Education
How Trump’s crackdown on Harvard and other universities is affecting the world
Universities are an easy target for right-wing populists. Polls show that a lot of Americans consider them too liberal, too expensive and too elitist, and not entirely without reason. But the fight between the Trump administration and Harvard is something more: It has become a test for the president’s ability to impose his political agenda on all 2,600 universities in the United States. Students, professors and scientists are all feeling the pressure, and that could undermine the dominant position that American science has enjoyed for decades.
What does that mean for the world?
European countries are wooing U.S.-based scientists, offering them “scientific refuge” or, as one French minister put it, “a light in the darkness.” Canada has attracted several prominent American academics, including three tenured Yale professors who study authoritarianism and fascism. The Australian Strategic Institute described this moment as “a once-in-a-century brain gain opportunity.”
In the mid-20th century, America was seen by many as a benign power, committed to scientific freedom and democracy. It attracted the best brains fleeing fascism and authoritarianism in Europe.
Today, the biggest beneficiary could be China and Chinese universities, which have been trying to recruit world-class scientific talent for years. Now Mr. Trump is doing their work for them. One indication of the success of China’s campaign to attract the best and brightest is Africa, the world’s youngest continent. Africans are learning Mandarin in growing numbers. Nearly twice as many study in China as in America.
Could America gamble away its scientific supremacy in the service of ideology? It has happened before. Under the Nazis, Germany lost its scientific edge to America in the space of a few years. As a German, my brain may wander too readily to the lessons of the 1930s, but in this case the analogy feels instructive. Several of my colleagues covering the fallout from the crackdown on international students and researchers pointed to Hitler’s silencing of scientists and intellectuals.
No one region can currently replicate the magic sauce of resources, freedom, a culture of risk-taking and welcoming immigrants that made America the engine of scientific innovation. But if it tumbles as a scientific superpower, and potential breakthroughs are disrupted, it would be a setback for the whole world. I spoke to my colleagues who are reporting on this, and here’s what I found out.
Higher education
There’s going to be fallout. We’ve talked to researchers at Harvard whose funding was cut, including those working on tuberculosis, and another who engineers fake organs that are useful in the study of human illnesses. There have been all sorts of different projects disrupted that could have led to some major breakthrough. When research is interrupted, there is no way of knowing if it would have led to a breakthrough that the world will now have to do without. But the impact might actually be more heavily felt on small regional public universities that had already lost some of their public funding and were relying heavily on international students to pay the bills. So if the United States is continually viewed as an unwelcome place for international students there will be ripple effects throughout the system.
Politics
It’s smart to think about this in terms of political calculus instead of ultimate goals. It matters little to the Trump administration if it’s dragged into court over and over again, or even how many of those lawsuits it wins. They view Harvard as an avatar for all universities that have become incubators of liberalism and are hostile to conservatives. And what better university in the world to send a message that, in their view, slows down the march of liberalism in universities. That would be a major victory for this administration. If Trump officials have any measure of success, it will be whether they can create a roadmap for imposing their political agenda on the other 2,000-plus colleges in the United States.
Global economics
Even before Trump, American researchers were saying we have a problem with the supply of domestic science, math and engineering talent. And that’s something that takes a generation to fix. It’s not something that’s done overnight. Some, we’ve already seen, are looking to do research elsewhere because, one, their funding has been cut, and, two, they’re very worried about academic freedom. Can they study what they want? We haven’t seen people ask these questions since the McCarthy era, the anti-liberal ideological war of the 1950s. Take climate change: there’s basically a repudiation by conservatives in power of what most of the scientific community considers established trends and facts based on evidence. It’s very difficult for foreign countries to compete financially, but what I have noticed in all of their pitches courting American scientists — whether it’s in Australia or Europe or Latin America — is that they’re offering them freedom of inquiry and respect of facts.
Canada
We have seen a movement of American academic and scientific talent to Canada. And that reinforces the clear success of Canadian institutions before this all happened. I spoke to Timothy Snyder, a prominent American academic who recently moved to Toronto. He told me that this is a huge opportunity for Toronto. He said the city could become what London, Paris and New York were in different periods when the great and the good moved there to think about democracy and talk about the future. Canada, and especially the University of Toronto, he believes, have a special role to play in fostering an ideological counterpull to Trump’s America in this moment of great turmoil. It’s not so much that people are setting up an American resistance in Canada, but rather that the city is part of a global intellectual resistance to Trump.
