Trump Threatens Schools in Dark Attack on First Amendment

In yet another attack on the Constitution, President Donald Trump is threatening to pull funding from schools, colleges, and universities that allow “illegal protests.”

“Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning. “NO MASKS,” he added, to boot.

Trump’s threat is a direct assault on the First Amendment, which protects the “right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” a core pillar to the functioning of a peaceful democracy.

It’s not clear what exactly Trump considers an “illegal protest”—but this is just the latest move in his crackdown on school funding and institutional neutrality in higher education. In January, he signed an executive order on combating antisemitism on college campuses, a clear response to the wave of monthslong protests on college campuses against Israel’s deadly attack on Gaza.

A fact sheet that accompanied the order specifically targeted pro-Palestinian international students. “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” the fact sheet read.

Also in January, Trump signed a sweeping executive order that would defund schools that teach any kids about “critical race theory” or gender.

And on Monday, the Trump administration announced it would review federal grants and contracts with Columbia University over allegations of failure to address antisemitism, despite the school taking strict disciplinary actions against pro-Palestinian protesters, including calling the New York Police Department on protesters to arrest students and, most recently, the expulsion of two students from Barnard College.

A total of $5 billion in grant commitments will be reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the General Services Administration.

“We look forward to ongoing work with the new federal administration to fight antisemitism, and we will continue to make all efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff” Columbia said in a statement in response to the announcement.

After Donald Trump’s tariffs against China, Mexico, and Canada went into effect Tuesday, the three countries retaliated with tariffs of their own against American goods.

In response to Trump’s 20 percent tariffs on all Chinese products, China announced tariffs of up to 15 percent on imports of U.S. chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton and 10 percent tariffs on U.S. soybeans, sorghum, pork, beef, seafood, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products. These tariffs will take effect beginning March 10, with goods already in transit being exempt until April 12. In addition, China is also introducing more controls on business with certain American companies.

Chinese customs officials said they will suspend American lumber imports, claiming “forest pests such as bark beetles and longhorn beetles” were found. The country also suspended soybean import qualifications from three U.S. companies, claiming it found traces of fungi and seed-coating agents.

China imported $24.7 billion of farm products from the U.S. in 2024, about 14 percent of all U.S. farm exports. A spokesperson for China’s foreign minister, Lin Jian, said that the U.S. had repaid kindness with enmity with its tariffs.

“I would like to reiterate that the Chinese people have never been afraid of evil, do not believe in ghosts, and have never been bullied,” Jian said.

Canada’s response to America’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods amounts to 25 percent tariffs on $155 billion of American goods, with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods going into effect immediately and the rest going into effect in 21 days, to “remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.

“Because of the tariffs imposed by the U.S., Americans will pay more for groceries, gas, and cars, and potentially lose thousands of jobs,” Trudeau added. “Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship. They will violate the very trade agreement that was negotiated by President Trump in his last term.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the country will respond to U.S. tariffs of 25 percent with tariffs of its own, to be announced at a public event in Mexico City’s central plaza on Sunday.

“There is no motive or reason nor justification that supports this decision that will affect our people and our nations,” Sheinbaum said.

All of this indicates that Trump has set off a trade war that is completely unnecessary and based on the president’s own delusions. Supposedly, Trump thinks that he can replace the government’s revenue from income taxes with revenue from tariffs, even planning to create a pointless “External Revenue Service.”

In the real world, however, the tariffs will wreck the economy, cause the stock market to plummet further, and cause negative side effects felt by the average American, such as higher grocery and utility bills. It’s not clear when or if Trump will see the folly in his plans, but in the meantime, the public is going to feel the effect on their wallets.

Donald Trump’s position on Russia has become so prostrate that even Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade has been forced to urge sanity. 

Following the Trump administration’s decision to pause military aid to Ukraine, Kilmeade took to social media to issue a frank reminder—one that was much needed by the U.S. president.

“Can we all remember @KremlinRussia_E is the bad guy,” Kilmeade wrote on X Monday night, tagging Russian President Vladimir Putin’s account.

“They invaded—they kidnap kids—Whatever happens—Ukraine can not lose—eastern. Europe will be next,” Kilmeade added. 

The Fox News host, who once bent over backward to justify Trump’s request for “the kind of generals Hitler had,” has apparently broken with the president over his foreign policy, which even the Kremlin has said “largely coincides” with its vision. 

