“It labored like a appeal. The president’s threats gave Ivy management cowl to rein within the nuts, self-discipline the cosplay terrorists, and sound statesmanlike. You may’ve seen that the White Home wasn’t so over-the-top at first. It hit Columbia with a reasonably affordable listing of calls for. It made a smart if controversial transfer to scale back NIH overhead charges. The Division of Training launched a bunch of well-merited Title VI investigations. This meant the Ivy presidents may name the cops, confront antisemitism, and speak about mental heterodoxy with out worrying about being deposed by the campus left.”
“Looks like a win-win,” I stated. “So why didn’t Trump’s crew pocket the wins and construct from there? Looks like they may’ve run the Biden-Obama playbook: use these concessions and the investigations to concern steerage that might’ve pushed system-wide change. They’d faculties on the run. None of them have been prepared to face up for each other.”
“Certainly,” he stated.
“Then nothing is sensible,” I sputtered. My head was spinning. “Why would the administration drop that late-night listing of astonishing if amorphous calls for on Harvard? Why’d they concern that wild and semi-incoherent McMahon letter? Why’d they’ve Trump personally threaten Harvard’s tax-exempt standing on Reality Social? It appears they’re turning a profitable hand right into a shedding one. They’re now on shaky authorized footing and threat making the universities seem like the nice guys.”
“Ask your self, ‘Who advantages?’” he stated, furtively peering round. “The Ivies’ collusion with the president labored too effectively. Their establishments’ conduct had been so indefensible and campus tradition was so off the rails that they realized they’d unleashed Frankenstein’s monster. They hadn’t anticipated how unhealthy it might be. They discovered themselves hemorrhaging donors and public help.”
“So, what occurred?” I requested
“Test the file,” he stated. “You’ll discover the Harvard letter that blew issues up was dated April 11. The Ivy presidents simply occurred to assemble for a hush-hush conclave on April 9 at, yep, Mar-a-Lago. However they used assumed names, and since no person is aware of what these guys seem like, the assembly flew beneath the radar.”
“Wow!” I stated.
“They wanted the president to go full King Kong,” he continued, “and for the administration to step on each rake in sight. That may permit the Ivies to pivot and play what the WWE would name the ‘babyfaces’—the nice guys.”
“However how’d they get Trump to go alongside?” I requested. “You talked about the pull of historical past. I may see that being sufficient for section one, however not likely for section two.”
“Observe the cash,” he stated. “What have faculties quietly been hoovering up over the previous decade? International cash. They’ve gotten very adept at working off the grid with sovereign wealth funds and hostile actors. And have you ever famous any odd-looking overseas payoffs to the president in latest weeks?”
“So many!” I replied. “The crypto money. And the $400 million Qatari airplane! Are you telling me the ‘flying palace’ jumbo jet, with its 9 loos and 5 galleys and art-deco interiors, is a backdoor payoff from the universities for enjoying ball?!”
“Decide for your self,” he stated. “However a half-billion-dollar airplane is small beans once you’re sitting on a $50 billion endowment.”
“I can’t consider it,” I stated. “I can’t consider these Ivy Leaguers might be that nefarious.”
“The best trick the satan ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist,” he stated. And in a puff of cigarette smoke, Deep Ivy was gone.