India
I don’t sense a big change in the mood in India yet. The United States still holds a lot of soft power and remains very attractive to Indians. In fact, many Indians are seeing something that is pretty familiar to them. They’re saying, “Welcome to the world as we have experienced it for the past few years.” The government under Narendra Modi has definitely cracked down on free speech. It has tried to quash dissenting voices, and it has also leaned on academics and has tried to squeeze certain research institutions that it considers too liberal. And there has been a demonization of the Muslim minority, which make up about 15 percent of the population. There are a lot of similarities to Trump’s America. Everyone in the world is just trying to understand what Trump’s actions mean for their own countries. So India’s experience can be instructive in making sense of this moment.
China
China really wants to become a center for international education, because it sees that as a key ingredient for building its reputation as a global superpower. American universities have long been a source of American soft power. China wants Chinese universities to be a source of Chinese soft power. And now Trump is doing their work for them. You can see that in China’s rhetoric and messaging. It’s trying to portray itself as open and international, everything that the Trump administration is turning away from.
In reality, China isn’t a model of openness. There are a lot of restrictions on and suspicions toward foreigners in general, and that includes foreign students. But against the backdrop of what Trump is doing, China’s message may seem more convincing. Will it work? So far China has had the most luck with Chinese-born scientists who have studied and worked in America. They already had been riding out a wave of anti-Asian racism in the United States, as well as accusations of being spies. But now, if they also don’t have the resources to do their work because Trump has cut research funding, there is no reason for them to stay. Meanwhile, China has been pouring huge amounts of money into research and development. And so they are well positioned to take advantage of this brain drain.
Africa
Young Africans have this sense that the world is changing, that there’s a shift underway. And instead of going to the West, instead of lining up outside the American embassy and facing visa rejections, many are heading to new educational hubs — and especially to China. China enters the conversation because it provides the kind of opportunities young students are looking for. Many are attracted by the scholarships, by the easier access to visas, the affordable tuition and the comparatively cheap cost of living, which is prohibitive for so many people. And this shift is happening even as China trains thousands of African officials annually in fields such as science, technology and military strategy.
It’s not that young Africans wouldn’t choose Harvard if they were offered a chance. It’s all about opportunity for them. And where there is opportunity, soft power follows. America used to have that. Students were going there not just because they wanted a world-class education, but because they saw America as a symbol of modernity, democracy and progress – values they hoped to bring back home. Today, that image has been eroded, and China stands to gain the most from it.
Europe
One university, Aix Marseille University, in southern France, immediately offered 15 positions to American researchers in reaction to the Trump administration’s policies. It began as a symbolic gesture. The university president said, “We’re offering a light in darkness.” What that one university is doing for individual American researchers is amazing. But it’s just a small drop in the bucket. There is an international system generating leaps and bounds in science, the motor and the anchor of which has been the United States. And if you get rid of the motor and you get rid of the anchor, it’s pretty hard to rebuild those things on the fly.
For example, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have these databases that they have maintained and that scientists around the world use. Some of the people I spoke to in Europe said, ‘Look, if we’re only going to spend 100 million euros, it would be much smarter to secure these databases.’ It’s not just that the United States has been a center in terms of people coming together and pushing science forward; it’s also been the data library for scientists everywhere. Think of all the health data that USAID has been financing around the world. It’s gone. Universities and researchers say that what’s at stake are not just individual jobs, but the greater research ecosystem.
Science
A lot of scientists said to me that they’re seeing the possibility of America tumbling from this position of scientific supremacy as Germany did under Hitler. What happened to Germany in the 1930s was not something anybody saw coming. All of a sudden, in a historical blink of an eye, the whole picture changed.The United States took over as the scientific superpower, using a lot of German scientists and a lot of German concepts and ideas. The question today is: is that happening again? And if so, who will take the lead? Could it be Europe? Could it be China? It’s hard to imagine somebody graduating with a physics degree from the University of Utah and then moving right to Beijing and continuing as before, raising kids in the suburbs, right? But one thing to keep in mind is that the smartest people in the world are also the least limited in their mobility. Scientists are wanted everywhere. They’re the ones who will fly free. Where they’ll land I’m not sure, but you just cannot keep them if they don’t want to be there. They’re too smart and too mobile.
