The following excerpt is taken from “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Slacking-Guide-Ivy-League-Miseducation/dp/1641774592">Slacking: A Guide To Ivy League Miseducation</a>,” by Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Marino Doan (Encounter Books)
* * *
Don’t trust the Ivy League to produce well-educated students.
The eight institutions that make up the Ivy League are among the most selective in the United States, and their graduates occupy the elite echelons of American life. Parents often spend $80,000 or more per year for their children to attend Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, or Dartmouth and have an opportunity to punch a ticket to the top.
But what really happens there? Do graduates really join “the fellowship of educated men and women,” as Harvard used to assert each year at its commencement ceremony?
Some do. Many don’t.
Like most American colleges, most of the Ivies grant signiﬁcant latitude in the undergraduate curriculum. (Columbia is the only exception.) Students not only choose a major — from as many as ninety options—but they also choose the content of their core curriculum. Core curricula historically guaranteed consistency for undergraduates, reflecting a wise faculty’s determination of the knowledge and academic skills most worth having. Today, however, most general education requirements in the Ivies are so general — some arts here, some sciences there—that they are simply another opportunity for undirected self-actualization. Hundreds of course options can fulﬁll each “requirement.”
These options, moreover, vary tremendously — from serious, rigorous, and open to challenge, to whimsical, activist, and tendentious. This variation is greatest in the humanities and social sciences. For every course seeking to develop a broader or deeper understanding of man, nature, and the cosmos, there are dozens preoccupied with pop culture, identity politics, progressive activism, or hyper-specialization.
<div id="attachment_953731" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-953731" class="wp-image-953731 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-384x576.jpg" alt="Cover Credit: Encounter Books/ Cooley Design Lab. William Shakespeare associated with John Taylor circa 1610." width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Cover Credit: Encounter Books/ Cooley Design Lab. William Shakespeare associated with John Taylor circa 1610.</div>
Writing requirements are even worse. Putatively about writing, such courses indulge the moral and political conceits of their instructors. At the other extreme, most courses that meet science requirements actually teach science, even though light courses are available for slackers. (At Cornell, the course discussing Disney films to learn about animals is an exception, and Columbia still offers Physics for Poets.)
A generation ago, the critique of Ivy League curricula was that a student could graduate without being required to take any Shakespeare, American history, or Western civilization. That complaint remains well-grounded. Today, the situation is worse: Can a serious student find even one core course on Shakespeare or America worth taking?
By not providing a content-rich core curriculum — a set of required courses in the arts and sciences — but instead allowing students to choose from a wide range of courses to fulﬁll vague distribution requirements, most of the Ivies risk having students graduate with what the American Council of Trustees and Alumni calls a “thin and patchy education, with no guarantee that they have mastered a core set of facts or skills.” Absent strong curricular requirements, universities cannot guarantee that students “learn what they need to know to be informed citizens, effective workers, and lifelong learners.”
Fortunately, a strong education remains available to Ivy students in most areas of general education. They will have to work for it and get wise advice. But by far, Ivy League students are offered, and thus receive, a truly substandard education by any reasonable measure. Dante or Cardi B? Every educated man and woman ought to know the difference.
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This excerpt from “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Slacking-Guide-Ivy-League-Miseducation/dp/1641774592">Slacking</a>” is published by permission from Encounter Books.
Adam Kissel is a visiting fellow for higher education reform in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. A graduate of the University of Chicago and Harvard, he served in the first Trump administration as deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs. 
Rachel Alexander Cambre teaches for Belmont Abbey College’s new Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education program. She holds degrees from Washington and Lee University and Baylor University and has held teaching and research postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and the University of Virginia.
Madison Marino Doan is a senior research associate in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Her work focuses on affordability and accountability reform in higher education and K-12 education choice initiatives. She graduated summa cum laude from Lamar University in economics and finance.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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From Dante To Cardi B? The Collapse Of Ivy League Curricula

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Harvard University is reportedly willing to pay up to $500 million to settle a dispute with the Trump administration over alleged civil rights violations.
Negotiators are still discussing the exact terms of a settlement, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/us/politics/trump-harvard-payment.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aE8.2qHi.ecIDeUuspHot&amp;amp;smid=url-share">reported</a> on Monday. The amount is more than double the $220 million that Columbia University recently agreed to pay to resolve accusations that the school failed to address antisemitism on campus.
&#8220;The Trump Administration’s proposition is simple and commonsense: Don’t allow antisemitism and DEI to run your campus, don’t break the law, and protect the civil liberties of all students,&#8221; White House spokesman Harrison W. Fields said before Harvard&#8217;s most recent hearing.
Fields said the administration was &#8220;confident that Harvard will eventually come around and support the president’s vision, and through good-faith conversations and negotiations, a good deal is more than possible.&#8221;
Harvard is reluctant to pay the federal government directly, the Times reported. Officials have been skeptical of Columbia&#8217;s agreement for an &#8220;outside monitor,&#8221; suggesting it could infringe on academic freedom.
President Donald Trump is insistent that Harvard pay more than Columbia, according to The Times. Harvard has a $53 billion endowment.
The school and its administration are waiting for a court ruling on federal funding cuts imposed by the Trump administration, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-administration-squares-off-with-harvard-in-court-over-federal-funding">reported</a>. The judge previously ruled against the government&#8217;s attempt to block the university from enrolling foreign students.
Harvard sued after the government cut federal funds, saying the move violates its First Amendment rights.
“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” said Harvard President Alan M. Garber.
In the past, Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-calls-harvard-an-anti-semitic-threat-to-democracy?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Calls+Harvard+%E2%80%98An+Anti-Semitic%E2%80%A6Threat+To+Democracy%E2%80%99" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> Harvard “Anti-Semitic,” “Far-Left,” and “a threat to Democracy.” The administration has found the university in violation of federal civil rights law, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-finds-harvard-discriminated-against-jewish-students-threatens-funding">reported</a>.
But Trump has seemed pleased with recent talks.
&#8220;They have acted extremely appropriately during these negotiations, and appear to be committed to doing what is right,&#8221; Trump said in a June social media post.
In Columbia&#8217;s settlement, the school agreed to review Middle East-related programs; explore ways to improve and support Jewish students; and end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)  policies.
The administration is using Columbia&#8217;s settlement as a model for dealing with other schools.
&#8220;Harvard wants to settle, but I think Columbia handled it better,&#8221; Trump told reporters Friday.

