What’s Behind Trump’s War with harvard

​Donald Trump has launched a full-on crusade against Harvard—and it’s giving major ex-boyfriend who never got over the breakup energy. So what did Harvard do to earn a spot on Trump’s enemies list?

Hmmmm. The answer may lie not in Harvard’s hallowed halls, but in where young Barron Trump has spent his freshman year. Wait for it… NYU.

That’s right. Not Harvard. Not Yale. Not even Dartmouth (which technically counts). The 6’7” Trump heir is navigating college life somewhere between Greenwich Village and a $19 chopped salad, instead of an Ivy League quad.

Now that doesn’t quite match the MAGA narrative of Trump F-34, the one who endlessly name-drops his own Ivy League education. Donald has often reminded us that he attended the very prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. What he tends to leave out is that he transferred to Penn in his junior year—right after his father dropped a seven-figure “donation.” Call it strategic generosity, or buying your kid an Ivy League education.  Dare I say, “privilege.”

But hey, let’s not split hairs. Trump did graduate from UPenn. Even if it’s rumored his sister did his coursework. Oops—there I go again.

Still, irony and hypocrisy abounds when you consider Trump’s past obsession with Barack Obama’s academic record. Remember when he spent years demanding to see Obama’s college transcripts, questioning whether he was “smart enough” to get into Columbia and Harvard Law? Of course, Obama not only got in—he graduated with honors and was President of the Harvard Law Review.

Meanwhile, there’s no public record of Donald Trump ever participating in, well… anything at UPenn. No clubs, no awards, no test scores, no GPA. Just his constant boasting.

Michelle Obama? She continued her family’s Ivy League tradition, graduating magna cum laude from Princeton, then Harvard Law. Her brother, a star athlete, graduated from Princeton too. And Malia Obama? Yep—Harvard alum.

So what gives with Barron?

Why didn’t Trump’s youngest follow the gilded Ivy path, like his siblings (Tiffany and Don Jr. graduated from UPenn, while Ivanka and Eric went to Georgetown)? Why NYU, a respected school but not exactly in the Ivy League zip code? Not even close.

Could this be the real source of Trump’s Ivy League angst? Could it be that Barron—despite the family name, wealth, and access—simply didn’t get in? That no check was big enough, no legacy strong enough, no admission office impressed enough?

It might explain why Trump is now raging against DEI, accusing Ivy League schools of “wokeness,” and trying to dismantle the very institutions he once bragged about. Is this less a culture war and more of a personal vendetta?

In the end, this may not be about Harvard. It may be about rejection—and the one thing Donald Trump has never been able to buy: a seat at the smart kids’ table.

So, Donald… here’s the deal: Those of us who earned our way into Ivy League classrooms—old Ivies, new Ivies, public Ivies—we just might be smarter than your kid. And let’s be honest… we’re smarter than you, too.

There. I said it

Coming soon are my two books: Co-authored with Ditu Kasuyi is The Excellence Blueprint: A Strategic Guide for Afrian American Leaders to Rise, Thrive and Lead with Legacy. It drops this summer.

And, later this year, my book inspired by my family drops, Under the Banyan Tree: A Family’s Legacy of Resistance, Freedom, and Perseverance.

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