Trump’s war against elite unis and the knowledge-diepresse.com

US Vice President J. D. Vance could not have expressed himself more clearly than he cited a sentence by former President Richard Nixon in a speech from 2021 that aimed at the US universities. « The professors are the enemy. » Although even a graduate of the Yale Law School, Vance is a zealous foot soldier in President Donald Trump’s war against the country’s elite universities, which consists in depriving these research funds, depriving them of their foreign students and trying to interfere in teaching content and methods.

Attack on institutions

In order to « make America big again », Trump is currently active in destroying some of the institutions that the United States made great in the first place. But what is the reason for this angry attack on institutions that, in addition to many other advantages, also promote medical and technological breakthroughs?

The allegation, Harvard And other top unis are breeding grounds of anti -Semitism, is already a strong piece, since he comes from a president who said, among the torch -bearing neo -Nazis, the roaring « The Jews will not replace us! » Declamated, there are recognizable « some very good people ». In fact, the anti-Semitism definition of « Maga » seems to be limited to critics of the current Israeli government. According to this view, opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu or anti -Zionists should be anti -Semites.

There are undoubtedly some actual anti -Semites among the propalestinian student demonstrators – and possibly also among their teachers. But that’s hardly a reason to break the universities. The declared goal of eradding anti-Semitism at the Ivy League universities is nothing more than an excuse to attack the left and liberals of the academy, many of which are actually Jews. And if the US university system collapses under pressure, the Jews are most likely held responsible for this.

The hatred of intellectuals, especially scientists, has always been a characteristic of radical populism. In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler expressed: « We (the Germans) suffer from an impression today. One only appreciates the knowledge. The nine-time wise are enemies of the deed. »

Hatred on intelectual

The Nazis associated science with Jewish « cosmopolitan » because it overcomes national and cultural differences. Instead, they preferred to look at research through the reductionist glasses of the ethnicity. As the Nazi -friendly German physicist Johannes Stark wrote in 1934, the leading scientific bodies in the National Socialist state should not be filled with national elements, but exclusively with national -conscious German men.

The aversion of the « Maga » world against diversity and inclusion programs and the goal of cleaning the universities of « anti-American » elements are, among others. due to this kind of thinking. The hostility to foreign students who bring enormous economic and cultural advantages to the US university system is not only xenophobic, but the Soft Power of the USA is enormously harmful.

However, this advance may have more to do with social resentment than with racial prejudices, even if both aspects, especially in the USA, often overlap. American society, like others in the western world, has become increasingly meritocratic in the last century. A high social status depends less on family origin or even financial prosperity than on higher education.

The soft power harms it

However, a high level of education is not just a question of the academic degree. A certain cultivation in the arts is just as necessary as the love of reading and a thirst for knowledge that is preferably breastfed in more than one language. Trump is very rich and has a bachelor’s degree of the renowned Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania. But he is not known to be particularly well -read or knowledgeable, except perhaps as a dealmaker – and even this reputation was clouded by his spectacular business failures.

The attack by « Maga » on university formation reminds me of a story that the late Belgian sinologist and essayist Simon Leys told. One day he was sitting in a simple Australian café and didn’t bother the loud garbage that came out of the radio. Nobody else seemed to listen properly. Suddenly a beautiful clarinet sonata from Mozart was played for some reason. This aroused people’s attention, and a man then resolved the station. Leys concluded that the uncultivated people recognize the beautiful only too well and therefore had to hide it. He wrote: « In every area of ​​human striving, inspired talent is an unbearable insult to mediocrity. »

But this attack does not have another side that Leys does not affect with all its fine taste and scholarship: personal mediocrity is not the only reason why Trump, Vance and some of her most glowing supporters loathe the educational elite. This is also about the question of social class. Academic degrees or even a good taste of music are not enough to achieve a high social status. In recent years, a certain level of conformity with certain views in ethnic, sexuality and gender issues has also been required. To be « progressive » was not just a sign of mental superiority, but also moral righteousness.

This has led to the fact that even at some of the best universities, a compatible intolerance spread to academic freedom. When politics is made as a form of theology, the brothers separates the faith from the unbelievers. Conservative and even « Maga » supporters are not entirely wrong if you feel insulted by the moral complacency of educated urban elites who think to be better people than Hillary Clinton’s « deplorable bunch », the weapon-friendly Christians and the great business people who have never read a good book.

The universities can benefit

In this sense, and only in this sense, the US universities could benefit from Trump’s war against them. And if only out of self -preservation: You have to put something from moralism that has penetrated the campus culture and again concentrate on your basic task of gaining knowledge and the imparting of knowledge, without which we will all be much worse.

Translation: Jan Doolan
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2025

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