Latest news with #TheTrumpShow
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Did Harvard reject Donald Trump? Biographer claims it's at the heart of the feud
US President Donald Trump's escalating actions against Harvard University may be fuelled not by policy concerns, but personal resentment, according to his biographer Michael Wolff. Speaking on The Daily Beast's podcast, Wolff suggested that the president's hostility towards the Ivy League institution traces back to 1964, when Trump himself failed to gain admission. '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 League,' said Wolff, author of Fire and Fury. This assertion comes as the Trump administration takes increasingly severe steps against Harvard, recently freezing $2.2 billion in federal funding and suspending its ability to enrol international students. These measures are ostensibly part of a broader crackdown on what Trump calls antisemitism on university campuses . But Wolff believes there's more at play. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Melhore a performance da sua frota [Clique] Sistema TMS embarcador Saiba Mais Undo From USC dreams to Ivy League grudges As a young man, Trump reportedly dreamed of attending film school at the University of Southern California (USC), a plan that never materialised. After finishing high school at New York Military Academy, Trump enrolled at Fordham University in 1964 and later transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned an economics degree. No official record confirms whether Trump applied to Harvard, and his published biographies remain silent on the matter. However, Wolff implies that the rejection—real or imagined—left a lasting mark. Live Events Despite online rumours that Trump's disdain for Harvard comes from his son Barron being turned away, Wolff insists the story is rooted in Trump's own thwarted ambition. 'It's important not to lend too much calculation and planning to anything he does,' he said. White House hits back: "Fake news for clickbait" The White House swiftly rejected Wolff's claims, with spokesperson Taylor Rogers issuing a blistering statement. 'The Daily Beast and Michael Wolff have lots in common—they both peddle fake news for clickbait in a hopeless attempt to amount to something more than lying losers. 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,' Rogers said. Still, the administration's aggressive stance against Harvard has sparked wider debate. The Trump Show: Politics as performance Wolff believes Trump's moves against Harvard are part of a broader political performance. 'The Trump Show,' as he calls it, thrives on conflict, spectacle, and enemies. '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,' Wolff said. 'The president loves the drama. 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.' According to Wolff, this feud is less about policy and more about keeping Trump in the spotlight. In this framing, Harvard becomes another 'character' in Trump's political theatre. Crackdown on campus: Funding freeze and visa threats Last month, Harvard became the first high-profile target of Trump's renewed efforts to eliminate antisemitism on campus. The administration froze $2.2 billion in federal research funding, citing the university's failure to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, particularly around protecting Jewish students. Soon after, Trump's team barred the university from enrolling international students. Officials demanded compliance with federal reporting and behavioural standards within 72 hours. Harvard refused. The university described the move as 'unlawful', and tensions have since escalated. Earlier this week, the administration directed US consular missions overseas to increase scrutiny on visa applicants heading to Harvard for any reason. Trump has also accused former president Joe Biden of going soft on elite institutions. His administration's stance represents a dramatic shift, framing Ivy League schools as symbols of elitism, corruption, and political bias. For Trump, this confrontation serves multiple ends: it fuels populist messaging, creates narrative drama, and possibly, as Wolff argues, satisfies a decades-old personal vendetta.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Opinion - Leland Vittert's War Notes: Fighting = Winning
NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight's 9 pm ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here. Ozarks manhunt: The search for the former police chief turned convicted murderer turned prison escapee sounds like something out of a movie — except movie plots have to be believable. The former cop walked out of jail in a guard uniform Now, he's on the run in the rugged mountains of southern Missouri and northwest Arkansas What a story — it's summer, the brush is thick, and the weather's warm. We need Tommy Lee Jones, aka Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in 'The Fugitive.' Watch tonight: Survivalist Dave Canterbury joins us with why the former chief has the upper hand — and how the longer he stays out of jail, the better chance he has. Exclusive: The rest of the world forgot about East Palestine. To be fair: The rest of the world never really cared, but NewsNation did. And we are back — Rich McHugh is on the ground and tonight comes to us with new and exclusive reporting about how the victims still don't have the help they were promised. In the end, Elon Musk chose not to fight. At some point, he left the stage. Officially, he left yesterday, but he faded away from the political field of battle like the proverbial old soldier. I say 'at some point' because I can't remember exactly. It proves he was just the latest bit player in 'The Trump Show' — Trump's words, not mine. I am on a movie kick today — aside from 'The Fugitive' (see above), Rachel and I watched 'The Thomas Crown Affair' last weekend. 'Regret is usually a waste of time,' Crown told a business rival. But boy, would I love to ask Elon Musk, 'Was it worth it? Any regrets?' The world's richest man and business disruptor of our time thought he could change Washington. Washington didn't change him; it spit him out. He didn't fight; he just left. Last night, as news broke that a trade court overturned Trump's tariffs (who knew there even is a trade court?), the Washington and New York establishment rejoiced over a HUGE victory against Trump. In real time, Chris Cillizza and I told you it wouldn't matter. If Trump won an appeal on the right to unilaterally tariff, he wins. For the record, he won at the appeals court today. If Trump loses at the Supreme Court, he still wins because he can call himself a victim fighting against the swamp If Trump uses the court decision as a way out from most of his tariffs, he wins Rule No. 1 of Trump: He always wins. He sets the game up that way. Trump wins when he is fighting — remember what he said after getting shot? The swamp beat Trump in his first term; in his second term, he just won't stop fighting. To be fair: Trump learned he didn't have a choice. He realized early in 2021 he either fought or went to jail. It was and is about survival. 📖 He wrote about this in 'Art of the Comeback' nearly 30 years ago. Musk is the world's richest man. He didn't need to fight, and maybe that is his regret. But boy, it's still interesting Musk is gone but not really out. Stephen Miller's wife is going to work for Musk full-time now. Was it worth it for Musk? To be fair, he tried and then learned all the Republican promises to change Washington are just empty talk. Regrets are usually a waste of time, and Trump seems to understand that. He knows he's winning when he is fighting. Tune into 'On Balance with Leland Vittert' weeknights at 9/8 CT on NewsNation. Find your channel here. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Economic Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
A tax-slasher's Bill of not-quite rights
On Thursday, Donald Trump moved a step closer to realising his economic agenda after the US House of Representatives narrowly cleared - and you can't make this up - the 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill' (OBBB). The tax-slash bill awaits senate approval, which will come with modifications. But the legislation will broadly remain regressive and inflationary. Bond market sentiment is grim after last week's Moody's downgrade, and is anticipated to push back against tax changes that will add more than 12% to already swollen US government debt over the next decade. US debt servicing is already running ahead of its military spending, and Trump's tax cuts could contribute to geopolitical instability as the US preoccupation with its economy rises. Trump's fiscal stance makes the Fed's job of lowering interest rates much more complicated. The Fed is in watch mode since the US imposed retaliatory tariffs against the rest of the world to bring down its trade deficit. Interest rate cuts are on hold, and could be delayed further when the tax-cut bill is enacted. Compounded effects on inflation of tariffs and tax giveaways will most probably result in stagflation, hobbling the scope for monetary easing despite Trump's exhortations for cheap money. These effects will be felt across emerging-economy equity and debt markets as global liquidity tightens. OBBB bankrolls broader action against illegal immigration - including an ambitious programme of deportation - adding another dimension to US inflation. Proposal to tax remittances will affect flows to principal recipients such as India, where these constitute a significant channel of capital inflows. Alongside hardening credit costs, outflows from equity markets and a trimmed merchandise export surplus, Indian policy will have to adjust to pressure on US remittance inflows. Adjustments for each of the variables changed less than six months into The Trump Show, Season 2, comes at a cost to India's growth and inflation management. Their combined impact on monetary and fiscal stability is not inconsiderable.