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Columbia University has agreed to pay out an undisclosed sum of money to two janitors who were verbally harassed, physically assaulted, and held hostage during the anti-Israel protests that swept across the campus in the months after the October 7th massacre in Israel.
Lester Wilson and Mario Torres filed a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/columbia-university-janitors-settle-case-being-held-hostage-anti-israel-rioters-campus">civil rights complaint</a> against the school after they were caught up in the student-led siege of Hamilton Hall — and barricaded inside the building with protesters who assaulted them, threatened them with violence, and called them &#8220;Jew lovers.&#8221;
“The university set up the situation and ended up putting them into that situation, now the issue is holding accountable those who carried it out and were responsible for the takeover and the assault,” <a href="https://brandeiscenter.com/columbia-university-janitors-ucla-jewish-community-members-sue-orgs-behind-encampments/">Brandeis Center</a> president Alyza Lewin said of their case.
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Columbia janitors trapped, attacked by anti-Israel mob and forced to scrub swastikas settle with school for undisclosed amount <a href="https://t.co/qjN2XdRCJY">https://t.co/qjN2XdRCJY</a> <a href="https://t.co/pEoFSoZM78">pic.twitter.com/pEoFSoZM78</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1948522879714300319?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Trump announced earlier in the week that Columbia University had agreed to pay a penalty to the federal government: $220 million, $20 million of which was to go &#8220;to their Jewish employees who were unlawfully targeted and harassed.&#8221;
Despite the fact that neither Wilson nor Torres is Jewish, they are expected to take their settlement from the $20 million designated to go to employees who were &#8220;unlawfully targeted&#8221; by the protests — most of whom were Jewish.
Both Wilson and Torres had been with the university for five years, and according to a <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/24/us-news/columbia-janitors-trapped-attacked-by-anti-israel-mob-settle-for-undisclosed-amount/">report</a> published Thursday by The New York Post, have not been able to return to work since the student takeover of Hamilton Hall. Both state that they were injured during the protests.
According to the initial complaint, Torres stated that a masked protester had approached him, saying, &#8220;I’m going to get twenty guys up here to f–k you up.&#8221;
Torres said that he had responded by grabbing a fire extinguisher, which he intended to use in self-defense if necessary, and said, &#8220;I’ll be right here.&#8221;
He said that protesters later beat him, striking his back before he was able to escape the building. Wilson, who also eventually escaped Hamilton Hall, said that he was attacked with piece of furniture.
Prior to the protests, both men reported multiple instances of graffiti — including swastikas — inside Hamilton Hall.
&#8220;Mr. Wilson recognized the swastikas as symbols of white supremacy. As an African-American man, he found the images deeply distressing. He reported them to his supervisors, who instructed him to erase the graffiti,&#8221; he alleged in the complaint. &#8220;No matter how many times Mr. Wilson removed the swastikas, individuals kept replacing them with more.&#8221;
Torres said that he eventually began to throw away chalk that he found left behind in classrooms, saying that he did not want to leave potential vandals anything to write with.

Columbia University Issues Deadline For Gaza Encampment To Vacate Campus

Columbia U Forced To Pay Off Janitors Who Were Held Hostage By Anti-Israel Protesters

