- Fareed Zakaria on Trump vs. Harvard;
- Peter Wehner on how Republican principles gave way to Trump;
- And so now there is justice for Trump supporters, and justice for others;
- “Happy Memorial Day”
- Brian Tyler Cohen about Trump’s confusion about “asylum”;
- And an anecdote about the MAGA thought process;
- And Bruckner 4, movement 2. The slow movements are the best.
Fareed Zakaria (whose book I admired here) on the Trump/Harvard situation.
Washington Post, Fareed Zakaria, 30 May 2025: Trump’s war on Harvard is bizarre — and incredibly damaging, subtitled “He is wrecking American competitiveness.”
When historians write about the challenges to America’s global hegemony, they will point to the rise of China, the first full-fledged peer competitor to the United States in decades. They will also note the return of Russia and its efforts to disrupt the American-led security order in Europe. These are familiar patterns in the rise and fall of world powers. What is new and surprising is that these challenges, far from uniting America, have turned it on itself, with its government tearing down many of the crucial elements of its extraordinary success.
Consider the Nature Index, perhaps the most comprehensive guide to high-quality research in the sciences. It tracks contributions to the world’s leading academic journals. Its newest rankings show what scientists already know: China is leaping ahead. Of the top 10 academic institutions in the Nature Index, nine are Chinese. But still sitting in the topmost position on that list is an American institution: Harvard. And it is this university that President Donald Trump is trying to destroy.
… The Trump administration’s main weapon — the withdrawal of federal research funds to Harvard — is aimed at the parts of the university that have virtually nothing to do with the “woke ideology” to which Trump objects. More than 90 percent of the funds that the government has threatened to deny Harvard are for research in the life sciences, studying diseases, medicines and other such topics. Denying funding for cancer research will not affect people protesting for Palestinians. It will almost certainly knock Harvard off that Nature Index list.
Mentioning this:
America continues to lead the world in its ability to attract the best students from across the globe. China draws mainly on the talents of the brightest of its 1.4 billion people. But America has had its pick of the best of the world’s 8 billion people.
And concluding on a personal note:
Around four decades ago, when I thought about applying to American universities from India, I was impressed by their reputation in research and teaching. But I was also attracted by the idea of America, a truly free and open society, one that welcomed people from around the world and where, in Ronald Reagan’s words, “our origins matter less than our destinations.” In a competitive world, where other countries have caught up in so many ways, this is still America’s unique advantage — if we can cherish rather than destroy it.
But see my post yesterday. My very provisional conclusion — which I hope will not play out — is that the MAGA forces in America resent the hoity-toity eggheads at universities and would be content to stay within their monocultural communities and let the rest of the world do whatever it wants, never mind America’s reputation and which other nations are setting the way to the future.
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Continuing on a similar note. Republican principles are a thin veneer, it seems, easily overridden authoritarian leaders that play to deep tribalistic human nature. Did conservatives ever really accept Constitutional principles? Perhaps only as long as it gave them an advantage in society.
The Atlantic, Peter Wehner, 31 May 2025: The Unconstitutional Conservatives, subtitled “Not too long ago, Republicans believed in the rule of law, limiting the power of government, and protecting individual liberty. Then came Donald Trump.”
Not too long ago, many Republicans proudly referred to themselves as “constitutional conservatives.” They believed in the rule of law; in limiting the power of government, especially the federal government; in protecting individual liberty; and in checks and balances and the separation of powers. They opposed central planning and warned about emotions stirred up by the mob and the moment, believing, as the Founders did, that the role of government was to mediate rather than mirror popular passions. They recognized the importance of self-restraint and the need to cultivate public and private virtues. And they had reverence for the Constitution, less as a philosophical document than a procedural one, which articulated the rules of the road for American democracy.
…One of the reasons Roe v. Wade was viewed as a travesty by conservatives is that they believed the 1973 Supreme Court decision twisted the Constitution to invent a “right to privacy” in order to legalize abortion. The decision, they felt, was driven by a desired outcome rather than a rigorous analysis of legal precedent or constitutional text.
