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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Rages at Claim War on Harvard Is Revenge for Rejection
Donald Trump blew up on Truth Social over a claim from author Michael Wolff that his crusade against Harvard is personal. Wolff, author of several books about the president, claimed on The Daily Beast Podcast last week that Trump 'didn't get into Harvard' and suggested he's now targeting the university in part because he holds a 'grudge.' 'He needs an enemy,' Wolff said earlier in the podcast. 'That's what makes the show great. The Trump show. He picks fantastic enemies, actually. And Harvard, for all it represents, fits right into the Trump show,' he said. 'Going after Harvard has proved to be an incredibly reliable headline,' he added. 'So he's on the money. So he's done what he set out to do. Dominate headlines.' Trump has gone after the university with gusto, freezing its federal funding, threatening its tax-exempt status and moving to block it from enrolling international students. The president claimed Wolff's story is 'totally FALSE' and insisted he never applied to the Ivy League school. 'Michael Wolff, a Third Rate Reporter, who is laughed at even by the scoundrels of the Fake News, recently stated that the only reason I'm 'beating up' on Harvard, is because I applied there, and didn't get in,' Trump raged on his social media platform Monday. 'That story is totally FALSE, I never applied to Harvard,' Trump continued. 'I graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He is upset because his book about me was a total 'BOMB.' Nobody wanted it, because his 'reporting' and reputation is so bad!' Trump's education has been colored by claims from family members that he was a 'brat' and that his sister 'did his homework for him.' His higher education began at Fordham University in 1964. He studied for two years at the Bronx Catholic private school before transferring to the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at Penn. He graduated from the Ivy League university with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1968. His late sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, told her niece Mary Trump that she 'drove him around New York City to try to get him into college.' She said he attended Fordham briefly 'and then he got into University of Pennsylvania because he had somebody take his exams.' Those claims were denied by the widow of Joe Shapiro, the man who was said to have taken the test for Trump. The president's father and brother also helped him to get into the school through a connection, The Washington Post reported in 2019. Trump has long boasted of his time at the Wharton school, claiming it was one of the 'hardest school to get into' and that he graduated top of his class, a claim that the evidence suggests is dubious at best. Trump has had a long-running beef with Wolff, who wrote Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House and Siege: Trump Under Fire, among other titles. In February, Trump called Wolff's latest book, All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America, a 'total FAKE JOB, just like the other JUNK he wrote.' 'He called me many times trying to set up a meeting, but I never called him back because I didn't want to give him the credibility of an interview,' Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. Even before Wolff floated the claim that the president was snubbed by Harvard, speculation ran rampant over the reason for his vendetta. A White House spokesperson shot down the idea that Trump was rejected from the school, telling USA Today last week, the president 'didn't need to apply to an overrated, corrupt institution like Harvard to become a successful businessman and the most transformative President in history.' Trump has accused Harvard of liberal bias and antisemitism, using those claims to justify his offensive. According to Wolff, a running joke in White House circles held that Trump's war on the prestigious school stemmed from the rejection of another Trump: his youngest son, Barron. The narrative apparently made its way to first lady Melania Trump, whose spokesperson issued a statement last Tuesday calling the claim that Barron applied to Harvard 'completely false.' The 19-year-old recently finished his freshman year at New York University, where he studied at its Stern School of Business.
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First Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
Did Harvard reject Trump? Is that why he holds a grudge against the university?
Trump's biographer, Michael Wolff, has claimed that the US president's anger towards Ivy League colleges, especially Harvard, comes from the fact that he failed to make it to the prestigious college. However, the White House denied the claims, saying Trump never applied to the 'overrated, corrupt' institute read more According to presidential biographer Michael Wolff, Trump's anger toward Harvard University does not stem from Barron's rejection, but from the fact that Trump himself never made it to Harvard. Representational image Earlier this week, rumours lit up social media claiming that US President Donald Trump was going after Harvard University because his youngest son, Barron Trump, had been rejected by the Ivy League school. But the speculation was quickly put to rest by First Lady Melania Trump, who clarified that Barron never applied to Harvard in the first place. Now, a new theory has surfaced, this time from Michael Wolff, the President's biographer, suggesting that Trump's grudge against the university might be more personal than anyone thought. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to him, Trump's anger does not stem from Barron's non-existent rejection, but from the fact that Trump himself never made it to Harvard. So, is Trump's feud with the elite institution actually about his own past? What exactly did Wolff say? And how is the White House responding to these claims? Here's a closer look. Trump has a 'grudge' against the Ivy League? During a recent episode of The Daily Beast podcast hosted by Joanna Coles, the conversation turned to Trump's apparent hostility toward elite universities. Coles noted how many in Trump's circle are Ivy League alumni. 'It's also odd because so many of the people around Donald Trump went to Ivy League universities. Several of them went to Harvard Business School,' she said. 'Obviously, JD Vance proudly went to Yale. So it does seem particularly odd, but perhaps he's also trying to stuff it to them.' In response, Michael Wolff, who has authored several books on Trump, including 'Fire and Fury, Siege: Trump Under Fire', and the latest 'All or Nothing', suggested there may be a more personal reason behind Trump's disdain for the Ivy League. 'It's important not to lend too much calculation and planning to anything he does,' Wolff said. 