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Federal funds earmarked for increasing “the security and prosperity of the United States” bankrolled the work of the father of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani that would seem to do the opposite.
Columbia University’s Middle East Institute applied for the Department of Education’s “National Resource Centers and Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships” money based on its employment of professors including Mahmood Mamdani, who it called senior faculty, highlighting his recent work on “colonialism” and “native as political identity,” and his “courses on Islam, state violence, and international relations.”
The <a href="https://iris.ed.gov/downloads/applications/P015A180080/P015A180080_GrantApplication.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">application</a> said that Columbia should get taxpayer money because its international professors would shape the views of Americans who would go on to work for the United States government. It &#8220;specifically trains students for employment in positions in the government (State, Defense, Homeland Security, Intelligence agencies, and Congressional Offices),” it said.
The Middle East unit at the lavishly endowed private university asked for more than $1 million from taxpayers to fund the professors&#8217; salaries and other costs for four years under the National Resource Centers program, and $1.6 million for &#8220;institutional payments&#8221; and &#8220;subsistence allowance&#8221; for students under the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship. Between 2018 and 2024, Columbia University as a whole received nearly $12 million in grants from both programs, with nearly $4 million specifically for the Middle East program, according to data compiled by spending watchdog OpenTheBooks.
That means even as Columbia this week agreed to pay a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-university-retreats-as-trump-scores-historic-220m-settlement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$200 million settlement</a> to the federal government and $20 million to Jewish employees it wronged with its culture of anti-Americanism and antisemitism, the federal government has been paying it to shape federal employees and diplomats.
When it comes to the Karl Marx-quoting prospective mayor of New York, who would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/given-three-chances-zohran-mamdani-wont-condemn-calls-to-globalize-the-intifada?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Given+Three+Chances%2C+Zohran+Mamdani+Won’t+Condemn+Calls+To+‘Globalize+The+Intifada’">not condemn</a> the phrase “globalize the intifada,” the son’s views appear to have been shaped by his father. In May 2021, Professor Mamdani <a href="https://x.com/mm1124?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a>: “This is not a conflict between Israel and Hamas. We are witnessing something far more meaningful, the birth of the Third Intifadah against settler-colonialism!”
Even though the United States took in the elder Mamdani after he was cast out of Uganda by a dictator and made him a wealthy university professor, Mamdani&#8217;s 2020 book, &#8220;Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities,&#8221; criticizes America as oppressive, according to an interview with <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/mahmood-mamdani-nation-state-interview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Nation</a>. The book reaches back hundreds of years to complain of &#8220;the genocide of Native Americans by Europeans&#8221; and conversion of Muslims by Christians, and casts &#8220;the founding of the state of Israel&#8221; as an act &#8220;of extreme political violence undertaken to create ethnically homogeneous states.&#8221;
He seemed to suggest to The Nation that the cure for Hamas violence was giving in to terrorists.
&#8220;You can fill an unlimited number of jails [with] perpetrators, but it will not bring a solution to the problem unless you acknowledge that the problem is more political than criminal, and that when it comes to political conflicts and political violence, adversaries mobilize around issues,&#8221; Mamdani wrote.
In his 2004 book &#8220;Good Muslim, Bad Muslim,&#8221; he made a similar argument, writing: &#8220;Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_891841" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-891841" class="size-large wp-image-891841" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2150306027-864x576.jpg" alt="Columbia University Expels, Revokes Degrees From Students Who Seized Campus Building" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2150306027-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2150306027-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2150306027-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2150306027-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2150306027-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2150306027-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2150306027-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Columbia University. Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images</div>
The professor <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/12/us-news/mamdanis-dad-part-of-anti-israel-group-sympathetic-to-suicide-bombers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sits</a> on an advisory council whose goal is &#8220;to awaken civil society to its responsibility and opportunity to stop Israel&#8217;s genocide in Gaza&#8221; — a position that conflicts with that of the U.S. under Democrat and Republican administrations.
Columbia University also used Professor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doe-program-meant-to-boost-national-security-funds-anti-american-professors-study-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Joseph Massad</a> as a selling point for federal money. Massad called Hamas’ October 7 attack “a stunning victory of the Palestinian resistance.” According to the Middle East Forum, students said Massad “takes a categorically anti-U.S. tack at every possible opportunity,” and lists “the West’s various cultural crimes ad nauseam.”
George Washington University, located near the State Department’s headquarters, received millions of dollars in Middle East Foreign Language and Area Studies funding from the Department of Education, even as a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/george-washington-university-antisemitism-lawsuit?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=12&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=U.S.+Diplomat+Training+Ground+Let+Antisemites+Take+Over+Its+Faculty%2C+Lawsuit+Says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> said it let an anti-Israel activist group operate out of its international affairs school, leading to rampant antisemitism on a campus where more than one in four students is Jewish.
Prosecutors said in 2019 that a Texas-born woman charged with spying for Iran had her radicalization “<a href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/18/iran-spy-george-washington-university-muslim/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accelerated while she was in graduate school</a>” at George Washington University, where she earned a master’s degree in its Middle East Studies program.
Also in 2019, the first Trump administration threatened the University of North Carolina and Duke University for their use of the funds, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administration-demands-unc-duke-revise-joint-middle/story?id=65754681" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a> that &#8220;It seems clear foreign language instruction and area studies advancing the security and economic stability of the United States have taken &#8216;a back seat&#8217; to other priorities at the Duke-UNC CMES.&#8221; But little seems to have changed sector-wide.
<a href="https://www.openthebooks.com">OpenTheBooks</a> CEO John Hart said that the Department of Education’s persistent funneling of millions of dollars for professors who cultivate anti-American sentiment, using funds intended to do the opposite, shows that the National Resource Centers and Foreign Language and Area Studies program, if not the department as a whole, should be abolished.
&#8220;Professor Mamdani&#8217;s embrace of faddish, faculty lounge DEI theories on &#8216;decolonialism&#8217; illustrates why the Department of Education needs to be eliminated or dramatically downsized,&#8221; Hart said. &#8220;I support Professor Mamdani&#8217;s free speech rights, and the rights of his son to call for &#8216;seizing the means of production,&#8217; but that does not mean either are entitled to advance their radical views with taxpayer subsidies.&#8221;

