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Lesson from Harvard: Democrats, Start Making Your Own Breaks [1]

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Date: 2025-04-29

I don’t know about you, but I found Tuesday’s New York Times story about two in-house reports at Harvard University that showed there to be serious cases of antisemitism and Islamophobia at the school to be crushingly disappointing.

It’s always depressing to learn of any instances of these kinds of atrocious acts, but it’s made even worse because it plays right into the narrative of the Trump administration as extends its bullying tactics to colleges around the country.

According to the Times, a Harvard task force found that antisemitism had infiltrated coursework, social life, the hiring of some faculty members, and the worldview of certain academic programs.

A separate report on anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias on campus found widespread discomfort and alienation among those students also – 92 percent of the Muslim survey respondents said they believed they would face an academic or professional penalty for expressing their political beliefs.

Harvard President Dr. Alan Garber has issued a letter apologizing for the findings. Both reports were released Tuesday.

Harvard is suing the Trump administration after it withheld $2.2 billion in federal funding due to claims of antisemitism. I don’t know if the legal arguments will cause the government’s acts to be overturned. I hope they do.

But these reports certainly help the four-time indicted, twice-impeached, sexual assaulter, tax fraudster, wannabe fascist dictator, convicted felon, Russian puppet, mob boss, President Donald Trump to get control of the narrative for now. And controlling the narrative is a really big deal in politics and a lot of other things.

So, I sit here and I think “what a lousy break” in the all-encompassing fight against our corrupt president and his complicit Republican Party as they tirelessly work to tear down our government, undermine our democracy, and make a mockery of our rule of law.

Breaks? We’ve all heard the cliches. “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” “The harder I work the luckier I get.” “Luck is the residue of design.” Stuff like that.

That leads me to think about the Democrats (Why am I doing all this thinking when I could be taking a nap?). They could use all the breaks they can get, but are they doing what they need to get them in the first place. Going back to our sports analogies, successful teams make their own breaks, often with aggressive play that forces their opponents into mistakes.

Are Democrats doing that? Have they been aggressive enough to rattle Trump’s GOP congressional fanboys and fangirls and his crew of administration lackeys? Have they pushed enough to force them into uncomfortable positions, whose accompanying pressure is more likely to cause them to say and do stupid things and undermine their plans.

“Be the hammer, not the nail” is another sports slogan. With all that’s at stake, are Democrats swinging a big enough hammer, if they’re swinging one at all.

The outrage at GOP town halls has rattled enough cages that Republicans have pretty much quit holding them. The aggressiveness of the audience has pushed them back on their heels, and their decision to hide is cutting into their credibility. Good job there.

There’re a lot of good things going on – mass protests, calls and email to Congress members, big rallies. But they haven’t been effective. They’ve changed almost nothing.

Democrats held a sit-in in Washington Sunday. Big show, meant nothing. I read some member of the House is filing articles of impeachment. Yeah, go ahead, knock yourself out. Get your picture taken. It’ll go nowhere. Another posturing move. We need less soundbites and more effective action.

Trump’s approval numbers are dropping. What he and his henchmen are doing isn’t popular with the majority of Americans. Republicans in Congress are about to approve massive tax cuts for the rich and pay for them by cutting programs for the poor. That’s not a winning plan, either.

Still, Trump and his gang are sinking their tentacles deeper and deeper into government. Step by step they’re getting more aggressive. Why not? What’s the pushback been?

It’s been said here before that more is needed. That civil disobedience and nonviolent public disruptions are necessary. Add that to continuing to find new and imaginative ways to attack and rattle GOP Congress members and Trump allies in and out of government.

What happened at Harvard is wrong. I don’t know how much of it is antisemitism or islamophobia and how much is just outrage and frustration at the war in Gaza.

I think the attack on Israel was monstrous and that country has every right to destroy Hamas for what it did. I also think Israel has committed war crimes in its slaughter of so many civilians and that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal because of them. Am I antisemitic or Islamophobic? You tell me.

And here’s what I’ll tell you: Harvard will have to fix its own mess. I can only see it as something that helps Trump, which means it’s just something Democrats are going to have to overcome.

Will they? Maybe the whole Trump thing will collapse on its own. But if it doesn’t, there’ll be places in infamy for those who could do more but didn’t.

I saw a video clip of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talking about the Harvard funding freeze and saying they had sent the president “a very strong letter.”

A very strong letter? Good idea. Maybe he’ll get a paper cut when he opens it.

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Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Please share and subscribe for free via email on its home page.

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