'But the other thing is that, by the way, he didn't get into Harvard. So one of the Trump things is always holding a grudge against the Ivy Leagues.' A Harvard sign is seen at the Harvard University campus in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 27. AFP While there's no official record confirming whether Trump ever applied to Harvard, let alone if he was rejected, Wolff's remark adds to the theory that the president's Ivy League animosity may be rooted in his own academic history. Trump began his college education at Fordham University in 1964 after four years at the New York Military Academy. Two years later, he transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But Trump's academic credibility has long been under scrutiny. In 2020, The Washington Post revealed audio recordings made by Mary Trump, the president's niece, in which Trump's sister, the late federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry, made some startling claims. 'I drove him around New York City to try to get him into college,' Trump Barry said in the 2018–19 recordings. She added, 'He went to Fordham for one year and then he got into the University of Pennsylvania because he had somebody take the exams.' The White House swiftly dismissed the claims at the time, saying it was 'false' that anyone else had taken Trump's SATs. When asked by The Post to respond to the recordings, Trump simply said: 'Who cares?' President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in July 27, 2024 in Nashville. File image/AP According to The New York Times reporters Ross Buettner and Susanne Craig, in their 2024 book 'Lucky Loser, Trump' was a mediocre student at Fordham. He didn't even make the dean's list in his first year, which only required a GPA of 3.5, equivalent to a B+. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD And while much speculation continues to swirl around his Harvard rejection, what is known, though, is that as a young man, Trump had dreams of going to film school at the University of Southern California (USC). Ironically, USC, too, has now become a target of his ire. After the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights said USC failed to meet its Title VI obligations under the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students, Trump cut federal research funding, causing the institution to lose $17.5 million. 'The Trump show' Wolff claimed that apart from 'holding the grudge', Trump's 'TV star instincts as a producer' play a key role in his legal battle against Ivy League universities, particularly Harvard. According to him, Trump 'needs an enemy'. 'That's what makes the show great, the Trump show. He picks fantastic enemies. And Harvard, for all it represents, fits right into the Trump show. The president loves the drama,' he told The Daily Beast. 'He's done what he set out to do - dominate the headline. What do you do? You go after Harvard in a way that is draconian, dramatic, and existential. It's threatening Harvard on that level,' he added_._ STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD For Trump, Wolff added, Harvard becomes just another character in the unfolding drama that is the 'Trump show'. People walk between buildings on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge. File image/AP In recent weeks, that drama has escalated. The Trump-led administration moved to revoke Harvard University's ability to enrol new international students, a policy that has since been temporarily blocked by a US judge. Before that, the White House had also placed a $2.2 billion freeze on federal funding to the university. Trump reportedly offered to lift the funding ban but only under certain conditions that Harvard refused to accept. Throughout, Trump has doubled down on his criticism, accusing Harvard and other elite universities of promoting progressive ideologies and nurturing a so-called 'woke' campus culture. The White House reacts to Wolff's claims Unsurprisingly, the White House didn't take Wolff's latest remarks lightly. Taylor Rogers, a spokesperson for the administration, pushed back hard against both Wolff and The Daily Beast, dismissing their reporting entirely. 'They both peddle fake news for clickbait in a hopeless attempt to amount to something more than lying losers,' Rogers said. 'The President didn't need to apply to an overrated, corrupt institution like Harvard to become a successful businessman and the most transformative President in history.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The White House has previously shot down another claim the author made that Melania Trump had 'separated' from her husband and that their marriage was no longer traditional. The White House fired back, calling Wolff 'a blithering idiot.' With input from agencies
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Michael Wolff Claims to Have Been Banned From News Networks Over Latest Trump Book
Writer and journalist Michael Wolff has written three bestselling books about President Donald Trump that were extensively covered by the major news networks. He recently released his fourth book All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America, which would also seem poised to generate a new round of headlines and media appearances. But in a guest op-ed piece by The Hollywood Reporter, Wolff claims that news networks-including ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, and MSNBC-have not promoted his book. In his view, that's due to a fear of retribution from the Trump administration. "What was not anticipated is how quickly and easily the media has capitulated and groveled," he writes. "In the past, news organizations have met governmental threats and incursions with implacable resistance." TVNewser reached out to the various outlets mentioned in Wolff's op-ed for comment but none was received at press time. Wolff's first book on Trump, 2018's Fire and Fury debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. The book's success led numerous TV appearance opportunities, with its author making the rounds on ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, MSNBC, and CNN. Wolff also made promotional stops for his subsequent books, 2019's Siege: Trump Under Fire and 2021's Landslide. 'The difference this time is striking and frightening,' Wolff writes of his relative lack of news network appearances in the wake of All or Nothing's release. In his op-ed, Wolff claims that All or Nothing landed at No. 9 on The New York Times Bestseller's list. However, Politico's Daniel Lippman reported that only 3,000 print copies were sold during the title's first week, citing data from Circana Book Scan. The reviews for All or Nothing have also been lukewarm, with GoodReads scoring it at 3.76 out of 5. Wolff's critics have questioned the veracity of his previous books. In a 2019 article, Vanity Fair noted: "The rollout of Fire and Fury was clouded by the attention given to a number of arguably small but not-insignificant factual errors.' Responding to those critics that same year, Wolff told Michael Isikoff on Yahoo News' Skullduggery podcast: 'Even if I was wrong, I'm not going to admit it to you.' For his part, Trump has called All or Nothing a 'total fake job' on his social media platform, Truth Social. 'Trump understands that many people, if not all of his people spoke to me,' Wolff claimed in a recent interview with The Ankler, '[That] might augur an internal witch hunt about this, which I suspect is sort of going on…I think it's everyone rushing to cover their a**.'
