Trump Threatens Schools in Dark Attack on First Amendment

In yet another attack on the Constitution, President Donald Trump is threatening to pull funding from schools, colleges, and universities that allow “illegal protests.”

“Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning. “NO MASKS,” he added, to boot.

Trump’s threat is a direct assault on the First Amendment, which protects the “right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” a core pillar to the functioning of a peaceful democracy.

It’s not clear what exactly Trump considers an “illegal protest”—but this is just the latest move in his crackdown on school funding and institutional neutrality in higher education. In January, he signed an executive order on combating antisemitism on college campuses, a clear response to the wave of monthslong protests on college campuses against Israel’s deadly attack on Gaza.

A fact sheet that accompanied the order specifically targeted pro-Palestinian international students. “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” the fact sheet read.

Also in January, Trump signed a sweeping executive order that would defund schools that teach any kids about “critical race theory” or gender.

And on Monday, the Trump administration announced it would review federal grants and contracts with Columbia University over allegations of failure to address antisemitism, despite the school taking strict disciplinary actions against pro-Palestinian protesters, including calling the New York Police Department on protesters to arrest students and, most recently, the expulsion of two students from Barnard College.

A total of $5 billion in grant commitments will be reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the General Services Administration.

“We look forward to ongoing work with the new federal administration to fight antisemitism, and we will continue to make all efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff” Columbia said in a statement in response to the announcement.

After Donald Trump’s tariffs against China, Mexico, and Canada went into effect Tuesday, the three countries retaliated with tariffs of their own against American goods.

In response to Trump’s 20 percent tariffs on all Chinese products, China announced tariffs of up to 15 percent on imports of U.S. chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton and 10 percent tariffs on U.S. soybeans, sorghum, pork, beef, seafood, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products. These tariffs will take effect beginning March 10, with goods already in transit being exempt until April 12. In addition, China is also introducing more controls on business with certain American companies.

Chinese customs officials said they will suspend American lumber imports, claiming “forest pests such as bark beetles and longhorn beetles” were found. The country also suspended soybean import qualifications from three U.S. companies, claiming it found traces of fungi and seed-coating agents.

China imported $24.7 billion of farm products from the U.S. in 2024, about 14 percent of all U.S. farm exports. A spokesperson for China’s foreign minister, Lin Jian, said that the U.S. had repaid kindness with enmity with its tariffs.

“I would like to reiterate that the Chinese people have never been afraid of evil, do not believe in ghosts, and have never been bullied,” Jian said.

Canada’s response to America’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods amounts to 25 percent tariffs on $155 billion of American goods, with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods going into effect immediately and the rest going into effect in 21 days, to “remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.

“Because of the tariffs imposed by the U.S., Americans will pay more for groceries, gas, and cars, and potentially lose thousands of jobs,” Trudeau added. “Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship. They will violate the very trade agreement that was negotiated by President Trump in his last term.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the country will respond to U.S. tariffs of 25 percent with tariffs of its own, to be announced at a public event in Mexico City’s central plaza on Sunday.

“There is no motive or reason nor justification that supports this decision that will affect our people and our nations,” Sheinbaum said.

All of this indicates that Trump has set off a trade war that is completely unnecessary and based on the president’s own delusions. Supposedly, Trump thinks that he can replace the government’s revenue from income taxes with revenue from tariffs, even planning to create a pointless “External Revenue Service.”

In the real world, however, the tariffs will wreck the economy, cause the stock market to plummet further, and cause negative side effects felt by the average American, such as higher grocery and utility bills. It’s not clear when or if Trump will see the folly in his plans, but in the meantime, the public is going to feel the effect on their wallets.

Donald Trump’s position on Russia has become so prostrate that even Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade has been forced to urge sanity. 

Following the Trump administration’s decision to pause military aid to Ukraine, Kilmeade took to social media to issue a frank reminder—one that was much needed by the U.S. president.