The Independent
11-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Magaland is having its faith tested – maybe St Donald is only human after all
There was a Trump loyalist on the radio on Thursday morning trying to explain the whiplash-inducing U-turn on tariffs the night before. He said that what the US president wanted was for the world to sit up and take notice of him. Well, if that's the benchmark of success, then give the man at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a straight A+. Yes, everyone is sitting up. The other way of interpreting those remarks is to say that President Trump is an endless attention-seeker. And though this is far from the most important thing to note from the past dizzying 10 days since Liberation Day, it has played a part – and invariably made things worse. Trump loves the TV cameras. He can't help but provide the world with a running commentary of what he's doing. The Rose Garden theatricality, complete with a bingo board of tariffs, felt as though he were auditioning to be a game show host – but in fact, it was just another episode of The Trump Show. Just imagine how much more might have been achieved if he had sought to conduct his tariff negotiations in private, with – yes – threats of what might be in store for those who didn't play ball. Instead, he went for fanfare… and spooked the hell out of markets across the planet. We were told he would brook no opposition; the 'medicine' – the surgery, even – had to be administered after America had been 'raped and pillaged' by the rest of the world. That's why Madagascar would have to pay tariffs. Sorry. What? Why? Well, because Madagascar sold chocolate to America, and Madagascar didn't buy much in return. Maybe because they're too poor? And then there were the tariffs applied to Guadeloupe and Martinique that were different from those of the EU – even though these two Caribbean islands are part of France. It was all so sloppy and rushed, almost as though it mattered more to announce it within the first 100 days than to get it right. And what are the tariffs for? The narrative is all over the place. Are they a revenue-raising measure to fund tax cuts? Well, if they were, then no matter how much Madagascar purchased from the US would make a difference. Or are they about eliminating trade deficits? To the extent that they're about 'reshoring' – bringing back manufacturing jobs to the US – if you're on the board of an international company thinking of making a huge investment in the US and building a factory there, you'd want some macroeconomic certainty, some consistency in decision-making, some predictability. Not even the most addicted guzzler of the Kool-Aid could say that Donald Trump has offered much of that. So it seems to me there are two principal questions: what caused Trump to bottle it, to fold, to buckle, to capitulate (all words he will hate), and what does this mean for his leadership now? Listen to his disingenuous outriders and you'll hear that the 'policy readjustment' had been planned and plotted cunningly to isolate China. But from Trump's own mouth, a different story – and I suspect the truth. He was spooked. The stock markets were in freefall, but more terrifying was the way the bond markets were moving. American government debt has always been the safest haven for troubled investors, but people were selling off US Treasuries; they had no confidence in the man at the top. In previous columns, I've quoted the brilliant Democratic strategist James Carville – he of 'It's the economy, stupid'. But something he said a couple of years ago really struck me this week. It was this: 'I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the President or the Pope or as a .400 baseball hitter. But now I would want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.' And that market certainly put the fear of God into Donald Trump. He might be able to ignore his advisers, scoff at the bankers, dismiss the plaintive calls from his billionaire buddies who were facing the prospect of having to get slightly smaller private jets – but you can't screw with the bond markets. When Trump announced the 90-day pause, a giddy Wall Street went more berserk than students who've just finished their finals. But a day later, the markets were flashing red again; the sell-off was continuing. They had got from Trump a partial surrender – now they wanted more. They wanted the hokey-cokey of on-off tariff chaos to end. Trump's second term was meant to be different from the first. When Trump was first in the White House, he was surrounded by Maga ideologues who didn't know what they were doing, or the so-called grown-ups who tried to thwart him. This time, he would have his own people in place who knew what they were doing. And they would deliver his agenda. For the first few, astonishing weeks of this administration, I fully bought into that analysis. This was full Maga at warp speed. But on Wednesday, that policy hit a bond market brick wall. And who are the people who've emerged as the winners? The grown-ups. A brutal battle has been fought in the West Wing between the tariffista ultras and the free-marketeers. To personalise it, Peter Navarro versus Elon Musk, with Musk dismissing Navarro as a moron, 'dumb as a sack of bricks'. The ultras are licking their wounds. That has given the markets cause for hope. The tariffs have not gone away, but there's a belief they may have reached their high-water mark. In the coming 90-day pause, expect administration officials to be claiming a series of spurious trade victories as they wind back the most punitive measures. Trump has already seen a slide in his approval ratings, an index he watches as closely as the stock market. Magaland is having its faith tested – say it quietly, but maybe St Donald is fallible after all. And what drove Americans to vote for him in November was the belief that the businessman would make them all richer. The Republican Party is already looking at the midterms in November 2026 nervously. Their hold on the House of Representatives is already fragile. Lose the House, and governing for Trump will become even harder. The Democrats may not be having that much impact right now – and have no general to lead the charge – but, in a sense, that doesn't matter. The Trump Show is sucking in all the oxygen; how much attention would anyone else get right now, apart from him? But just because you're getting endless media attention doesn't mean you're winning. There is such a thing as bad publicity. And ever since Liberation Day, Americans have been reminded of all that is most chaotic and dysfunctional about Donald Trump and his haphazard way of governing. The view is that Trump has been chastened by the past 10 days and wouldn't dare go full tariffista ultra again in three months' time. But that assumes the president will behave rationally, logically, and predictably – and who would bet on that?
