Even if you have a less than fanatical devotion to news and politics, it probably hasn't escaped your attention that the United States has quickly slipped into autocracy. Some might even call it fascism. A reader of this blog sent me a substack article by Emmett Macfarlane that readily attests to this, and I shall not attempt to summarize it here. It is best if you read it yourself.
That theme has been very much on my mind of late, brought into strict relief almost daily. Judges are impugned; judicial orders are ignored; security clearances are being revoked. Increasingly, the long arm of Don Trump's vengeance is being felt.
So what happens when it is essentially made a crime to speak out against this rot from within? That answer is not yet fully known, but recent developments suggest it is nothing good. Take, for example, the length universities are now taking to curry favour with the Trump regime. After the regime pulled $400 million in funding from Columbia University, allegedly for not sufficiently protecting Jewish students from pro-Palesinian protest, the university has supinely submitted to its demands in the hopes of getting that funding restored.
Columbia’s concessions followed a letter from interim President Katrina Armstrong detailing changes the school would implement:
- Security upgrade: 36 peace officers will soon be authorized to make arrests.
- Academic oversight: A senior vice provost will now monitor Columbia’s Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department—an area targeted by conservatives.
- Speech limitations: New restrictions on protests and disciplinary changes are being rolled out.
- Redefining antisemitism: Columbia pledged to formally adopt a new definition aligned with Trump administration expectations
But critics from across academia blasted the move.
- Rutgers professor Todd Wolfson called it “arguably the greatest incursion into academic freedom…since the McCarthy era.
- ”Columbia student leader Mohammad Hemeida said the university “gave in to government pressure instead of standing firm on the commitments to students and to academic freedom.
His case has become a test of President Donald Trump's pledge to combat antisemitism and deport noncitizen college activists who the Department of Homeland Security said “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
Khalil, 30, who holds a green card granting him permanent residency in the U.S., is being held at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, more than 1,000 miles from his home in New York City. His legal team is trying to get him released.
Perhaps one of the worst example of academic cowardice from Columbia is that it has revoked degrees.
On Thursday, the university announced it was expelling, suspending and revoking the degrees of 22 students following last year’s Hamilton Hall protest, fulfilling one of the nine demands issued in a letter from the Trump administration to Columbia.
But Columbia is hardly the only university being targeted. Over at Cornell, this has happened:
The Department of Justice on Friday asked a Cornell University student who is suing the Trump administration after helping lead campus protests last year to surrender to immigration authorities, according to a new court filing.
Lawyers for Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. student who is a U.S. visa holder and a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, said in court documents that he received an email from a Department of Justice lawyer with a notice to appear — which initiates the deportation process — and an invitation to surrender to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It should be clear to all but the MAGA cultists that any resistance to Washington's efforts to remake Amerika into something only a fascism enthusiast could love will be punished by deportation, funding cuts, or worse. The ultimate fates of Khalil and Taal are still 'works in progress.' However, given that the universities now seem to be falling into line in order to save themselves, something Chris Hedges discussed at length in Death of The Liberal Class, no one can be even remotely hopeful about their fates.
UPDATE:
In response to something else, my friend John sent the following, which seems especially appropriate for America:
I am reading Mark Twain and he writes of his interview with Satan. They are discussing Twain’s efficient wood stove that provides comfortable heat while he stays in a house in Europe. Satan asks if they use this wood stove in America. Twain is surprised and says roughly, “ surely Satan is familiar with America.” Satan replies, “Well, no I have not been there. I am not needed there.”