This article was very thought provoking and caused me to thoroughly evaluate the idea of gender and the role it plays in our society. The article discussed peers using teasing as a way to enforce gender norms. I do not necessarily see this as a problem. God made male and female and made us differently from each other on purpose and for a purpose. God is very intentional with what He makes, and I believe trying to change that would only do more harm. Gender roles and tendencies should not be considered “stereotypes”. Women naturally want to do womanly things because God created us with those womanly desires in our hearts. The same goes for men. God created men in the image of His courage and strength, and He created women in the image of His beauty. He intentionally created women differently than men and we should live our lives with that in mind.
It is frustrating to me when I read articles like this and discussion posts from my classmates of so many people trying to conform to the same mundane opinion, so they do not step on people’s toes. I think that is a cowardly and insincere way to live. It is important to use the freedom of speech we have been given in this country, and I personally believe that eliminating gender in our society would be detrimental, as it pulls us farther from God’s original plan for humans. It is perfectly normal for kids to follow gender “stereotypes” because that is how God made us. The reason so many girls want to feel womanly and care for others in a motherly way is not because they feel pressured to fit into social norms. It is because God created and chose them to reflect His beauty and His compassion in that way. In Genesis, God says that it is not good for man to be alone, so He created a helper for man (which is a woman). Many people assume the word “helper” in this context to be condescending and offensive to women. However, the original word in Hebrew is “ezer kenegdo” and that directly translates to “helper equal to”. Additionally, God describes Himself in the Bible using “ezer kenegdo”, or “helper”, and He describes His
Welcome to Lit Trivia, the Book Review’s regular quiz about books, authors and literary culture. This week’s challenge tests your memory of random facts and information you may have picked up, especially from reading book coverage from The Times in recent years. In the five multiple-choice questions below, tap or click on the answer you think is correct. After the last question, you’ll find links to the books if you’d like to do further reading.
Since the start of his second term, President Trump has cut budgets, made demands on public institutions, and attacked the media and speech in actions regularly called unprecedented.
In April, we asked presidential historians if they could come up with comparable examples in previous administrations — and to tell us when they couldn’t. You can read that earlier article here.
We went back to the historians (and some political scientists) to help us categorize the administration’s actions and pronouncements that have happened since: whether they’re unprecedented, relatively common or somewhere in between.
No clear precedent
President Trump has taken some actions that do not have a comparable historical example, according to historians.
Used the military to attack and kill suspected drug smugglers
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump has ordered the military to kill people aboard boats he says have been smuggling drugs, claiming the power to redefine drug trafficking as armed conflict.
IN THE PAST
Historians said the closest parallels to Mr. Trump’s strikes in international waters were attacks on pirates — from Thomas Jefferson’s attacks on Barbary corsairs to Barack Obama’s use of military force against Somali pirates in 2009. But President Obama’s efforts were largely rescue missions; Jefferson was also responding to the capture of American ships.
“Since the 1970s, presidents have claimed the right to take military action, including murderous assaults, against nonstate actors who threaten the United States,” said Jeremi Suri, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. However, he said, “the United States has generally not targeted drug smugglers in this way.”
“The U.S. has helped other governments in Central America to apprehend drug traffickers. No presidents have unilaterally killed alleged drug smugglers in international waters.”
Manisha Sinha
Professor of American History, University of Connecticut
No clear precedent
Cast doubt on vaccine efficacy and safety
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, the Trump administration has begun to overhaul American vaccine policy. A vaccine skeptic, Mr. Kennedy replaced a vaccine advisory panel with handpicked members. The panel ended a decades-long recommendation to vaccinate babies against hepatitis B at birth. Mr. Kennedy also canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and contracts to develop mRNA vaccines. Mr. Trump hailed Covid vaccines as a miracle during his first term but has since questioned whether they work, and Mr. Kennedy has called them “the deadliest vaccine ever made.”
