War on Universities, Lawyers & Expertise

[gtyellowjacket]

You sure about those numbers? The differences here look starker than that:

Wide divide between voters with and without college degrees continues to be a major factor in Trump-era elections

www.pewresearch.org

Also I think it's entirely fair to say that MAGA has a general disdain for higher education, no matter how you want to frame it. The whole movement is built around resentment towards "elites" (by which they mean not rich people, but highly educated people - and especially, as you alluded to, highly educated people with a background in liberal arts and the "soft sciences" who have expertise in any particular subject matter). There are absolutely some highly educated people who are part of their coalition, but they are happy to cynically repeat the same critiques of higher education - and the highly educated - without acknowledging the benefit they received from their own education (or by using some sort of "to beat the enemy, I had to understand how he thinks" sort of logic).

If there is any general animating principle behind MAGA other than Trump worship, it is a disdain for educated coastal "elites" who use big fancy words, and the institutions where those people are educated that, as you note, they believe are indoctrinating their students with liberal ideology. Just listen to a monologue from the main character of any Taylor Sheridan show if you need a mission statement of why MAGA believes those people are the enemy and the "real Americans" are people who work with their hands and use 1- and 2-syllable words.

51 to 46% for college degree holders? To me that's pretty close.

 

[rodoheel]

51 to 46% for college degree holders? To me that's pretty close.

First of all, just in terms of framing: not everyone who voted for Trump in 2024 is "MAGA." Maybe 60-75% of those Trump voters are. I'm confident the numbers would be starker if you isolated for just people who identify as "MAGA."

Just for an example of how MAGA attitudes towards higher education are different than for Republicans as a whole, look at this Vanderbilt U polling from 2025: Vanderbilt Unity Poll: Confidence in higher education rebounds, though affordability and political bias are still concerns

Key excerpt:

Even looking at the opinions among partisan respondents, confidence in higher education is net positive. Among Democrats, there is a 48-percentage point difference in the percentage who express confidence {69 percent} and those who do not {21 percent}. Among Republicans, there is a 14 percentage point confidence gap {with 35 percent expressing confidence, 21 percent expressing a lack of confidence and the rest expressing “some” confidence}.

It is only among the 20 percent of the sample who say that they identify most with the Make America Great Again movement that confidence in higher education is slightly underwater—with 24 percent expressing confidence, 31 percent expressing a lack of confidence and the remaining 45 percent saying they have “some confidence.”

This quote is even more telling:


Sixty-five percent of those surveyed also believe colleges and institutions are having a positive effect on society, but here polarization is more telling. A large majority of Democrats and, to a lesser degree, traditional Republicans, hold this view. Most notably, among MAGA Republicans, 65 percent feel colleges and universities are having a negative impact on the state of the country.

Second of all, even the +5% Dem lean of 2024 presidential election voters with a n undergrad degree and the +9 Rep lean of the "some college" faction (which would be people who graduated HS but not college) is more than a "couple percentage points." And you will notice that even thhat 5% number looks like an outlier compared to the previous two elections.

 

[mpaer]

Most notably, among MAGA Republicans, 65 percent feel colleges and universities are having a negative impact on the state of the country.

Who the hell do they think are going be Doctors and Lawyers and such?

 

[Mulberry Heel]

Who the hell do they think are going be Doctors and Lawyers and such?

They don't like doctors and lawyers and the professional classes in general. These are people, after all, who completely ignored the warnings of mainstream doctors and medical experts and eagerly took horse paste called Ivermectin in the utterly wrong belief that it would cure covid. A big part of Trumpism is that it is a class war by working-class whites on the experts and professional classes - they're the "elites" that MAGAs talk about and disdain so much.

 

[4thgenheel]

First of all, just in terms of framing: not everyone who voted for Trump in 2024 is "MAGA." Maybe 60-75% of those Trump voters are. I'm confident the numbers would be starker if you isolated for just people who identify as "MAGA."