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Gives Away the Game on His Made-for-TV Presidency
As Donald Trump neared the end of his contentious Oval Office exchange with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he almost absent-mindedly revealed his made-for-TV approach to the presidency, telling the assembled press, 'This is going to be great television.' Everything about Trump's time in politics, from the moment he descended that escalator to announce his candidacy to his 'casting' of Cabinet positions based on their telegenic qualities, has reinforced that premise: That Trump, as a heavy consumer of TV and one-time reality star, sees everything through the lens of the 'show' he's producing. Indeed, if the 1998 movie 'The Truman Show' focused on a man blithely oblivious (at first, anyway) to the fact his entire existence featured him as the star of a TV show, 'The Trump Show' is its polar opposite — a spectacle almost painfully aware, at all times, of the cameras, and how he perceives it unfolding through the prism of a screen. Trump even uses his social-media feed to tease upcoming events, such as Tuesday's address to Congress, promoting the evening in advance like a season-ending cliffhanger by posting (all-caps his), 'TOMORROW NIGHT WILL BE BIG.' The 'show' was big, both literally — running nearly 100 minutes, a record for such an address — and figuratively, filling the speech with human-interest anecdotes and 'Queen For a Day'-style giveaways to reinforce various aspects of administration policies and buttress some of Trump's fact-challenged claims. In those moments, this 'Trump Show' more than anything resembled earlier days of daytime TV, with stories of victims, survivors and heroes, such as the heart-tugging tale of a 13-year-old cancer survivor and stirring moments for him and others. As critics were quick to point out, several of Trump's actions and policies have actually clashed with the reality of these stories, among them funding for cancer research. 'The beauty of that child is the tragedy of the Trump presidency, because we don't know how he survived pediatric cancer, but it is likely he benefited from some sort of cancer research,' MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace said during the network's post-speech analysis, which drew a rebuke from the White House. 'And it is a fact that Trump has slashed cancer research.' At CNN, commentator Van Jones proclaimed Trump 'a master showman,' before dissecting many of the places where what he said represented fantasy, not reality. Such details, however, are easily lost in the emotion and pageantry of the moment, which was, of course, the goal when weaving in each carefully orchestrated digression. Again, Trump and his supporters didn't exhibit much subtlety about the political angle built into those made-for-TV vignettes, or who the bad guys were. The president complained early in the speech that Democrats wouldn't rise to applaud anything he said, and Donald Trump Jr. seized on the cancer-stricken child by posting on X, 'If you can't stand up and cheer for a kid with brain cancer being made an honorary member of the Secret Service, then you might be a deeply disturbed and f—ed up person!!!' Admittedly, identifying Trump's preoccupation with how things play on television hardly qualifies as a fresh insight. The issue arose frequently during his first term, as people came to grips with Trump's relationship with a medium he and indeed an entire generation of Baby Boomers were weaned on. 'Trump has always been both acutely aware of the power of TV and absolutely and completely addicted to it,' journalist Chris Cillizza noted in 2019. Even earlier, The Atlantic's Elaine Godfrey analyzed Trump's 'obsession' with TV, writing shortly after he took office, 'No president has consumed as much television as the current one, or reacted as quickly or directly to what they were seeing.' The second term, however, already feels even more overtly focused on optics and imagery, from the laundry list of Fox News alumni filling key White House positions to Trump's frequent press availabilities while simultaneously endeavoring to control the message by filling the White House with more pro-administration media figures. Perhaps more than anything, Trump recognizes the inherent appeal of conflict and surprise. Jon Stewart identified that in a recent 'The Daily Show' monologue in which he compared the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting to professional wrestling, which in its modern form has always served as a violent soap opera, just aimed primarily at male demographics. Trump's ties to wrestling and mixed-martial arts go deep, serving as conduits his campaigns used to woo and interact with men, while securing support from figures like UFC CEO Dana White, wrestler Hulk Hogan and WWE's Linda McMahon, the last recently confirmed as Secretary of Education. As biographer Tim O'Brien noted after Trump named his trio of 'ambassadors to Hollywood' — the AARP-eligible trio of Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight — he appreciates TV's power thanks in part to the significant role 'The Apprentice' played in building his image and sees himself in cinematic terms. 'He is constantly directing, writing and starring in his own movie about his life,' O'Brien, the author of'TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald,' told TheWrap in January. Trump has spoken of restoring a 'Golden Age' for both Hollywood and the arts and culture — the latter in reference to his controversial takeover of the Kennedy Center — which, like his 'Make America Great Again' slogan, reflects the backward-looking lens through which he tends to see the world. For many that nostalgic mentality has struck a resonant chord, and the address to Congress averaged 36.6 million viewers across multiple TV platforms, per Nielsen — ranking below earlier Trump speeches, but registering a 13% increase over last year's State of the Union delivered by Joe Biden. Yet even for those who reject the formula, buckle up. Because 'The Trump Show' has been renewed, and while it's unclear what happens in the next episode, the producer/star looks determined to ensure that it 'WILL BE BIG.' The post Donald Trump Gives Away the Game on His Made-for-TV Presidency appeared first on TheWrap.