IN THE PAST
Previous presidents have typically promoted vaccines. The government has changed the vaccine schedule and pulled recommendations for vaccines before, including for a rotavirus gastroenteritis vaccine in the 1990s. And manufacturers have voluntarily withdrawn vaccines from the market. But no presidential administration has made such an effort to dismantle vaccine policy.
“Other presidents tried to expand vaccines. This goes all the way back to George Washington during the Revolutionary War, who mandated smallpox inoculations for his army.”
Robert Watson
Professor of History, Lynn University
No clear precedent
Asked states to gerrymander to add more seats for his party
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump and his aides have pushed for lawmakers across the country to redraw maps in favor of Republicans.
IN THE PAST
This has not been done publicly, though an adviser to George W. Bush, Karl Rove, was reported to have lobbied state legislators to redistrict in 2003.
“No previous president has done this so overtly, but gerrymandering for political advantage has been a basic tool of political parties since the earliest years of the republic.”
Kendrick Clements
Professor, University of South Carolina
No clear precedent
Owned a company that received a major investment from a sovereign state
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
Earlier this year, a state-controlled United Arab Emirates firm used $2 billion of cryptocurrency issued by World Liberty Financial — a start-up owned by the Trump family — to invest in a crypto exchange. That effectively serves as a huge deposit for World Liberty, which can then generate returns in the tens of millions of dollars each year.
IN THE PAST
Historians said there was no comparable example.
“Past presidents took pains to put their holdings in a blind trust or to divest entirely from identifiable individual companies.”
Andrew Rudalevige Professor of Government, Bowdoin College
No clear precedent
Tried to remove a member of the Federal Reserve Board
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump tried to fire a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook, accusing her of mortgage fraud. (The Supreme Court stopped the firing until it could hear arguments in January, and she maintains her innocence.) It’s part of a broader, stated effort to gain more influence over the board.
IN THE PAST
Presidents have fought with the Fed before; under President Harry Truman, the head of the Board of Governors resigned amid a disagreement with the administration. But no president has directly fired a Federal Reserve official.
“They have often put pressure on the Fed, but I don’t know of any president who has claimed the power to fire a sitting governor and tried to carry it out.”
David Greenberg Professor of History, Rutgers University
No clear precedent
Ended data collection efforts across government
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
The Trump administration has stopped or plans to stop collecting data on environmental disasters, climate change, food insecurity, emissions from polluters and more.
IN THE PAST
No president has stopped data collection at such a scale.
“There have been other presidents who have appointed people as heads of agencies but who opposed the missions of those agencies. But that is a far cry from eliminating the government’s longstanding practices of producing reliable data, on nearly everything of concern to the public and for which the government is responsible.”
Michael Gerhardt
Professor of Jurisprudence, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School
No clear precedent
Ordered a review of public museums to align with administration views
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
The White House told the Smithsonian Institution — a museum group founded and funded by the federal government — that it would have 120 days to change any content that the administration found problematic in “tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals.”
IN THE PAST
There’s no comparison for such a broad and public demand on the nation’s museums, historians said.
There have been instances of perceived pressure, or limited influence. A former Smithsonian administrator claimed that the National Museum of Natural History toned down an exhibit on climate change during the George W. Bush administration. And it was reported that the Nixon administration told what is now the National Museum of American History to close an exhibit on voting rights ahead of a ball that was part of Nixon’s second inauguration.
No clear precedent
Cast doubt on official Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs numbers
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump claimed without evidence that weak job numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics were “rigged” and fired the agency’s commissioner.
IN THE PAST
No president has done this publicly and so directly in the years the Bureau of Labor has been collecting and publishing data. (Since the late 1800s.) Ronald Reagan once said a framing of B.L.S. data was misleading, but didn’t question the data itself. Richard Nixon’s administration made some changes to how B.L.S. reported monthly data. But when he threw doubt on the B.L.S., it was in private conversation. (It was eventually revealed that he had blamed Jewish people working at the agency for unfavorable statistics.)
“Presidents have always spun bad numbers; few have declared war on arithmetic itself.”
Alexis Coe
Presidential historian and senior fellow at New America
No clear precedent
Sought damages from the Justice Department for federal investigations into him
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump is reported to have demanded that the Justice Department pay him $230 million in compensation for past investigations into his actions.