The Bulwark’s Tim Miller poked at Kilmeade on X, writing, “Maybe DM the secretary of defense.”

Trump has made escalating efforts to convince the American people of the very opposite: that Putin will “keep his word” on a peace deal, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy isn’t interested in peace at all.  And this is in no way the beginning of Trump’s smear campaign: He has long made efforts to undermine Zelenskiy and push false narratives about Ukraine. 

In fact, Trump’s first impeachment hinged on his allegedly pressuring Zelenskiy to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. How exactly did he pressure Zelenskiy to do what he wanted? He withheld military aid. Did it work? Not at all. 

Trump’s efforts to recast the villain in this story seem to be working. A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found that the percentage of Americans who viewed Russia as “the enemy” had dropped from 64 percent in 2023 to 34 percent. 

Surprise, surprise: Vice President JD Vance isn’t taking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seriously.

During an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity Monday night, Donald Trump’s sniveling sidekick made light of Russia’s ongoing incursion into Ukrainian territory, following the Trump administration’s decision to pause deliveries of military aid to the war-torn country.

At one point, Sean Hannity said that President Joe Biden’s administration had “called [Vladimir] Putin every name in the book.”

“And he still invaded anyway!” Vance interjected, rushing to get the words out before letting out a breathy laugh at his own observation.

“OK, he still invaded anyway,” Hannity replied. “Well remember, it depends if it’s a ‘minor incursion.’”

Hannity was referring to Biden’s gaffe calling a potential invasion into Ukraine a “minor incursion” in 2022. Meanwhile, Trump had cheerleaded Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, claiming that Crimeans “would rather be with Russia,” but it seems that conservatives choose not to remember that nearly as often.

Vance’s joke isn’t so much offensive as it is stupid, considering that with Trump in charge, Russia intends to continue to pillage Ukraine. Only now, the U.S. intends to rubber-stamp it.

During the interview, Vance defended the Trump administration’s decision to pause deliveries of military aid to Ukraine, and claimed that Europeans were doing a “disservice” to Ukrainians by continuing to fund Kyiv’s efforts to defend itself from Russian aggression.

The president’s first speech to a joint session of Congress will take place Tuesday at 9:00 p.m., but some key members of the intended audience won’t be in attendance.

A growing faction of Democrats are planning to boycott Donald Trump’s unofficial State of the Union address in protest against the administration’s violent agenda, Elon Musk’s apparent takeover of the federal government, and Trump’s abysmal negotiations with Ukraine.

Washington Senator Patty Murray announced Monday that she wouldn’t be in the crowd during Trump’s first major speech to the legislative branch, posting on X that the true state of the union is that Trump is “spitting in the face of the law.”

“He is letting an unelected billionaire fire cancer researchers and wreck federal agencies like the Social Security Administration at will,” Murray wrote.

Murray has been joined by Senators Ron Wyden, Chris Murphy, and Don Beyer, all of whom are planning to skip.

Members from the House are also joining in on the protest. Colorado Representative Diana DeGette announced Tuesday morning she would also be staying away from the speech. Speaking with NBC affiliate 9 News, DeGette said that the Trump administration’s “barrage of illegal attacks against public servants and vulnerable groups, have disgraced and embarrassed our country.”

The plan flies in the face of the silent protest that top Democrats in Congress have tried to organize. In a letter issued Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged his party to make a “strong” and “dignified” presence at Trump’s speech, rather than run away.

“It is important to have a strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber,” Jeffries wrote. “The House as an institution belongs to the American people, and as their representatives, we will not be run off the block or bullied.”

While Donald Trump took questions from the press at the White House Monday afternoon, the stock market plummeted, and Fox News displayed a graphic showing the dip while carrying Trump’s remarks live. 

Trump told reporters that he planned to enact his long-threatened 25 percent tariffs against goods from Mexico and Canada and 10 percent tariffs against goods from China starting Tuesday, to which the Dow Jones, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 did not respond well. Fox News, along with their usual breaking news chyron, also had the Dow index displayed while Trump was speaking, showing a fall of more than 650 points.

Trump’s remarks were preceded by his early afternoon announcement on Truth Social addressed to “the Great Farmers of the United States.” 

“Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!” Trump posted. But it seems that there was little fun to be had in the stock market based on the fears of higher prices and other  negative ripple effects.