“Can we all remember @KremlinRussia_E is the bad guy,” Kilmeade wrote on X Monday night, tagging Russian President Vladimir Putin’s account.

“They invaded—they kidnap kids—Whatever happens—Ukraine can not lose—eastern. Europe will be next,” Kilmeade added. 

The Fox News host, who once bent over backward to justify Trump’s request for “the kind of generals Hitler had,” has apparently broken with the president over his foreign policy, which even the Kremlin has said “largely coincides” with its vision. 

The Bulwark’s Tim Miller poked at Kilmeade on X, writing, “Maybe DM the secretary of defense.”

Trump has made escalating efforts to convince the American people of the very opposite: that Putin will “keep his word” on a peace deal, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy isn’t interested in peace at all.  And this is in no way the beginning of Trump’s smear campaign: He has long made efforts to undermine Zelenskiy and push false narratives about Ukraine. 

In fact, Trump’s first impeachment hinged on his allegedly pressuring Zelenskiy to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. How exactly did he pressure Zelenskiy to do what he wanted? He withheld military aid. Did it work? Not at all. 

Trump’s efforts to recast the villain in this story seem to be working. A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found that the percentage of Americans who viewed Russia as “the enemy” had dropped from 64 percent in 2023 to 34 percent. 

Surprise, surprise: Vice President JD Vance isn’t taking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seriously.

During an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity Monday night, Donald Trump’s sniveling sidekick made light of Russia’s ongoing incursion into Ukrainian territory, following the Trump administration’s decision to pause deliveries of military aid to the war-torn country.

At one point, Sean Hannity said that President Joe Biden’s administration had “called [Vladimir] Putin every name in the book.”

“And he still invaded anyway!” Vance interjected, rushing to get the words out before letting out a breathy laugh at his own observation.

“OK, he still invaded anyway,” Hannity replied. “Well remember, it depends if it’s a ‘minor incursion.’”

Hannity was referring to Biden’s gaffe calling a potential invasion into Ukraine a “minor incursion” in 2022. Meanwhile, Trump had cheerleaded Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, claiming that Crimeans “would rather be with Russia,” but it seems that conservatives choose not to remember that nearly as often.

Vance’s joke isn’t so much offensive as it is stupid, considering that with Trump in charge, Russia intends to continue to pillage Ukraine. Only now, the U.S. intends to rubber-stamp it.

During the interview, Vance defended the Trump administration’s decision to pause deliveries of military aid to Ukraine, and claimed that Europeans were doing a “disservice” to Ukrainians by continuing to fund Kyiv’s efforts to defend itself from Russian aggression.

The president’s first speech to a joint session of Congress will take place Tuesday at 9:00 p.m., but some key members of the intended audience won’t be in attendance.

A growing faction of Democrats are planning to boycott Donald Trump’s unofficial State of the Union address in protest against the administration’s violent agenda, Elon Musk’s apparent takeover of the federal government, and Trump’s abysmal negotiations with Ukraine.

Washington Senator Patty Murray announced Monday that she wouldn’t be in the crowd during Trump’s first major speech to the legislative branch, posting on X that the true state of the union is that Trump is “spitting in the face of the law.”

“He is letting an unelected billionaire fire cancer researchers and wreck federal agencies like the Social Security Administration at will,” Murray wrote.

Murray has been joined by Senators Ron Wyden, Chris Murphy, and Don Beyer, all of whom are planning to skip.

Members from the House are also joining in on the protest. Colorado Representative Diana DeGette announced Tuesday morning she would also be staying away from the speech. Speaking with NBC affiliate 9 News, DeGette said that the Trump administration’s “barrage of illegal attacks against public servants and vulnerable groups, have disgraced and embarrassed our country.”

The plan flies in the face of the silent protest that top Democrats in Congress have tried to organize. In a letter issued Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged his party to make a “strong” and “dignified” presence at Trump’s speech, rather than run away.

“It is important to have a strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber,” Jeffries wrote. “The House as an institution belongs to the American people, and as their representatives, we will not be run off the block or bullied.”