IN THE PAST
There’s no real comparison, historians say. Andrew Jackson was once fined for suspending habeas corpus; he lobbied Congress for a refund. But that lobbying took place after his presidency, said Matthew Warshauer, professor of history at Central Connecticut State University. (It was successful.)
Has happened, but under different circumstances
In several cases, Mr. Trump’s actions are precedented, but there are details that make them different: scale, context, motivation or results.
The following are events in which our scholars did not always agree on the extent of a precedent.
Sent the National Guard to cities
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump has expanded the role of the National Guard, deploying its troops to cities as part of a stated federal crackdown on crime. In several cases, governors or local officials have sued to block the deployments.
IN THE PAST
Presidents have deployed the National Guard to cities numerous times, including to protect civil rights advocates marching from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama; to enforce Brown v. Board of Education in Little Rock, Ark.; in response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots; to quell a riot in Detroit in 1943; and to help Hurricane Andrew relief efforts in Florida.
But in most cases, unlike President Trump, presidents deployed the National Guard at the request of, or with the cooperation of, state lawmakers. (That was not the case when presidents used the National Guard to support integration in Arkansas and protect civil rights activists in Alabama.)
“With the exception of using troops to protect American citizens during the height of civil rights reform, American presidents have typically respected the authority of states and only mobilized troops at the request of state lawmakers.”
Nicole L. Anslover
Associate Professor of History, Florida Atlantic University
Has happened, but under different circumstances
Directed the attorney general to investigate or prosecute political rivals
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump has pushed Attorney General Pam Bondi and his Justice Department to investigate or seek criminal charges against his perceived enemies, including George Soros, the billionaire Democratic donor; the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey; and the New York attorney general Letitia James.
IN THE PAST
Nixon also tried to use the federal government — including the Department of Justice — to go after his “enemies list” through investigations and other legal harassment. One memo from his White House counsel describes “how we can use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.”
But “it was on a limited case-by-case basis, and many of his own appointees and federal workers thwarted his illegalities,” said Robert Watson, a professor of history at Lynn University.
“Nixon tried to act in secrecy and deny his vendettas.”
Jeremi Suri
Professor of History and Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
Has happened, but under different circumstances
Carried out large-scale immigration raids
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
Federal agents have conducted immigration enforcement raids in several Democrat-led cities, arresting and detaining thousands in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, N.C., among others.
IN THE PAST
Eisenhower carried out deportations of illegal immigrants, known at the time as “Operation Wetback.” These targeted Mexican migrants, and they were more focused on agricultural border areas than major cities.
Has happened, but under different circumstances
Arranged for a government stake in a U.S. company
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
The Trump administration allowed Japan’s Nippon Steel to take over U.S. Steel in exchange for a “golden share” giving the White House a permanent say in the company’s business. (The Trump administration has also purchased shares or options in other private companies involved in minerals, nuclear energy and semiconductors.)
IN THE PAST
The U.S. government received shares of auto companies while bailing them out during the Great Recession in 2009, but it sold those within a few years to recoup some of the money it had spent.
The Trump effort has centered on national security concerns. Prior administrations have taken control of the private sector briefly during wartime, but those were not ongoing ownership stakes.
“I can’t think of an example when companies were forced to pay premiums of this sort to the U.S. government — even giving federal actors formal long-term decision-making authority for corporate behavior — as a cost of doing business.”
Andrew Rudalevige
Professor of Government, Bowdoin College
Has happened, but under different circumstances
Carried out a major demolition and renovation of the White House
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
The Trump administration took down the East Wing of the White House to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom.
IN THE PAST
The White House went through a demolition and renovation under President Truman, when the building was in danger of physical collapse.
Other presidents have made renovations — including significant expansions — but historians could not name another demolition of a major part of the building.
Has happened, but under different circumstances
Struck a deal with drug companies to sell prescriptions at lower prices and set up an online drugstore with the president’s name
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump has tried to lower prescription drug prices through two primary channels: He has made deals with numerous major drugmakers (including Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly) to sell drugs to Medicaid at lower prices; and he has committed to starting TrumpRx, a portal through which patients can buy drugs directly from drugmakers.