This, coupled with fewer food imports from three of America’s largest trading partners, will ultimately lead to higher food prices across the country, something that Trump campaigned against during the 2024 election and that ultimately played a factor in his victory. Plus, the prices of various other goods, from cars to electronics to over-the-counter pills, also will likely see a sharp increase. 

Don’t expect Trump to take responsibility for a sinking stock market or higher prices, though. He’s already saying that rising inflation isn’t his fault and has tacitly admitted that his tariffs will cause prices to go up. His administration is even discussing how to juke economic numbers to try and hide how badly Trump’s radical changes, including those from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, are hurting the economy. It looks like our wallets are about to have a rough spring.

Donald Trump is scheduled to speak with several Cabinet members Monday regarding Ukraine policy and the possibility of ending military assistance to the beleaguered Eastern European nation.

That could include withholding equipment, such as ammunition and radars, as well as limiting the amount of intelligence shared with the Ukrainian military, according to a U.S. official who spoke with The Washington Post.

The meeting will involve Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, and special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, the last of whom met with Russian officials last month regarding a potential peace deal.

During a White House press conference earlier Monday, Trump repeatedly ducked reporters’ questions as to whether his administration’s actions had aligned U.S. policy with Moscow. Rather than saying “no,” Trump went on a breathy rant claiming that the war never would have happened if he was in office at the onset of the conflict.

“I wanna see it end fast. I don’t want to see this go on for years and years. Now, President Zelenskiy supposedly made a statement today in AP—I’m not a big fan of AP, so maybe it was an incorrect statement—but he said he thinks the war is gonna go on for a long time, uh, and he better not be right about that, that’s all I’m saying,” Trump said.

Russian forces crossed the Ukrainian border on February 24, 2022, which Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to justify by falsely claiming that he needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine. The U.S. and Russia opened discussions at a meeting in Saudi Arabia last month, seeking a conclusion to the three-year war, but the assembly conspicuously excluded Ukrainian leadership.

When asked whether he had discussed the ending of military aid to Ukraine, however, Trump said that “things” were happening “as we speak.”

“I haven’t even talked about that right now,” Trump told reporters. “I mean, right now, we’ll see what happens. A lot of things are happening right now, literally as we speak.”

On Friday, Trump and JD Vance overtly showed where their loyalties lie: Seated in front of the press in the White House, the pair refused to let Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speak, allowed a conservative reporter to mock Zelenskiy’s wartime attire, and effectively leveraged the critical meeting for measly political gain by defending Putin at the cost of denigrating former American officials. And in doing so, they challenged America’s strongest alliances while ceding the world stage to its adversaries.

Donald Trump buffered while trying desperately to talk around a direct question Monday about aligning U.S. foreign policy with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s designs for Ukraine. 

During a press conference, Trump was asked whether he was “considering canceling military aid to Ukraine” after his disastrous meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy Friday. 

Trump and Vice President JD Vance put on an outrageous display berating the wartime president for failing to prostrate before them as they demanded he pay the U.S. back for aid, imploding negotiations with Ukraine to the delight of the Kremlin.  

The president was also asked to respond to concerns that he was moving the “U.S. worldview in alignment with Moscow.”

In response, Trump rattled off a list of everything that “would have never happened” if he’d won the presidential election four years ago. 

Trump’s nonanswer, which veered further and further off-topic, included the October 7 massacre, “Israel,” inflation, the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, and China possessing the Bagram Air Base (the Taliban has denied that China controls the former U.S. base). Finally, he circled back to Ukraine—but only to complain, not to actually answer the question. 

“I wanna see it end fast. I don’t want to see this go on for years and years. Now, President Zelenskiy supposedly made a statement today in AP—I’m not a big fan of AP, so maybe it was an incorrect statement—but he said he thinks the war is gonna go on for a long time, uh and he better not be right about that, that’s all I’m saying,” Trump said.

Zelenskiy was quoted Monday saying that peace with Russia “is still very, very far away,” following his talk with the U.S. president. Trump called the quote “the worst statement that could have been made,” in a post on Truth Social.

Trump was also asked whether Americans should be disturbed that Kremlin officials said his foreign policy was “largely in line” with Russia’s vision.

“Well, I’ll tell you what, I think it takes two to tango,” Trump replied. “And you’re gonna have to make a deal with Russia, and you’re gonna have to make a deal with Ukraine. You’re gonna have to have the, uhhhh, assent and you’re gonna have to have the consent from the European nations, ’cause I think that’s important—and from us. I think everybody has to get into a room, so to speak, and we have to make a deal. And the deal could be made very fast. It should not be that hard a deal to make. It could be made very fast.” 

