Trump Suffers Another Massive Blow in His Petty War on Harvard

A federal judge has indefinitely blocked the Trump administration’s ban on international students at Harvard University.

“At its root, this case is about core constitutional rights that must be safeguarded: freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech, each of which is a pillar of a functioning democracy and an essential hedge against authoritarianism,” Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ruled on Monday. “Here, the government’s misplaced efforts to control a reputable academic institution and squelch diverse viewpoints seemingly because they are, in some instances, opposed to this Administration’s own views, threaten these rights.”

Trump ordered a 90-day suspension on international students at Harvard, claiming that the university was refusing to share information on students that were “known threats to other students or university personnel.” The decision left the status of countless students up in the air, as the school has nearly 7,000 international students, making up about 27 percent of the school’s student body. This is another installment of Trump’s war of attrition against Harvard and foreign students whom he perceives to be “anti-American.”

The Federal Reserve is waiting to see the residual impacts of the country’s new tariff plan before reducing its key interest rate, leaving the man in charge of implementing the agenda less than happy.

“‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell, of the Fed, will be in Congress today in order to explain, among other things, why he is refusing to lower the Rate. Europe has had 10 cuts, we have had ZERO,” Trump wrote in an excoriating Truth Social post about Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Tuesday.

“No inflation, great economy—We should be at least two to three points lower,” Trump continued. “Would save the USA $800 Billion Dollars Per Year, plus. What a difference this would make. If things later change to the negative, increase the Rate.”

“I hope Congress really works this very dumb, hardheaded person, over,” he concluded. “We will be paying for his incompetence for many years to come. THE BOARD SHOULD ACTIVATE. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

But Powell fully disregarded the president’s call to reduce rates.

“For the time being, we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance,” Powell said in prepared remarks obtained by the Associated Press.

The public back-and-forth could be the beginning of a tough couple of days for Powell on Capitol Hill, as the chairman is expected to testify before both chambers of Congress.

Leading economists outside of the Federal Reserve have similarly argued that now is not the time to cut interest rates. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told Reuters that the country has “space and time” to figure out its ideal rates, especially since companies have already decided to increase product prices this year in reaction to hampered global supply chains.

So much for Donald Trump’s “12 Day War.” The U.S. president said Tuesday that both Israel and Iran have violated a ceasefire.

Trump was furious when speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, just hours after he’d announced an impending ceasefire that would end what he’d termed the “12 Day War.”

“Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’d never seen before. The biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel. When I say, ‘OK, now you have 12 hours,’ you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on ’em,” Trump said. 

“So I’m not happy with them, I’m not happy with Iran either. But I’m really unhappy Israel is going out this morning, because the one rocket that didn’t land that was shot—perhaps by mistake—that didn’t land, I’m not happy about that.

“You know what, we basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” Trump said. “You understand that?”

While the president had openly bragged about bringing an end to the conflict, it seems he has predictably lost control of the other parties. 

Shortly after Trump had announced the so-called ceasefire deal, he was already reduced to begging Israel to back off its military assault. 

“ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote in a desperate post on Truth Social. 

“ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect! Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he insisted in a separate post.

Israel proceeded to attack a radar station near Tehran, after claiming Tehran had fired more missiles. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would restrain from any more attacks following a conversation with Trump, according to the Financial Times.  

Iran’s military denied having fired on Israel, state media reported.

The Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to proceed Monday with deporting people to countries they aren’t from, such as South Sudan, without proper notice.

The 6–3 decision was split along ideological lines, with liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson all dissenting.

“In matters of life and death, it is best to proceed with caution,” the liberal justices wrote. “In this case, the Government took the opposite approach.”

The justices’ decision lifts a lower court order last month that required the government to give immigrants set for deportation to so-called “third countries,” or countries they have no connection to, at least 15 days’ notice to challenge the decision based on “credible fear.” Donald Trump had immediately appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, asking them to make it easier for him to deport people without proper due process. Monday’s decision by the Supreme Court is a hold on the lower court’s previous order while the case fully plays out in lower courts.

The decision focuses on a group of eight immigrant men from various countries—including Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba, and Mexico—who were all boarded on a deportation flight headed to South Sudan. As the case played out in the courts, the flight halted in Djibouti, where the men have been trapped since April in a temporary base made out of a shipping container, along with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents overseeing their deportation.

For now, Trump has achieved a massive victory allowing him to speed up his deportations, sending people to just about anywhere he wants.

Multiple outlets have reported that the Trump administration’s claims that they “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities were slightly premature, causing the president to lash out on Monday.

“The sites that we hit in Iran were totally destroyed, and everyone knows it. Only the Fake News would say anything different in order to try and demean, as much as possible—And even they say they were ‘pretty well destroyed!’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Then he got personal, attacking specific networks and even purposefully misgendering CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who is gay. “Working especially hard on this falsehood is Allison Cooper of Fake News CNN, Dumb Brian L. Roberts, Chairman of ‘Con’cast, Jonny Karl of ABC Fake News, and always, the Losers of, again, Concast’s NBC Fake News. It never ends with the sleazebags in the Media, and that’s why their Ratings are at an ALL TIME LOW—ZERO CREDIBILITY!”

No one is denying that the Iranian nuclear sites took substantial damage. But Israeli and U.S. military reports on the bombing contradict Trump’s claim of complete and utter obliteration. Israeli officials told The New York Times that the Fordo nuclear site, buried deep in a mountain, was not completely destroyed and that the Iranians had moved nuclear materials like uranium out of the site before the bombing. A U.S. military official said the same, admitting that not even 12 bunker-busters could level Fordo, even though the site is certainly out of commission for the time being. On Sunday, even Vice President JD Vance admitted Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is still intact.

Trump is obviously playing strongman here, embellishing Israeli and U.S. strikes that have thus far killed over 400 civilians, damaged infrastructure, and may not even stop the Iranian government from continuing its nuclear program. All this is distracting Americans from his broken promise of ending endless wars and the ongoing domestic issues, like his retaliatory tariffs and his impending controversial spending bill. And when the media deviates from his winning narrative, he stoops to homophobic remarks and name calling. Very presidential.