IN THE PAST
Previous presidents have tried various strategies to make prescription drugs more affordable, including negotiating with industry. (Most recently, the Biden administration brought drugmakers to the negotiating table.)
A marketplace with the president’s name on it is new.
“Earlier efforts to cut drug costs — Bill Clinton’s aborted price-control proposals, George W. Bush’s Medicare Part D expansion, Barack Obama’s negotiation push under the Affordable Care Act — were policy fights, not product launches.”
Alexis Coe Presidential historian and senior fellow at New America
Has happened, but under different circumstances
Pulled back public infrastructure grants in mostly blue states
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
The Trump administration has frozen and terminated grants for infrastructure that were largely set to be in districts that vote Democratic, and the president has bragged about it. “A lot of good can come down from shutdowns,” Mr. Trump said in October. “We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things.” (Some Republican districts have also lost projects.)
IN THE PAST
Pulling back funds already allocated is unusual, scholars told The Times. Presidents have often directed government benefits to key constituencies and favored states and districts, but not in such a public and direct manner.
When Nixon’s administration made large cuts to military bases in the early 1970s, states in the Northeast were hit the hardest, leading to speculation that politics played a role.
“Presidents have always played politics with public monies, although often as discreetly as possible.”
Stephen F. Knott
Emeritus Professor of National Security Affairs, United States Naval War College
Has happened, but under different circumstances
Signed large cuts to health care programs into law
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
The sprawling policy bill pushed by the president and passed by Republicans in July contained more than $1.1 trillion in cuts to health care programs, including roughly $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid — about 11 percent of projected spending on the program over a decade.
IN THE PAST
Under President Reagan, Congress reduced Medicaid and Medicare spending. Medicaid cuts in the early 1980s totaled $1 billion each year, around 5 percent of annual Medicaid spending. The cuts came in the form of smaller payments to states, which then cut services. (People forced off welfare rolls by Reagan’s administration often lost Medicaid benefits, too.) George W. Bush signed into law policy changes that made smaller reductions in Medicaid spending.
The Affordable Care Act, signed by President Obama in 2010, included more than $700 billion in reductions to Medicare, though the bill increased spending on health care overall.
“Since the beginning of federal health care programs in the 1930s, policymakers have been more likely to expand than cut such programs.”
Kendrick Clements Professor, University of South Carolina
Has happened, but under different circumstances
Auctioned face-to-face access
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
Mr. Trump invited people who spent the most on his personal cryptocurrency to a White House gala dinner.
IN THE PAST
Many presidents have rewarded their major donors with special privileges. (Bill Clinton gave some top donors meals, outings and overnight stays; major fund-raisers also stayed overnight in George W. Bush’s White House; and inaugurations have long been a way for donors to get close to the president.) But Mr. Trump, not his campaign, personally benefited from the crypto investments.
“The standards of White House conduct related to maintaining proper distance from acts of bribery, perceived or real, have demonstrably deteriorated over the years. In 1958, White House chief of staff Sherman Adams was forced to resign from the Eisenhower administration because he had accepted a vicuña overcoat and a rug from a Boston businessman under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.”
Russell Riley
Professor of Ethics and Institutions, University of Virginia’s Miller Center
Has happened, but under different circumstances
Attacked the media, including suing newspapers
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump has directed defamation lawsuits against The Wall Street Journal and The Times. He has also sued Paramount (before starting his second term) over a Kamala Harris interview; blocked reporters from parts of the White House where they’ve been allowed for decades; threatened to pull broadcasters’ licences over late-night hosts he dislikes; imposed restrictions on military reporters; and persuaded Congress to cut funding for public media.
IN THE PAST
No other sitting president has specifically filed a defamation lawsuit against a newspaper. (Theodore Roosevelt did sue a small-town newspaper for libel for accusations of drunkenness, but only after leaving office.)
There is, however, a long history of attempts by presidential administrations to pressure the news media over critical coverage. Abraham Lincoln shut down pro-Confederacy newspapers during the Civil War and arrested their editors; in World War I, the government charged some journalists who opposed the war under the Espionage Act; the Nixon administration tried to stop the publication of the Pentagon Papers. Nixon also listed journalists on his “enemies list” and ordered wiretaps of reporters.