New York City Mayoral Candidates Campaign Ahead Of Primary Election

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President Trump personally inspects the Federal Reserve amid a pressure campaign on its chairman, as his administration secures major trade deals with Japan and Indonesia. New declassified documents suggest Russia possessed damaging information on Hillary Clinton in 2016 but chose not to release it. Columbia University agrees to a $200 million settlement with the federal government over antisemitism on campus, while Harvard continues its legal battle. 
It&#8217;s Friday, July 25, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today&#8217;s episode here:
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<h2>Trump Pressures Fed, Secures Major Trade Deals</h2>
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Topline: President Trump escalated his pressure campaign on the Federal Reserve by personally touring its headquarters on Thursday, as his administration announced major new trade deals with Japan and Indonesia. 
In an extraordinary move, President Trump visited the Federal Reserve building, the first sitting president to do so since 2006. The visit is the latest step in his public feud with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump has accused of keeping interest rates high to damage the economy. The president has also launched an investigation into the renovation of the Fed headquarters, which is over budget by more than $2.5 billion, accusing Powell of mismanaging taxpayer funds to build a &#8220;palace&#8221; for himself and hinting at fraud, which would be a fireable offense. 
The pressure campaign comes as the White House touts significant economic victories. With an August 1 tariff deadline looming, the administration finalized a massive trade deal with Japan that will lower tariffs on Japanese imports to 15% in exchange for Tokyo opening its markets to American cars and trucks. Japan has also agreed to a $550 billion investment in the U.S. economy, which includes purchasing 100 Boeing aircraft and billions in American rice and defense contracts. A separate deal was reached with Indonesia, which will eliminate tariffs on 99% of American imports. The news sent global stocks rallying, with the S&amp;P 500 hitting another record high. 
While the broader economy shows strength, the U.S. housing market has been cooling. Sales have been sluggish for three straight years, largely due to a lack of affordability. The median existing home price hit a record high of $435,000 in June, and high interest rates—which have remained over 6% since 2022—have kept many prospective buyers and sellers on the sidelines. 
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<h2>New RussiaGate Revelations Surface</h2>
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Topline: Newly declassified documents released by DNI Tulsi Gabbard suggest that Russia possessed damaging information on Hillary Clinton in 2016 but chose not to release it, further complicating the origins of the Russia-collusion narrative. 
According to a declassified House Intelligence report, Russia had obtained hacked DNC emails that allegedly showed potential criminal bribes within Clinton&#8217;s State Department, where taxpayer funds were offered to religious groups in exchange for campaign support. Other emails allegedly detailed Clinton&#8217;s &#8220;&#8216;psychoemotional problems, uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression, and cheerfulness'&#8221; and claimed she was on a &#8220;daily regimen of heavy tranquilizers.&#8221; Gabbard said Russia likely planned to use the information against Clinton had she won. 
According to investigative correspondent Jerry Dunleavy, former President Obama was &#8220;deeply involved in the Russiagate scandal,&#8221; was aware of the Clinton campaign&#8217;s plan to link Trump to Russia, and &#8220;personally directed the creation of the Intelligence community assessment in December 2016.&#8221; 
DNI Gabbard has characterized the affair as a &#8220;treasonous conspiracy against the American people.&#8221; However, some legal analysts are skeptical that the actions, while corrupt, amount to a prosecutable crime. In a recent column, National Review&#8217;s Andrew McCarthy wrote, &#8220;political smears and appalling misjudgments are not violations of the criminal law, absent some statutory federal offense. If there were a criminal offense that fit, Gabbard and Trump would cite it, rather than chanting &#8216;treason.'&#8221; Attorney General Pam Bondi is reportedly looking into the matter. 
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<h2>Columbia Settles With Feds; Harvard Fights On</h2>
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Topline: Columbia University has agreed to pay a more than $200 million settlement to the federal government over its failure to stop antisemitism on campus, while Harvard University continues its legal fight against the Trump administration. 
On Wednesday, Columbia University announced it will pay the massive settlement to restore federal funding that the Trump administration had frozen over the antisemitism allegations. The school will also pay an additional $21 million to settle investigations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the settlement a &#8220;seismic shift&#8221; and a &#8220;monumental victory for conservatives,&#8221; adding that it ensures &#8220;students and faculty know that they&#8217;re going to be evaluated on merit.&#8221; 
Meanwhile, Harvard was back in court this week, fighting to unfreeze more than $2 billion in its own federal funding. Harvard argues the funding freeze is a &#8220;blatant and unrepentant violation&#8221; of its First Amendment rights. The Trump administration contends that Harvard failed to protect its students under civil rights law. &#8220;This is about civil rights. This is about safety on campuses,&#8221; Secretary McMahon said. President Trump said that Columbia was working toward a solution while &#8220;Harvard wants to fight &#8230; and they&#8217;re getting their a** kicked.&#8221; 
Despite its combative public stance, there are signs Harvard may be &#8220;bending the knee.&#8221; The university is reportedly considering opening a new conservative center and is closing multiple diversity offices. The administration is also exerting pressure on the university by launching a new investigation into Harvard&#8217;s compliance with a government visa program and threatening to revoke the school&#8217;s accreditation.

