Reveling in the dis-Enlightenment of America
By Sid Schwab / Herald Columnist
In the year 50 B.T. , I was offered a seven-year scholarship to Harvard, one given, back then, to only 50 applicants per year (Harvard Crimson: tinyurl.com/HNS4u). Had I done well enough, it included acceptance to grad school. I turned it down. It wasn’t because of “elite college” stigma. It was because I was sure they’d made a mistake, figured I’d flunk out (#imposter syndrome). From the right, that stigma is gospel. I attach none to Harvard graduates, though, and not just because I married one.
Notwithstanding MAGAfied nay-saying, Harvard, like most enlightened universities, has contributed immensely to our nation. If successful, Trump’s Id-iotic need to take them down would cloud the future of all of us. Scaring away or deporting foreign students who long to partake of American scholarship already has. Whether they stay or return home, those students become representatives of America, wherever they are. The U.S. and the world needs them. Shutting them out is short-sighted but typical stupidity.
Donald Trump, who lies about everything, denies he applied to Harvard and was rejected. Which means it’s true. Given daddy’s war bucks, a consequential qualification in decades past, that says a lot. In Trump, imposter isn’t a syndrome, it a definition. His native-born narcissism tells him he knows “more than anyone” about everything, undeniable evidence to the contrary. His birthright insecurity demands he “gets even” with any critic or institution that tells the truth. That, he doesn’t deny. He’s proud of it (YouTube: tinyurl.com/even2u).
In this thin-skinned, partial president having, as his niece tells us, “absolutely no redeeming qualities,” unchecked vengeance is catastrophic. Like his embarrassingly false Harvard accusations. Antisemitism is promoted there? From a guy who surrounds himself with de facto Nazis? Whose eponymous “university” scammed people out of millions? That guy wants to dictate how and what to teach in America, and who can do it. With MAGAs, it’s A-OK.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/schwab-reveling-in-the-dis-enlightenment-of-america/