Edited by: Fern Sidman

President Donald Trump launched a scathing rebuke of Harvard University on Wednesday, accusing the prestigious Ivy League institution of becoming a “joke” and a bastion of radical leftist ideology. The blistering criticism, delivered via a Truth Social post, focused specifically on Harvard’s recent hiring of former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as faculty members — decisions Trump claims exemplify Harvard’s decline into ideological extremism and academic mediocrity.

According to a report on Wednesday in The New York Post, Trump excoriated Harvard’s leadership for bringing on what he described as “two of the WORST and MOST INCOMPETENT mayors in the history of our Country,” arguing that their track records as failed municipal leaders should disqualify them from educating the next generation of public officials.

“Everyone knows that Harvard has ‘lost its way’,” Trump wrote in the early morning post. “They hired, from New York (Bill D) and Chicago (Lori L), at ridiculously high salaries/fees, two of the WORST and MOST INCOMPETENT mayors… to ‘teach’ municipal management and government.”

Trump continued, “These two Radical Left fools left behind two cities that will take years to recover from their incompetence and evil.”

As detailed by The New York Post, Harvard appointed Bill de Blasio in 2022 as a teaching fellow at its Schools of Government and Public Health, shortly after his embattled tenure as New York’s mayor ended. Meanwhile, Lori Lightfoot, who served one term as Chicago’s mayor from 2019 to 2023, was hired for the Fall 2023 semester as a lecturer at Harvard’s School of Public Health.

Both appointments stirred controversy when they were first announced, given the significant criticism both former mayors faced over their handling of crime, economic issues, and education during their respective terms. But Trump’s remarks on Wednesday, as reported by The New York Post,  represented a notable escalation, blending his ongoing critiques of “woke” academia with direct calls for federal intervention and financial punishment.

Trump’s post didn’t stop at personnel critiques. He broadened his attack to Harvard’s institutional character, saying the university had become a hotbed for radical leftist ideology that promotes “hate and stupidity.”

“Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,’” Trump charged, according to The New York Post report.

“Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning,” Trump added. “It should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges.”

The most explosive part of Trump’s post, as highlighted in The New York Post report, came in his call to defund Harvard University, stating, “Harvard is a JOKE… and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”

That call dovetails with actual policy action recently announced by the federal government. Just hours before Trump’s post, the administration announced a freeze on more than $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in government contracts to Harvard. The funding freeze followed the university’s refusal to comply with White House demands aimed at curbing antisemitism on campus and reforming institutional policies seen as biased or discriminatory.

According to information provided in The New York Post report, federal officials sent a letter to Harvard on Friday, urging sweeping reforms: changes to student discipline policies, adjustments to admissions procedures, and a complete audit of the university’s diversity practices. The government also demanded that Harvard revoke recognition of certain student organizations accused of promoting anti-Israel sentiment.

Despite the high stakes, Harvard’s newly appointed president Alan Garber pushed back against the federal ultimatum, issuing a defiant statement on Monday: “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber wrote. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”

Within hours, the Trump administration followed through on its threat, issuing a broad freeze on federal funding, effectively cutting Harvard off from billions in financial support.

As The New York Post report observed, Trump’s criticism is part of a broader and increasingly aggressive campaign to confront elite academic institutions that, in the view of many conservatives, have become politically weaponized and hostile to dissenting viewpoints — particularly those supportive of Israel, traditional values, or conservative students.

Harvard has recently come under fire from Jewish organizations and lawmakers alike for its handling of campus antisemitism, especially in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel and the subsequent protests that erupted on U.S. college campuses, as was noted in The New York Post report. The federal investigation into Harvard’s practices regarding hate speech and student safety has further intensified scrutiny.

The hiring of de Blasio and Lightfoot is now emblematic of what critics — including President Trump — describe as the erosion of academic integrity in elite institutions, where credentials and performance are allegedly secondary to political ideology. As The New York Post report indicated, Harvard’s insistence on preserving academic independence in the face of federal pressure may rally supporters of free inquiry, but it also deepens public skepticism toward the university’s values and decision-making.