MRN 7.25.25 Thumbnail V1

Morning Brief: Russiagate Reckoning & Trump V. Powell

Donald Trump

Media

Morning Wire

Russiagate

Tulsi Gabbard

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that Columbia University would pay the federal government $200 million in a settlement over its handling of anti-Israel protests. 
In addition to the penalty paid to the federal government, Trump said the university would pay $20 million to its Jewish employees “who were unlawfully targeted and harassed.” In exchange, the Trump administration will unfreeze federal funding and close down several investigations into the Ivy League university.  
“I am pleased to announce that the Trump Administration has reached a historic agreement with Columbia University. Columbia has agreed to pay a penalty of $200 Million Dollars to the United States Government for violating Federal Law, in addition to over $20 Million to their Jewish employees who were unlawfully targeted and harassed. Columbia has also committed to ending their ridiculous DEI policies, admitting students based ONLY on MERIT, and protecting the Civil Liberties of their students on campus,” Trump posted on Truth Social. 
“Numerous other Higher Education Institutions that have hurt so many, and been so unfair and unjust, and have wrongly spent federal money, much of it from our government, are upcoming,” Trump added. “It’s a great honor to have been involved, and I want to thank and congratulate Secretary Linda McMahon, and all those who worked with us on this important deal. I also want to thank and commend Columbia University for agreeing to do what is right. I look forward to watching them have a great future in our Country, maybe greater than ever before!”
In the <a href="https://president.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/July%202025%20Announcement/Columbia%20University%20Resolution%20Agreement.pdf">settlement</a>, Columbia agreed to review its Middle East-related programs and task its senior vice provost with making recommendations to university leaders about “ways to improve and support Jewish students.” Columbia said in a statement that it does &#8220;not admit to wrongdoing with this resolution agreement&#8221; but recognized that &#8220;Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents.&#8221;
The settlement also includes a provision prohibiting the university from creating DEI programs. 
“Columbia shall not maintain programs that promote unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas, diversity targets, or similar efforts. For example, Columbia will not provide benefits or advantages to individuals on the basis of protected characteristics in any school, component, division, department, foundation, association or element within the entire Columbia University system,” the settlement says. 
Admission to the university must also be based on merit, and the university is prohibited from using any proxy, such as a diversity narrative included in an application, for racial preferences, according to the settlement. Columbia will be required to provide a breakdown of students it has accepted and rejected, including data on race, GPA, and standardized test scores, to ensure compliance with the settlement. 
Columbia also agreed to hire employees based only on individual qualifications and academic and professional merit, and to ensure that women had access to all female housing, sports teams, locker rooms, and showering facilities. 
“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” said acting University President Claire Shipman. “The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track.”
The settlement comes just days after Columbia <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-hits-dozens-of-students-with-suspensions-expulsions-for-anti-israel-campus-takeovers">suspended</a> or expelled more than 70 students, including many who participated in the storming of the university library during anti-Israel protests.

US-POLITICS-TECHONOLOGY-AI

Columbia University Retreats As Trump Scores ‘Historic’ $220M Settlement

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Executive

Linda McMahon

After Mahmoud Khalil —whom the Trump administration wanted to deport, prompting protests from leftists on campus and in the media — consistently avoided condemning Hamas on a television interview, the Department of Homeland Security bluntly declared, “Mahmoud Khalil refuses to condemn Hamas because he IS a terrorist sympathizer not because DHS ‘painted’ him as one.”
Khalil, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-university-anti-israel-agitator-demands-20-million-from-trump-admin">filed a $20 million claim</a> against the Trump administration this month, was interviewed on CNN by hosts Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown; Brown displayed her own prejudice by quoting a United Nations Special Committee stating it had grounds to say Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians and Gaza. Blitzer and Brown supported Khalil as Blitzer selectively played a clip of Khalil making a statement against antisemitism, and Brown insisted, “You&#8217;ve consistently condemned antisemitism before and since your arrest.”
The hosts conveniently ignored Khalil having led American undergraduates at Columbia University in actions in support of Hamas after its October 7, 2023, attack. “He served as the negotiator on behalf of the occupying students with the university, pressuring the administration to accommodate student demands based on their illegal activity. He helped organize an illegal encampment on the campus that denied access to ‘Zionist’ students,” JNS <a href="applewebdata://187BEFC8-51EE-4818-A3C5-5F1D4D558027/v">noted</a>.
“Do you specifically condemn Hamas, a designated terrorist organization in the United States, not just for their actions on October 7?” Brown asked.
“I condemn the killing of all civilians, full stop,” Khalil dodged. “But what I don&#8217;t want to get into is &#8212; no. I am clear with condemning all civilians. I&#8217;m very straight in my position in that part. But it&#8217;s disingenuous to ask about condemning Hamas while Palestinians are the ones being starved now by Israel.”
“It is fair to ask you about whether you can condemn Hamas because the Trump administration has claimed that you are a Hamas sympathizer. So, it&#8217;s very important to actually ask that question in this broad conversation,” Brown persisted.
“Yes. I simply asked and protested the war in Palestine,” Khalil dodged again. “That&#8217;s what I did. That&#8217;s my duty as a Palestinian, as a human being right now, is to ask for the stop of the killing in my home country. And that&#8217;s consistent with who I am. I&#8217;m a firm believer in international law and human rights and all my values come from that. &#8230; And that&#8217;s why I wouldn&#8217;t really engage in much into such questions on condemnation or not, because selective condemnation is not &#8212; wouldn&#8217;t get us anywhere.”
DHS issued this response to Khalil’s appearance on CNN: “Mahmoud Khalil refuses to condemn Hamas because he IS a terrorist sympathizer not because DHS ‘painted’ him as one. He ‘branded’ himself as an antisemite through his own hateful behavior and rhetoric. It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Mahmoud Khalil refuses to condemn Hamas because he IS a terrorist sympathizer not because DHS ‘painted’ him as one. He ‘branded’ himself as antisemite through his own hateful behavior and rhetoric.
It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the… <a href="https://t.co/nC2WCR6Dul">pic.twitter.com/nC2WCR6Dul</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1947723549881381363?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Trump Administration’s Detention Of Immigrants Associated With Pro-Palestinian Protests Stirs Controversy

