{"id":283,"date":"2025-04-01T12:54:49","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T12:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoclaritydays.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/01\/trump-eyeing-3rd-term-keeps-attacking-elite-institutions-and-many-are-caving\/"},"modified":"2025-04-01T12:54:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T12:54:49","slug":"trump-eyeing-3rd-term-keeps-attacking-elite-institutions-and-many-are-caving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoclaritydays.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/01\/trump-eyeing-3rd-term-keeps-attacking-elite-institutions-and-many-are-caving\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump, eyeing 3rd term, keeps attacking elite institutions \u2013 and many are caving"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Trump stirs up controversy, by design, on just about everything.<\/p>\n

And when the media, including me, cover this flood-the-zone approach, Trumpian allies rip the resulting stories and segments as reflecting an unhealthy negative obsession with the president.<\/p>\n

Memo to the pro-Trump zealots who go online and declare I hate the president, that\u2019s objectively ridiculous. He was pleased with the two interviews I did with him during the campaign, and I was just over at the White House for a meeting with his team. But have your fun.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

You know how Trump has been kidding around about running for a third term? Well, he told Kristen Welker on ‘Meet the Press’ he\u2019s ‘not joking,’ in an off-camera but on-the-record interview in which she had to describe his remarks. Sure it violates the 22nd Amendment, but there are workarounds, he said, adopting her suggestion that JD Vance could run in 2028 and then turn over the presidency to him. <\/p>\n

This is classic Trump \u2013 it\u2019s a joke until it\u2019s not. I happen to think he\u2019s trolling the press and won\u2019t do it \u2013 he\u2019d be 82 \u2013 but with the Democrats in such sorry shape, who really knows?<\/p>\n

Now he undoubtedly called Welker because the Atlantic\u2019s Jeffrey Goldberg was a guest (insisting, by the way, that he does too know national security adviser Michael Waltz), and made other news. Trump said he is ‘pissed’ at Russia for dragging its feet on a Ukraine peace deal, and IF he concludes that he may hit the Kremlin with more sanctions. This is noteworthy because he almost never criticizes Vladimir Putin \u2013 and sanctions won\u2019t do much because of our minimal trade with Russia \u2013 but notice there\u2019s no Trump sound bite to be replayed.<\/p>\n

Also, on American cars costing more because of his tariff war, the president said ‘I couldn\u2019t care less if they raised prices because people are going to start buying American-made cars.’ Imagine if Joe Biden had said that. He\u2019d already have been impeached, with many cutting off the sound bite after the first eight words.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the market plummeted again yesterday over uncertainty over the tariffs that are about to take effect, and is on track for a horrible quarter.<\/p>\n

On his vow to take control of Greenland, Welker quoted Trump as saying ‘I never take military force off the table, but I think there\u2019s a good possibility we could do it without military force.’ That\u2019s a relief.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I talk and write about most of the major Trump controversies \u2013 there are always ones I can\u2019t get to because of the fire-hose approach \u2013 which is of course as he likes it. Negative coverage helps him as much as positive coverage, as I\u2019ve been saying for the more than three decades I\u2019ve known him, because it means he\u2019s driving the news agenda.<\/p>\n

I mean, the guy will talk about anything. When Kid Rock insisted on bringing Bill Maher to have dinner with Trump, the president said he\u2019d do it as a favor to Kid but:<\/p>\n

‘The problem is, no matter how much he likes your Favorite President, ME, he will publicly proclaim what a terrible guy I am, etc\u2026Who knows, though, maybe I\u2019ll be proven wrong? It might be fun or, it might not, but you will be the first to know!’<\/p>\n

I wonder if the president\u2019s aware of how Maher beats up on the left. <\/p>\n

Maher\u2019s response to critics: <\/p>\n

‘If two guys who\u2019ve been at each other for so long \u2014 I mean, it\u2019s kind of a Nixon to China thing. There was nobody who was harder on Trump\u2026It will probably accomplish very little, but you gotta try, man, you gotta try.’<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Trump has launched a series of harsh attacks against major institutions, the latest being some of the world\u2019s biggest law firms. Skadden, Arps has agreed to provide $100 million in free services to the White House. Paul, Weiss has agreed to $40 million in pro bono work.<\/p>\n

The alternative: Getting hit with an executive order which would bar the firms from reviewing classified documents, and therefore unable to help corporate clients. And sometimes that\u2019s because a single prosecutor who investigated Trump works or worked there.<\/p>\n

Three other large law firms have sued the administration and won an initial round in court.<\/p>\n

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As for academia, Columbia University has been acting conciliatory in hopes of regaining $400 million in frozen federal funds because of its failure to crack down on anti-Semitism. Unable to work it out, the school\u2019s interim president has resigned, with longtime television journalist Claire Shipman taking over on a temporary basis. Columbia is obviously a test case.<\/p>\n

And then there are Trump\u2019s lawsuits against CBS, NBC and the Des Moines Register. Remember, ABC paid Trump $16 million to settle a suit about George Stephanopoulos\u2019 comments about sexual assault.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The New York Times says: <\/p>\n

‘An Ivy League university. Distinguished law firms with Fortune 500 clients. The highest levels of government in the nation\u2019s largest city.<\/p>\n

‘As President Trump seeks to extract concessions from elite institutions and punish his perceived enemies, some of New York\u2019s most powerful people are suddenly confronting excruciating decisions.<\/p>\n

‘The hard choices they face seem almost to be pulled from the pages of a college ethics textbook.’<\/p>\n

Politico co-founder John Harris, with his staff, conjured up a great phrase on the reaction to these aggressive moves by Trump: the ‘Great Grovel.’<\/p>\n

‘One after another, a parade of the wealthiest and most elite institutions in American life since last November have found themselves confronted by unprecedented demands from President Donald Trump and his team of retribution-seekers.<\/p>\n

‘One after another, these establishment pillars have met these demands with the same response: capitulation and compliance.’ <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Two themes are consistent: ‘The first is an effort \u2014 far more organized and disciplined than any precedent from Trump\u2019s first term \u2014 to bring institutions who have earned the president\u2019s ire to heel.’ Even more surprising: ‘The swiftness with which supposedly powerful and supposedly independent institutions have responded \u2014 with something akin to the trembling acquiescence of a child surrendering his lunch money to a big kid on the morning walk to school.’<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s more: ‘Trump\u2019s actions have illuminated more vividly than ever just how many wealthy private institutions have their finances and policies enmeshed with the federal government \u2014 though it is hardly a new phenomenon. What is different is the willingness of Trump and his lieutenants to use this leverage so unabashedly. Along the way, he has revealed the institutions to be more vulnerable to intimidation than their leaders themselves may have recognized.’<\/p>\n

Whether or not you agree with Donald Trump, there\u2019s no question that he has changed the boundaries of what\u2019s deemed acceptable, probably forever.<\/p>\n

: Pew Research has a fascinating study about how heavily people are consuming news about Trump, and why, with both Republicans and Democrats paying lots of attention, sometimes for different reasons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>\n

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