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Trump's Least Favorite Writer — 'a Total Loser' — Gets the Last Word (Again) With ‘All or Nothing'
It's been four years since Michael Wolff wrote a book about President Donald Trump. His last was 2021's Landslide, which he wrote right after 2019's Siege: Trump Under Fire, which, of course, came out just a year after the publication of his blockbuster page-turner Fire and Fury in 2018. Today, we're getting the not-so-long-awaited All or Nothing, which details the backroom shenanigans behind how 45 managed against all odds to get elected 47. Trump may not be one of Wolff's biggest fans — 'a total LOSER,' the president raged on Truth Social last weekend — but The Hollywood Reporter has seen some early pages detailing Trump's on-again-off-again relationship with News Corp mogul Rupert Murdoch, and Wolff does, as always, spill the tea. More from The Hollywood Reporter SAG Awards: "Very Worried" Michael Urie, Hopeful Lily Gladstone Respond to Trump Attacks on DEI Initiatives AP Sues Trump Administration Officials After White House Ban George Clooney Explains Why He Thinks Trump Won the Election You'll probably recall how Murdoch turned on Trump after Jan. 6, only to have second thoughts after it became clear that Trump could actually get back into the White House. Wolff recounts in excruciating detail Murdoch's attempts to rekindle their old magic. He reports that Murdoch phoned so often that Trump started cracking jokes about how the 93-year-old Aussie 'could not remember that he had called him the day before.' There's also a cringy moment when Murdoch introduces Trump to his new, fifth wife, Elena Zhukova. 'She's Russian!' Murdoch brightly tells him, playing the Slav mate card. According to Wolff, Murdoch's attempts to re-woo Trump sometimes went awry. In March, Murdoch thought he'd please the then-candidate by ordering the New York Post to run a headline about Trump attending a wake for a slain New York police officer while at the same time presidents Biden, Obama and Clinton groveled for cash at nearby $25 million fundraiser. As Wolff writes, though, Trump 'seemed to miss the point of the headline, sorely pissed and disbelieving about the $25 million. 'How could that fucking be?' he reportedly yelled at aides. 'This is fake. It's gotta be fake. If they're really doing such good business, what does that mean? It means I have shitty people.'' There's also inside dish on what Trump's circle made of their boss's cozy friendship with Fox News star Sean Hannity, particularly after Jan. 6, when the channel's owner was still ticked off at Trump. 'To many in Trump-world,' Wolff writes, 'observing the Trump-and-Hannity byplay, Trump, in refusing to understand that Fox News was no longer his safe space, was the innocent figure, the big, good-hearted quarterback on the high school team. And Hannity was the kid with all the angles, easily playing the dopey big guy.' And there's intel on how Murdoch lobbied for Trump to pick former secretary of state Mike Pompeo as his vp instead of JD Vance ('There was almost no earthly possibility') as well as some fly-on-the-wall reporting from a meeting Trump called with Murdoch and his top lieutenants during the campaign, during which Trump complained about Fox News allowing Kamala Harris ads on its airwaves. 'Trump focused on Murdoch, assailing him for having fired Roger Ailes, the Fox founder whom Murdoch had dismissed in 2016 over sexual harassment charges,' Wolff writes. 'Ailes, Trump insisted, would never have screwed him like this.' There's even more from another meeting around the same time with the editorial board of Murdoch's The Wall Street Journal. 'Trump read from a list of grievances he had with the paper, enumerating a ten-year litany of all the times the Journal had been wrong and he had been right,' Wolff wrote. Indeed, there's enough Trump craziness on these pages to keep Wolff fans amused — and horrified — for at least the next six months. Right about when his next book should be coming down the pike. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2024: Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Olivia Rodrigo and More