Which is why it’s hard to think of a more anti-conservative figure than President Donald Trump or a more anti-conservative movement than MAGA. Trump and his supporters evince a disdain for laws, procedures, and the Constitution. They want to empower the federal government in order to turn it into an instrument of brute force that can be used to reward allies and destroy opponents.
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Which leads neatly to the next two items, a theme in recent days.
Washington Post, Editorial Board, 31 May 2025: ‘No MAGA left behind’: The trouble with Trump’s pardons, subtitled “This week’s outburst suggests that America now has a two-tiered justice system.”
A jury convicted Scott Jenkins, the disgraced ex-sheriff of Culpeper County in Virginia, of taking more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for deputizing rich businessmen so they could get out of speeding tickets and carry guns without permits. Two undercover FBI agents who gave him envelopes of cash after he gave them badges testified at his trial. Luckily for Jenkins, he has long been an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump. On Monday, the day before he was due to report for his 10-year prison sentence, Trump pardoned him.
“No MAGA left behind,” tweeted Ed Martin, Trump’s new pardon attorney at the Justice Department, about Jenkins.
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And — “Happy Memorial Day!” —
LA Times, Jackie Calmes, 30 May 2025: In Trump’s version of law and order, judges are demonized, criminals released
You’d think a president who’d endured two assassination attempts would be especially sensitive to the potential threats that other public officials face. Not Donald Trump. Worse, he stokes threats against others.
So it was that, just after 7 a.m. on Monday, Memorial Day, the commander in chief thumbed out 174 words on his cellphone, not one of which paid tribute to Americans who lost their lives in service to the nation. No, Trump addressed his “Happy Memorial Day” greeting (who says that?) “to all, including the scum … trying to destroy our country.” His all-capitalized screed (I’m dispensing with the caps) made clear whom he meant: as usual, predecessor and punching bag Joe Biden (“an incompetent president”), but mainly federal judges — including some of his own appointees — who’ve overwhelming been ruling against his power grabs in numerous lawsuits involving tariffs, federal spending, appointments, retribution against law firms and universities and migrant deportations.
Referring specifically to judges who’ve put the brakes on his lawless efforts to disappear untold noncitizens to foreign prisons and detention centers, Trump wrote that these “USA hating judges” “are on a mission to keep murderers, drug dealers, rapists, gang members, and released prisoners from all over the world, in our country so they can rob, murder, and rape again.” They’re “monsters who want our country to go to hell.”
And we’re debating Biden’s stability and mental acuity?
Where was that item about how Republican women have a certain look, entailing surgically puffed lips? I can’t help but noticing this guy too. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
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Trump is a paranoid fantasist, but perhaps so are many MAGA folks. All brown-skinned people are suspect. And Trump is confused about the multiple meanings of “asylum”.
Facebook, Brian Tyler Cohen, 31 May 2025: That’s crazy
Not only is the president of the United States convinced that people claiming political asylum are coming from mental asylums (!) But he is also convinced that ‘millions’ of them have come in.
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One more Facebook post. It’s only an anecdote, but it strikes true.
Facebook, Marty Halpern, today: I was teaching my friend’s daughter…
I was teaching my friend’s daughter that antibiotics don’t work on viruses. Someone next to us said ivermectin works. I politely informed them that it doesn’t and they proceeded to tell me it also works on cancer. I proceeded to tell them that I am a doctor with degrees in cellular physiology and public health and that ivermectin does not do this. Their response? “I bet you have pronouns too.” This is the thought process we are dealing with.
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This past week, I’ve cycled back to Bruckner. The common impression is that the best symphonies are the 4th, 7th, 8th, and maybe the unfinished 9th. But this is the problem with all common impressions; this may be true in a sense, but there are still riches to be found in, in this case, the 3rd and 5th and 6th. Bruckner is best in his slow movements, as, arguably, Mahler is. Here’s the slow movement of the 4th. This YouTube clip is scaled low; you’ll have to turn up the volume to full. And there’s an annoying ad at the end.
Or, just listen to the entire symphony. It’s over an hour, as most Bruckner (and Mahler) symphonies are.