Trump Admin Labels Mahmoud Khalil ‘A Terrorist Sympathizer’ After He Refuses To Condemn Hamas

deportation

Hamas

Mahmoud Khalil

Terrorism

Columbia University suspended or expelled more than 70 students, some of whom took part in the anti-Israel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/masked-anti-israel-activists-take-over-columbia-u-library-during-finals-no-one-expels-them">library takeover</a> in May and others who were involved in last year&#8217;s tent encampment on the New York City campus, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/22/us-news/columbia-finally-punishes-anti-israel-rioters-over-violent-library-takeover-slaps-students-with-multi-year-suspensions-expulsions/">reported</a> on Tuesday.
Around 50 of the anti-Israel students will be suspended for between one and three years, according to the Post, which cited multiple sources familiar with the matter. The majority of the suspensions are for two years, while only a &#8220;handful&#8221; of students were expelled.
The Ivy League school was in the national spotlight during the spring of 2024 as an anti-Israel demonstration-turned-riot rocked the campus. The punishments for the tent encampment and the library takeover were doled out on Monday following a review from Columbia University&#8217;s Judicial Board.
“Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community. And to create a thriving academic community, there must be respect for each other and the institution’s fundamental work, policies, and rules,” a Columbia spokesman said in a statement. “Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and Rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences. The speed with which our updated UJB system has offered an equitable resolution to the community and students involved is a testament to the hard work of this institution to improve its processes.”
On May 7, anti-Israel protesters, many of them wearing masks and keffiyehs, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/masked-anti-israel-activists-take-over-columbia-u-library-during-finals-no-one-expels-them">stormed</a> Columbia&#8217;s main library and occupied it for five hours while students tried to study for their final exams. The protesters chanted “Intifada revolution” and “from the river to the sea,” phrases calling for the destruction of Israel. Some of those who took part in the library takeover defaced walls and marked tables with tape. Two public safety officers were injured in the library storming. Columbia officials called in the New York Police Department to handle the protest, and more than 80 people were arrested, according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/05/09/us-news/columbia-students-describe-shocking-library-takeover-after-masked-protesters-chanted-pro-hamas-slogans/">Post</a>.
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RIGHT NOW AT COLUMBIA: Masked anti-Israel students just broke into the library during finals week. 
Columbia Public Safety unsuccessfully attempted to stop them. <a href="https://t.co/vBfkQFlwUW">pic.twitter.com/vBfkQFlwUW</a>
&mdash; Eden Yadegar (@edenyadegar) <a href="https://twitter.com/edenyadegar/status/1920196848523833405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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WATCH: Anti-Israeli protesters have stormed the Butler Library at Columbia University and are now occupying it. 
Make an example of these people. <a href="https://t.co/asiA8YMm3U">pic.twitter.com/asiA8YMm3U</a>
&mdash; RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) <a href="https://twitter.com/RedWave_Press/status/1920208253494964262?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The suspensions and expulsions announced on Tuesday come as the Trump administration pressures Columbia and other Ivy League universities to crack down on antisemitism on their campuses. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump cut $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia as the Education Department <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgwg1w3409o">accused</a> Columbia of ignoring &#8220;relentless violence, intimidation, and antisemitic harassment.&#8221;
After the federal funding cut, Columbia <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-university-agrees-to-trumps-demands-to-ban-masks-empower-campus-police">agreed</a> to do more to push back against radical anti-Israel demonstrations and radicalization on campus, such as empowering campus police and banning masks worn for anything other than health reasons.

NYPD Columbia library protest

Columbia Hits Dozens Of Students With Suspensions, Expulsions For Anti-Israel Campus Takeovers

New York City

U.S.