Trump previously claimed that he could resolve the war within 24 hours of entering the White House. 

Then the president pivoted to continue whining about Zelenskiy: “Now maybe somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long. That person will not be listened to very long. Because I believe that Russia wants to make a deal. I believe certainly the people of Ukraine want to make a deal—they’ve suffered more than anybody else. We talk about suffering, they suffered.”

“But if you think about it, under President Bush they got Georgia, right? Russia got Georgia. Under President Obama they got a nice big submarine base, a nice big chunk of land where they have their submarines. You know that, right? Crimea,” Trump said, inhaling heavily. 

It’s worth remembering that Trump had been a cheerleader for Putin following Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, claiming that Crimeans “would rather be with Russia.” 

“Under President Trump they got nothing. And under President O’Biden they tried to get the whole thing,” Trump said, garbling his predecessor’s name. “They tried to get the whole big, uh, big Ukraine. The whole thing. If I didn’t get in here, they would have gotten the whole thing.”

Trump’s support for the foreign dictator emboldened Russia, and his lack of support for Zelenskiy weakened the country, making way for Russia to launch its ground offensive in 2022.

With Trump in office, Russia wouldn’t walk away empty-handed. 

The White House instructed the State and Treasury departments Monday to draft a plan lifting U.S. sanctions on Russian individuals and entities, including oligarchs, who Trump recently claimed “are very nice people.” It wasn’t immediately clear what the U.S. would receive in return for sanctions relief. And earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth suggested that Kyiv should abandon hopes of restoring its illegally seized territory from Russia.

A leading spokesperson in the Department of Health and Human Services announced his resignation Monday after stark disagreements with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over how to manage the growing measles outbreak.

Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Thomas Corry resigned effective immediately on Friday only two weeks after starting the job, he posted on LinkedIn, wishing his colleagues in the department “the best and great success.” Corry reportedly butted heads with Kennedy and Kennedy’s principal deputy chief of staff, Stefanie Spear, over how to manage the department, according to Politico.

Specifically, Corry was not happy with Kennedy’s initial response to Texas’s growing measles outbreak, which has infected at least 146 people and caused the first measles death in the United States in 10 years. Last week, Kennedy said during a Cabinet meeting that measles outbreaks were not unusual, despite the fact that measles had been declared eliminated in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since then, Kennedy said that HHS was helping health officials in Texas respond to the outbreak and spoke approvingly of the measles vaccine, but has still stopped short of calling for everyone to get vaccinated, writing Sunday in a Fox News op-ed that “the decision to vaccinate is a personal one.”

“Parents play a pivotal role in safeguarding their children’s health,” he wrote. “All parents should consult with their healthcare providers to understand their options to get the [measles, mumps, and rubella] vaccine.

Corry is a Trump administration veteran, having served during the president’s first term as senior adviser and communications director at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, so his resignation so soon into Trump’s second term is sure to arouse suspicion. Kennedy has long had a reputation for being anti-vaccine, although he tried to deny his previous comments during his confirmation hearings.

Since his confirmation to lead HHS, Kennedy’s actions have not been reassuring. He has paused multiple vaccine developments in the department and on his first day fired critical employees, including members of the CDC who respond to outbreaks. Only a couple of years after a global Covid-19 pandemic, Kennedy is applying the wrong lessons and is not proving himself to be up to managing the country’s public health.

In a move to further castigate the Ukrainian president, Trump reportedly wants Volodymyr Zelenskiy to formally apologize for his behavior before any rare earths deal goes forward.

“I have been told by a senior official here that nothing’s gonna happen with this minerals deal until Zelenskiy goes in front of cameras and makes an explicit public apology for the way that he behaved himself in the Oval Office,” said Fox’s Peter Doocy on Monday.

This is more fallout from the disastrous meeting that Zelenskiy, Trump, and Vice President JD Vance had on Friday, in which the president and his sidekick berated the weary Zelenskiy to his face, chiding the Ukrainian president for not respecting them enough and not appearing gracious enough while he deals with Russia’s unprompted assault—which Trump also blames him for. Trump later kicked him out.

Trump has been particularly obsessed with these minerals in the past weeks, making a deal a prerequisite for any further aid to Ukraine. Now it’s looking like the U.S. will waltz in and seize control—with the Kremlin’s help.