Republicans Push Sinister Plan to Punish Schools With Gaza Protests

House Republicans are threatening to punish colleges and universities that allow pro-Palestine protests.

The Guardian reported Wednesday that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise met with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, on October 1 and declared he plans to take action against higher education institutions by revoking their accreditation if Donald Trump wins in November, jeopardizing their federal funding.

“Your accreditation is on the line,” Scalise said. “You’re not playing games any more, or else you’re not a school any more.”

The publication obtained video of the meeting, which was also attended by Republican Representative Pat Fallon from Texas. It began as a discussion about antisemitism spreading in the U.S. after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 last year. But the topic quickly changed to squashing criticism of Israel’s war, which has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 16,000 children.

Fallon applauded AIPAC’s targeting of progressive critics of Israel, praising the organization for spending $23 million to intervene in congressional primaries.

“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for firing Jamaal Bowman, and even more so, Miss Cori Bush. Great work,” Fallon said.

Scalise concurred and invoked an antisemitic trope, commending the organization for having “tentacles throughout the Republican and Democrat circles in 435 districts. You can see how people are voting—just put the pressure on those who are voting the wrong way.”

Scalise promised that a second Trump administration would use federal funding to target schools that don’t crush pro-Palestinian protests.

“We’re looking at federal money, the federal grants that go through the science committee, student loans. You have a lot of jurisdiction as president, with all of these different agencies that are involving billions of dollars, some cases a billion alone going to one school,” said Scalise. He singled out Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University as examples.

Scalise then criticized Jewish students who participate in the protests, saying they “just feel guilty that they’re alive. I don’t know how you’re brought up to where you feel, ‘I’m a Jewish student, and I’m on the side with terrorists who want to kill me.’”

Scalise, along with other politicians in both the GOP and the Democratic Party, are going against constitutional principles of free speech to demonize protesters who are opposed to Israel’s widespread killing and destruction of Gaza the past year. They see their job as supporting Israel’s actions with no limits, regardless of the humanitarian toll and the prospects of the U.S. being drawn into a wide and deadly war.

Vice President Kamala Harris has raised a record-breaking $1 billion in cash in less than 80 days on the campaign trail, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke with The New York Times.

That total includes fundraising from both her campaign and party committees such as the Democratic National Committee, and does not include money donated to aligned super PACs.

The record $1 billion figure is far more than what Trump has raised in a whole year of campaigning. Trump has raised around $853 million in 2024 according to public statements tabulated by the Times.

Harris also outpaced Trump threefold in cash over the summer, raising $361 million in August to his $130 million. Three-quarters of the more than one million new donors to Harris in August did not contribute in the previous presidential election, according to her campaign.

Failed businessman Trump has reason to be scared. No candidate has ever raised more than $1 billion in less than three months.

In the meantime, as the donations to Harris keep coming in, Trump will keep shilling watches, Bibles, or NFTs, in a desperate attempt to try to keep pace.

President Biden on Wednesday called out the “onslaught of lies” from the right regarding relief efforts over Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, particularly from Donald Trump and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“Assertions have been made that property was being confiscated. That’s simply not true. They’re saying people impacted by these storms will receive $750 in cash and no more. That’s simply not true. They’re saying the money needed for this crisis is being diverted to migrants. What a ridiculous thing to say; it’s not true,” an outraged Biden said in a briefing from the White House.

Biden also addressed Greene’s wild claim that the federal government controls the weather and is sending hurricanes to Republican areas, calling it “beyond ridiculous,” and urging Republicans to put politics aside for relief efforts.

“It’s got to stop. In moments like this, there are no red or blue states. There’s one United States of America, where neighbors are helping neighbors,” Biden said. “Volunteers and first responders are risking everything, including their own lives, to help their fellow Americans.”

Later in the briefing, Biden thanked the Republican governors who have addressed disinformation about hurricane relief efforts, and further expressed his incredulity over the wild conspiracies.

“This stuff is off the wall. It’s like out of a comic book,” Biden said.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Milton is predicted to cause immense damage when it makes landfall in Florida, shaking the composure of even one of the state’s most experienced meteorologists. While some Republican politicians are dismissing the conspiracies and trying to do their jobs, others are demanding federal aid that they voted against or are missing in action. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis doesn’t even see the point in speaking to Kamala Harris, even as the vice president pledges to protect hurricane victims from illegal fraud and price gouging.

As a whole, Republicans still are refusing to acknowledge the role of climate change in the increased frequency and severity of these storms, and their attempt to politicize them hurts their constituents. Perhaps these hurricanes need to be politicized in a different way to make sure that people are actually helped instead of being used by their leaders.

As Election Day looms, Donald Trump is finalizing his speaking schedule for the next several weeks. One surprising stop, according to sources familiar with the Republican candidate’s schedule, is a hometown visit to New York City.

The New York Post first reported that Trump will hold a rally at Madison Square Garden later this month. New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who represents the district, confirmed that the event will be held October 27 at 3 p.m.

In a solidly blue New York City, one might ask why Trump is bothering to campaign so close to the election in the city at all.

Online critics were quick to point out that the event bears a striking resemblance to a Nazi rally that took place in Madison Square Garden in 1939 during the reign of Adolf Hitler. At the time, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was criticized for allowing the event to take place, but it proceeded anyway. Many also questioned the motivations of a Trump rally in a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican candidate for president since Ronald Reagan.

Hoylman-Sigal called the rally a “disastrous decision” by the venue “that will endanger the public safety of New Yorkers and has the potential to incite widespread violence.” Like many, he also called upon Madison Square Garden to cancel the event.

Donald Trump’s underlying reasons for supporting the state of Israel might have something to do with lining his own pockets.

The Trump Organization is reportedly looking to reopen talks about a lucrative hotel deal in Jerusalem, a discussion that began in earnest before the October 7 attack last year, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The organization was in talks to build a luxury property on the former site of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to sources and documents reviewed by the Times.

But that’s not the only Trumpian real estate project in the works in Israel. In Tel Aviv, the Trump Organization eyed a rising skyscraper as a possible location for another Trump-branded hotel, a project that would create the most hotel rooms in a single building just steps away from the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces.

“The deal absolutely would have gotten done if not for Oct. 7,” Eric Trump, who oversaw the deal, told the Times, adding that the real estate group would “definitely” finalize a deal with the country “when the current situation that we’re all witnessing on TV every day is resolved.”

Trump has been anything but shy about his unequivocal support for Israel. One of his biggest donors—and the recipient of one of Trump’s Presidential Medals of Freedom—Miriam Adelson, is also the richest Israeli in the world, and has worked for years to influence and lobby U.S. politicians to make decisions that benefit the Israeli state.

Speaking earlier this week with New York radio show Sid & Friends, Trump claimed that “nobody’s done more for the Jewish people than I have.” And in an interview with Hugh Hewitt, Trump insisted that the state of Israel—not necessarily Jewish Americans—needed to “get smart” about supporting his candidacy while speculating about the potential “waterfront property” real estate development possibilities in Gaza.

“I think that Israel has to do one thing,” Trump said. “They have to get smart about Trump, because they don’t back me. I did more for Israel than anybody. I did more for the Jewish people than anybody. And it’s not reciprocal.”