Columbia University anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil filed a $20 million claim against President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration on Thursday, claiming that he was &#8220;falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted, and smeared as an antisemite&#8221; when the U.S. State Department moved to deport him.
Khalil told <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mahmoud-khalil-ice-release-trump-columbia-protests-570f7af32010c16b1a00dd7e78f4c687">The Associated Press</a> that he could not forgive the Trump administration for the fact that he&#8217;d been detained hundreds of miles away while his wife gave birth to their son. &#8220;I cannot describe the pain of that night,&#8221; he said. The AP noted Khalil&#8217;s &#8220;anguish&#8221; but made no mention of the Jewish students who felt unsafe while he and his cohorts fomented a culture of antisemitism on Columbia&#8217;s campus and across the United States.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: Mahmoud Khalil just filed a $20M damages claim against the Trump admin, alleging it terrorized his family and smeared him as an antisemite for political gain. He spoke with us about the filing, and the moments of bliss and anguish since his release <a href="https://t.co/3lh1Krdua1">https://t.co/3lh1Krdua1</a> <a href="https://t.co/640Hbm4eCo">pic.twitter.com/640Hbm4eCo</a>
— Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) <a href="https://twitter.com/jangelooff/status/1943367171599446494?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Khalil&#8217;s deportation order is still in limbo as it moves through the American court system, but the claim filed on Thursday — according to The AP — &#8220;is a precursor to a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act&#8221; and &#8220;names the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the State Department&#8221; as codefendants.
The anti-Israel activist told The AP that the reason for his claim was to bring more attention to his cause, saying, &#8220;They are abusing their power because they think they are untouchable. Unless they feel there is some sort of accountability, it will continue to go unchecked.&#8221;
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He also claimed that if the government were to pay out any amount of money, he would share the settlement with others he said were also being &#8220;targeted&#8221; by the Trump administration. He also said that he would settle for an &#8220;official apology&#8221; from the administration along with changes to policy to make sure that what happened to him could not happen to anyone else.
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Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Khalil&#8217;s claim was &#8220;absurd,&#8221; and that he had participated in and led the &#8220;hateful behavior and rhetoric&#8221; that left so many Jewish students feeling unsafe.

Columbia University Anti-Israel Agitator Demands $20 Million From Trump Admin

Global Politics

Israel

In January 2024, Claire Shipman, who served as the chair of Columbia University’s board of trustees before she became the acting president of Columbia University, minimized the open antisemitism at the university, tried to keep a pro-Israel member of the board unaware of the school’s negotiations with anti-Israel demonstrators, and tried to remove that member of the board and replace her with an Arab one.
“We need to get somebody from the middle east [sic] or who is Arab on our board,” Shipman wrote on January 17, 2024, as <a href="https://freebeacon.com/campus/columbia-president-claire-shipman-privately-said-school-needed-to-add-an-arab-board-member-and-remove-a-jewish-one/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> reported. “Quickly I think. Somehow.”
The next week, she ripped board member Shoshana Shendelman — whose family fled Iran after the Islamic 1979 revolution and who had spoken out against the antisemitism on campus, wanting to restore law and order — saying she had been “extraordinarily unhelpful &#8230; I just don’t think she should be on the board.&#8221;
Later that year, in April, Shipman — a former senior national correspondent for ABC&#8217;s &#8220;Good Morning America,&#8221; who is married to Jay Carney, former President Obama&#8217;s White House press secretary — reportedly instructed vice-chair Wanda Greene to freeze Shendelman out about negotiations with the demonstrators, saying Shendelman was “fishing for information.” On April 22, Green responded, “Do you believe that she is a mole? A Fox in the henhouse?”
“I do,” Shipman answered.
Greene later added, &#8220;I’m tired of her.”
“So, so tired,&#8221; Shipman replied.
On Tuesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) — who led the charge in Congress questioning university presidents from Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania about antisemitism on campus — joined Education Workforce Committee chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) in a letter asking for “clarifications on the attached correspondence&#8221; and inquiring about Shipman wanting an Arab on the board, saying it “raises troubling questions regarding Columbia’s priorities just months after the October 7th attack, which was the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”
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“Shipman downplayed and outright mocked those who sought to expose the disgusting culture of antisemitism on Columbia’s campus,” Stefanik wrote on X.
Speaking of the issues Shipman had with Shendelman, they wrote that it raises “the question of why you appeared to be in favor of removing one of the board’s most outspoken Jewish advocates at a time when Columbia students were facing a shocking level of fear and hostility.&#8221;
Columbia issued a response to the Free Beacon about the story, stating, “These communications were provided to the Committee in the fall of 2024 and reflect communications from more than a year ago. They are now being published out of context and reflect a particularly difficult moment in time for the University when leaders across Columbia were intensely focused on addressing significant challenges.”
“Columbia declined to provide additional context for the messages on the record,” the Free Beacon noted succinctly.

