Trump Blinks Again

In response to Harvard publicizing it's f%$@-you to the White House demands for control over its admissions, hiring, and curriculum, the Trump and his Evil Minions™ are now claiming that it was just some rando who sent the letter without authorization.

Yeah, and I'm the Queen of Sheba:

Harvard University received an emailed letter from the Trump administration last Friday that included a series of demands about hiring, admissions and curriculum so onerous that school officials decided they had no choice but to take on the White House.

The university announced its intentions on Monday, setting off a tectonic battle between one of the country’s most prestigious universities and a U.S. president. Then, almost immediately, came a frantic call from a Trump official.

The April 11 letter from the White House’s task force on antisemitism, this official told Harvard, should not have been sent and was “unauthorized,” two people familiar with the matter said.

The letter was sent by the acting general counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services, Sean Keveney, according to three other people, who were briefed on the matter. Mr. Keveney is a member of the antisemitism task force. 

I'll believe that it was an honest accident if Mr. Kevene is fired and deported to El Saklvador's CECOT prison.

OK, I know that this is extreme.  His head could be impaled on a pike, or he could be publicly hoist up a flag pole by his testicles.

………

After Harvard publicly repudiated the demands, the Trump administration raised the pressure, freezing billions in federal funding to the school and warning that its tax-exempt status was in jeopardy.

A senior White House official said the administration stood by the letter, calling the university’s decision to publicly rebuff the administration overblown and blaming Harvard for not continuing discussions.

“It was malpractice on the side of Harvard’s lawyers not to pick up the phone and call the members of the antisemitism task force who they had been talking to for weeks,” said May Mailman, the White House senior policy strategist. “Instead, Harvard went on a victimhood campaign.”

And then the Trump administration caved like the bitches that they are.

And those claims of an accident?

………

Harvard pushed back on the White House’s claim that it should have checked with the administration lawyers after receiving the letter.

The letter “was signed by three federal officials, placed on official letterhead, was sent from the email inbox of a senior federal official and was sent on April 11 as promised,” Harvard said in a statement on Friday. “Recipients of such correspondence from the U.S. government — even when it contains sweeping demands that are astonishing in their overreach — do not question its authenticity or seriousness.”

OK, my bad, THREE flagpoles.

And of course, Trump responded by cutting off billions of dollars in aid, and ordered the IRS to try to pull Harvard's tax-exempt status. 

Yeah, clearly an error.