Transcript: Trump Rants about Harvard Darken amid Brutal Loss in Court

Trump (audio voiceover): Harvard has been a disaster. They’ve taken five plus, by the way, $5 billion plus. Five billion. Nobody knew that they were making this kind of.... If we didn’t do this, nobody would have ... We would have never found this out. They’re taking $5 billion. And I’d rather see that money go to trade schools. And, by the way, they’re totally antisemitic at Harvard, as you know—and some other colleges, too, in all fairness to them. And it’s been exposed, very exposed. And I think they’re dealing very badly. Every time they fight, they lose another $250 million. Yesterday, we found another $100 million.

Sargent: Note that Trump here claims to want to spend money on trade schools. Guess what? If Trump wants to spend lots more money on vocational education, he and the GOP Congress can pass something into law that appropriates this money. What strikes me about this—and we have a piece on this up at tnr.com, check it out folks—is that Trump only really gets interested in spending on trade schools if he can say he’s taking the money from Harvard to do so. Everything is zero-sum. Everything has to serve the MAGA Two Minute Hate of the moment. Can you talk about that?

Stewart: Donnie 2 Dolls has this very antiquated idea about the kind of economy that he thinks America’s going to get. There was some quote that one of his cronies said where, You’re going to be working in a factory and your kids are going to be working in the factory and your grandkids are going to be working in the factory. You know what? A lot of those factories are run by bots and robots and AI. It’s like he’s got this idea that we’re all going to be doing widgets for the rest of our lives. The fact is, America’s university system, its scientific apparatus, its elite institutions are far from perfect, but they have been a source of American greatness. They’ve really made us the envy of the world and been a source of enormous economic prosperity as well. This is why I think it’s especially important to those of us who still hold out the hope for the idea of America to not give up on the language of democracy. When Trump and members of his administration defy court orders, deprive individuals of their rights of speech, deprive institutions of their rights, talk about suspending habeas corpus, etc., it’s really important to hold on to the language and the ideals of a democracy more than ever.