US-EDUCATION-POLITICS-COMMENCEMENT

Columbia University Prez Wanted To Replace Jewish Board Member With Arab, Agreed Jew Was A ‘Mole’

Syrian-born anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, released from detention despite alleged Hamas <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/anti-israel-activist-detained-by-ice-led-activities-aligned-to-hamas-trumps-dhs-says">ties</a>, vowed on Saturday to continue anti-Israel protests while appearing alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) at a New Jersey airport.
Khalil, 30, spent 104 days in a Lousina detention center after his March 8 arrest, as the Trump administration sought to deport the Columbia student for allegedly engaging in activities &#8220;aligned to Hamas,&#8221; the Palestinian terrorist group responsible for the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
Immediately upon his Friday release following a court order from U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, Khalil <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/06/21/us-news/anti-israel-protestor-mahmoud-khalil-makes-emotional-return-home-embraces-wife-and-holds-telling-press-conference-with-aoc/?utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">bashed</a> the U.S.-funded “genocide” in Gaza, and even vowed to fight for the rights of the “incredible men” he was imprisoned with in Louisiana, per the New York Post.
&#8220;The U.S. government is funding this genocide, and Columbia University is investing in this genocide,&#8221; Khalil declared at the airport. &#8220;This is what I was protesting. This is what I will continue to protest with every one of you. Not only if they threaten me with detention, even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
AOC just imbedded herself with a Terrorist Hamas supporter 👍👍👍 Dems 80/20 &#8211; we&#39;ll take 20 🤣
BREAKING: Mahmoud Khalil Holds Press Gaggle With AOC After Being Released From Immigration Detention <a href="https://t.co/WOiRdLUc5k">https://t.co/WOiRdLUc5k</a> <a href="https://t.co/zk8712HIqG">pic.twitter.com/zk8712HIqG</a>
&mdash; Joni Job (@jj_talking) <a href="https://twitter.com/jj_talking/status/1936485070191423943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who joined Khalil at Newark Liberty International Airport alongside his wife and their newborn son, claimed the allegations against Khalil were politically motivated.
&#8220;Because Mahmoud Khalil is an advocate for Palestinian human rights, he has been accused, baselessly, of horrific allegations, simply because the Trump administration and our overall establishment disagrees with his political speech,&#8221; the congresswoman claimed to reporters. “We will continue to resist the politicization and the continued political persecution that ICE is engaged in.”
The conditions of Khalil&#8217;s bail included surrendering his passport and travel restrictions limiting him to New York, New Jersey, Michigan, to visit his family, Washington, D.C., and Louisiana, where his immigration trial will be held.
Khalil graduated from Columbia in December, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused him of leading “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States,” as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-rules-columbias-pro-hamas-agitator-mahmoud-khalil-can-be-deported">reported</a>.
“Condoning antisemitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” Rubio added, citing the 1952 Immigration and Naturalization Act, which authorizes the U.S. Secretary of State to deport anyone whose continued residence in the country “would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences.&#8221;
Defense attorneys for Khalil celebrated the Syrian’s release as a “significant and important victory,&#8221; per the Post.
The Trump administration is <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/anti-israel-activist-mahmoud-khalil-released-following-judges-order">appealing</a> Judge Farbiarz’s preliminary injunction and Khalil&#8217;s release on bail to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.

US-POLITICS-MIGRANTS-KHALIL-EDUCATION-MIGRATION

Pro-Hamas Agitator Mahmoud Khalil Bashes U.S. ‘Genocide’ With AOC After Judge Orders Release

Courts

Department of Homeland Security

Marco Rubio

State Department

Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville claimed during a recent podcast episode that he knew of &#8220;wealthy Jewish donors&#8221; who were willing to sell out to literal &#8220;national socialists&#8221; as log as it preserved &#8220;their f***ing tax cuts.&#8221;
Carville made the claim during a recent episode of his &#8220;Politics War Room&#8221; podcast, while complaining about the number of wealthy Jewish Americans who refused to back the Democratic Party in the wake of antisemitic protests in places such as Columbia University.
WATCH:
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James Carville launches into an unhinged rant, accusing wealthy Jewish donors of not wanting to give him money for the Democrat Party at fundraisers over rampant college campus anti-Semitism. Carville claims Jews will vote for Nazis just to “get their f-cking tax cuts.” <a href="https://t.co/gM5EYHWlaQ">pic.twitter.com/gM5EYHWlaQ</a>
&mdash; Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) <a href="https://twitter.com/joma_gc/status/1930416988788035950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you who this exposes in a more profound way,&#8221; Carville began. &#8220;And I hear this all the time. A lot of — you go to try to raise money from really wealthy Jewish fundraisers, and they say, &#8216;Look, James, I&#8217;m a Democrat but I can&#8217;t be a part of the party because of what happened at Columbia.'&#8221;
&#8220;What the f*** did the Democrats have to do with what happened at Columbia, by the way?&#8221; Carville asked, making no mention of the fact that multiple elected Democrats had defended the antisemitic protests — that ultimately spread across many American college campuses — from the very beginning. &#8220;They have some students at Columbia that f***ing, you know, generally made an ass of themselves.&#8221;
He pivoted back to the wealthy Jewish donors then, saying, &#8220;&#8216;Well, I can&#8217;t do that, but I can be for a party that everybody endorses the alternative for Deutschland&#8217; — read: the modern incarnation of national socialism, if you will. And I just find these kind of people — literally, my instinct is, they tell me that, look me right in the eye, and I — &#8216;No, you just want your f***ing tax cut.&#8221;
&#8220;Most Jewish people see right through that,&#8221; Carville added. &#8220;But the ones that don&#8217;t see through it, they just don&#8217;t really — at the end of the day, they just want their f***ing tax cuts.&#8221;

Politicon 2019 – Day 1

James Carville Claims ‘Wealthy Jewish Donors’ Will Vote For Nazis If It Saves ‘Their F***ing Tax Cuts’

James Carville

Jewish

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