“White House grumping about critical coverage is an age-old feature of the Washington community. But rarely has this gone beyond a sharp elbow in the press room or maybe a back-channel call to the publisher to yelp.”
Russell Riley
Professor of Ethics and Institutions, University of Virginia’s Miller Center
Not uncommon
A few of Mr. Trump’s moves are, if not standard practice, still actions that other U.S. presidents have taken in recent decades.
Put on a military parade
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
In June, President Trump presided over a procession of troops, weaponry and military vehicles in Washington in commemoration of the Army’s 250th birthday and his own 79th.
IN THE PAST
Large-scale military parades aren’t uncommon, though they often happen during or at the close of a war. Among other examples, George H.W. Bush held a large military parade in 1991 after the Persian Gulf War, and John F. Kennedy hosted one during his inaugural in 1961, at the height of the Cold War.
Not uncommon
Established fast-track visas for wealthy immigrants
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
The president has launched a program that is intended to allow people to buy legal residency in the U.S. with a $1 million “contribution” to the U.S. government.
IN THE PAST
The U.S. has long had a program that allows entrance to wealthy immigrants: the EB-5 program, for people willing to invest $1 million (less in some circumstances) in a business that would hire Americans. President Trump’s program is new in style — it’s called the “gold card” — but not in function.
“Bill Clinton created the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, with Obama extending the idea to the Regional Center Pilot Program. It’s actually not a new thing what President Trump is doing.”
Thomas Balcerski
Presidential Historian, Eastern Connecticut State University
Not uncommon
Helped broker an agreement for a cease-fire in Gaza, and an exchange of hostages and prisoners
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
The administration’s deal between Hamas and Israel in October — which Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, helped broker — resulted in a cease-fire and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
IN THE PAST
It’s common for American presidents to step in and help negotiate deals between Israel and Arab nations; President Biden negotiated a cease-fire and prisoner exchange, though the deal fell apart.
“President Trump should be applauded for his effort in the Mideast. This is his greatest foreign policy achievement so far.”
Wilbur C. Rich
Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Wellesley College
Not uncommon
Pulled back United Nations funding
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump has withdrawn or frozen U.S. funding for several agencies within the U.N., including the World Health Organization and the Human Rights Council.
IN THE PAST
The Reagan administration, claiming mismanagement at the U.N., withheld funds in the 1980s. George W. Bush withheld money from the U.N.’s Population Fund over concerns about abortion and other family planning issues.
“The anti-U.N. rhetoric has been part of the Republican political discourse for some time.”
Manisha Sinha
Professor of American History, University of Connecticut
Not uncommon
Attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities
TRUMP’S ACTIONS
President Trump ordered an attack on three key nuclear sites in Iran in June, without seeking congressional authorization.
IN THE PAST
Though Mr. Trump was the first to bomb Iranian nuclear sites, previous administrations have engaged in sabotage of Iranian nuclear systems — including the George W. Bush and Obama administrations’ development and use of the computer worm Stuxnet. (That was a destructive program that targeted centrifuges and delayed Tehran’s ability to make nuclear weapons.)
More broadly, presidents have long taken military actions without congressional sign-off.
About the data
For this project, we reached out to dozens of historians and political scientists, including some participants of C-SPAN’s Presidential Historians Survey. We asked them to provide us with relevant precedent to specific Trump actions, if there were any, and to describe how those precedents were and were not similar to what Mr. Trump has done.
We received responses from 36 experts. In addition to those we quoted, we used notes and research from: Andrew Bacevich, Paul Brandus, Vernon Burton, Jeffrey Engel, Michael A. Genovese, Harold Holzer, Chandler James, Scott Kaufman, Thomas J. Knock, Douglas L. Kriner, Allan Lichtman, Bruce Miroff, Barbara Perry, Gary Richardson, Robert Schmuhl, Craig Shirley, Brooks Simpson, Robert Strong, Tevi Troy, Mark K. Updegrove, Ted Widmer, B. Dan Wood and David B. Woolner.
We categorized actions based on the overall responses, along with additional reporting and research.
Justin Vaughn and Brandon Rottinghaus of the Presidential Greatness Project assisted in establishing a list of historians and constructing the initial survey.
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