Donald Trump’s second presidency is barely out of the starting blocks, and everyone feels like that person who came home after a terrific holiday, only to find the house burned down—but don’t worry, the arsonist is live-tweeting ‘LOOKS BETTER NOW!’
When Steve Bannon stated, “Flood the zone with shit,” no one could have predicted the kind of shitshow that would follow. From day one, the administration has launched a full-throttle assault on everything from civil rights to international diplomacy. Let’s take a look at some high-profile targets Trump aims at that have been worrying the average American for a long time:
The Press
The ongoing crackdown on media outlets like The New York Times and Washington Post, accusing them of “fake news” while pushing for government control of content.
Public Education
New executive orders targeting what’s taught in classrooms, emphasising rewriting history and banning Critical Race Theory.
Reproductive Rights
The swift reversal of decades of progress on abortion rights sets the stage for a new national war on women’s autonomy.
Environmental Policy
Environmental protections, particularly climate change regulations, are being dismantled at an alarming rate, sending signals that science is an afterthought.
But why stop at bulldozing the present? The regime’s nostalgia tour demanded a rewrite of the past, starting with Harvard’s ‘wrongthink’ archives.
And as expected, the intellectual elite—those gatekeepers of free thought—are not exempt. One of Trump’s first major targets? Harvard University. Or more specifically, the Harvard Law Review.
The administration, eager to flex its muscle, launched an investigation into the prestigious institution, alleging race-based discrimination in its article selection process. It's a bold attack on higher education, framed as a battle to "correct" the perceived liberal bias of the academy. This move fits into a broader strategy aimed at undermining the intellectual foundation of institutions like Harvard that have long been seen as bastions of liberal thought.
But hey, why stop there? Why not go after the crown jewel of academia itself? Because if there’s one thing America needs right now, it’s to make sure that the Harvard Law Review—that paragon of unbiased, radical thought—isn’t too concerned with pesky things like intellectual freedom. After all, who needs a space for exploring ideas without political punishment when there are Twitter rants to be had?
On day two of the administration, amid the smoke and fury of executive orders, came one that would later be dubbed the “anti-DEI edict”—a directive to dismantle any federal engagement with institutions that incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into their hiring or publishing practices. DEI, in the eyes of the Trump regime, is the new communism. And like McCarthy’s Red Scare, this new witch hunt is a gift to every bitter white man who couldn’t get published, hired, or into Harvard. Trump, famously rejected by the school, appears to be nursing that wound like it’s still prom night and he just got turned down.
Let’s be clear: this is not policy. This is vengeance.
The Title VI investigation into the Harvard Law Review is a thinly veiled attack on academic freedom. The administration claims race-based discrimination in how articles are selected—a specious accusation coming from an administration that gleefully reintroduced racial bias as official government policy. The same people who screamed about “cancel culture” are now trying to defund thought.
Then came the funding freeze: a staggering $2.3 billion grant blockade, framed as a response to Harvard’s alleged failure to protect Jewish students. The irony? This move does nothing to protect Jewish students and everything to punish institutions that won’t bend to MAGA ideology. It’s political theatre, cynically staged in the rubble of anti-intellectualism. Trump’s new right doesn’t just hate academia—they don’t believe in knowledge unless it’s printed on a baseball cap.
The War on Knowledge
What we’re seeing isn’t just a grudge match with Harvard. It’s the culmination of the right’s decades-long war on science, expertise, and the very idea of objective truth. From climate denial to COVID conspiracies, from book bans to attacks on tenure, the conservative movement has treated education like an existential threat. Why? Because facts have a liberal bias. Because research exposes their lies. Because reading means questioning, and questioning is dangerous when your power depends on blind obedience.
This isn’t conservatism. It’s counter-Enlightenment. A political movement that thrives on ignorance, gins up panic about “woke indoctrination,” and then replaces it with actual, state-sponsored ideological conformity. They don’t read books. They ban them. They don’t debate ideas. They defund them.
And now, under Trump’s executive orders, federal agencies must scrub certain words and concepts from all grant applications, research documents, and university collaborations. Forbidden terms now include: ‘Diversity’ (too spicy), ‘Climate Change’ (fake news), ‘Gender Identity’ (unless referring to clear social roles, like “woman”, “housewife” or “OF Girl”). Federal guidelines might also suggest replacing ‘systemic racism’ with ‘urban vibrancy’ and ‘reproductive justice’ with ‘optional female hobbies.’
The list of forbidden words also includes:
Sense of belonging
Sustainability
Biofuel
Sexuality
Trauma
Water Pollution
Processed Foods
Topics of federal investigations
If you’re in the mood to laugh, scream, or both, go read the list of “banned words” on our writer friend’s PEN page. It’s a masterclass in absurdity, like Stalin and Monty Python got stuck in a group chat.
Mentioning any of the banned words, you might as well be submitting your grant proposal on a flaming Antifa flag or a burned Tesla meme. Picture a climate scientist trying to get funding without mentioning “climate change,” or a law professor applying for a civil rights grant without saying “racism.” It's like trying to bake a cake, but you're not allowed to say "flour," "sugar," or "oven."
Pretty soon, the only federally approved research papers will have titles like:
“How Fossil Fuels Saved Jesus”
“Why Diversity Is for Losers”
“Cultural heritage - a WOKE mind virus that pains AMERICA”
or
“Sustainability: A Scam by Globalists”
Legal Implications: A Constitutional Stress Test
The Title VI investigation and grant freezes are more than just symbolic. They set a dangerous precedent: using civil rights law not to protect marginalised groups, but to attack policies meant to include them. If the government can twist Title VI to punish diversity efforts, what stops it from doing the same to gender equity, disability access, or academic freedom itself?
This weaponisation of federal power blurs the line between governance and personal vendetta. If Trump can freeze billions in research funds over a perceived ideological slight, every university in the country is now vulnerable. Harvard may be the first target, but the real aim is chilling dissent. Silencing debate. And erasing every space where truth still matters more than loyalty.
Coming soon: A SCOTUS ruling that the First Amendment only protects speech ending in '...Trump is king!' - with all other utterances subject to mandatory 'fact-checks' by Musk's algorithms on X.
Approved exceptions: libel against journalists, threats to election workers.
Very informative insight into the idealogical-insane-dumbass-school-yard-bully regime, led by Commander-in-Chief bully/thug/monster himself, who lives by spite and polarization.
Despite all his spite and vengeance, Trump will always be infamously known as the only President of the United States who was so delusional that he believed he "saved" America, whilst America was being flushed down the toilet by the rest of the world, led by Russia and China, whom Trumped rented himself out to, for two so-called Presidential Terms.
"God Bless America"