that would be a different matter. Begging your pardon, but the way I understand both the Bill of Rights and American tradition, everyone has the right to be as anti-Semitic as they like, and to express those opinions, short of physical violence.
My favourite one is Truth is Relative.
Hmmm, I wonder if that is the reason for so many aircraft near-collisions?
What could have caused “… wealthy and powerful institutions to surrender their fundamental values”?
Well, the most simple explanation is that those institutions had surrendered their fundamental values even earlier. For example, by caving in to the pressure of woke people and installing DEI rules (sacrificing the “ableism” which is the fundamental value of all academic research). After the backbone was broken, how should they resist the demands of the opposite side.