Just for an example of how MAGA attitudes towards higher education are different than for Republicans as a whole, look at this Vanderbilt U polling from 2025: Vanderbilt Unity Poll: Confidence in higher education rebounds, though affordability and political bias are still concerns

Key excerpt:

Even looking at the opinions among partisan respondents, confidence in higher education is net positive. Among Democrats, there is a 48-percentage point difference in the percentage who express confidence {69 percent} and those who do not {21 percent}. Among Republicans, there is a 14 percentage point confidence gap {with 35 percent expressing confidence, 21 percent expressing a lack of confidence and the rest expressing “some” confidence}.

It is only among the 20 percent of the sample who say that they identify most with the Make America Great Again movement that confidence in higher education is slightly underwater—with 24 percent expressing confidence, 31 percent expressing a lack of confidence and the remaining 45 percent saying they have “some confidence.”

This quote is even more telling:


Sixty-five percent of those surveyed also believe colleges and institutions are having a positive effect on society, but here polarization is more telling. A large majority of Democrats and, to a lesser degree, traditional Republicans, hold this view. Most notably, among MAGA Republicans, 65 percent feel colleges and universities are having a negative impact on the state of the country.

Second of all, even the +5% Dem lean of 2024 presidential election voters with a n undergrad degree and the +9 Rep lean of the "some college" faction (which would be people who graduated HS but not college) is more than a "couple percentage points." And you will notice that even thhat 5% number looks like an outlier compared to the previous two elections.

thanks for all of this, nailed it. yesterday when GT nonsensically bo'sided the education thing i started digging into it and found some of the same stuff you did but got too busy with work to respond to his nonsense.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[heelinhell]

Our Secretary of War has declared war on our elite colleges and universities ( He graduated from Princeton and Harvard ).

Is this a case of pulling up the ladder behind you ?

Servicemembers thrown into chaos as Hegseth blacklists colleges they can attend

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has created a nightmare for some servicemembers with a new policy that seeks to blacklist several colleges and universities from military tuition assistance, CNN reported on Friday.Under the new policy, outlined in a memo last week, "Military officers could soon...

www.rawstory.com

 

[donbosco]

White House pressure leads universities to cut ties with nonprofit that helps racial minorities

The Trump administration says that 31 universities, including Duke University, have agreed to cut ties with a nonprofit that helps racial minorities earn doctorate degrees.

www.wunc.org

 

[Kingpin]

That black president just was over the top for these folks

It was Obama’s reelection that drove them insane. After that the MAGA awoke saying, never again. And so here we are.

 

[nycfan]

 

[superrific]

All this bullshit about anti-Semitism reminds me of the Simpsons episode when Sideshow Bob ran for mayor.

Mayor Quimby even released Sideshow Bob, a man twice convicted of attempted murder. Vote for Sideshow Bob!

 

[Centerpiece]

Virginia State Terminates 6 Professors Without Due Process​

Campus security escorted the professors—five tenured and one tenure-track—to their cars and issued no-trespass warnings. They have received no written explanation for their dismissals.

 

[donbosco]

The firing actually happened back in early December.

"Six professors fired from Virginia State University’s Agricultural Research Station are speaking out — and local farmers say the impact is immediate. The group, calling themselves the “Fired Six,” claim wrongful termination and are demanding reinstatement. Ongoing research projects worth millions — including work supporting small and part-time farmers — have been disrupted. VSU says it made programmatic adjustments, but faculty and supporters argue that academic due process was ignored. What this means for farmers, research funding, and collective bargaining debates."

Virginia State University Faces Questions After Firing Six Agriculture Research Experts

June Battle, a Waverly farmer, aimed to reduce costs and boost productivity with help from a Virginia State University research expert. The goal was to measure how goats can manage […]

royalexaminer.com

"This action follows recent federal changes to agricultural research funding, policy priorities, and USDA operations, which could significantly affect the station both directly and indirectly.
Gwen Williams Dandridge, a VSU spokeswoman, said in a statement that personnel matters are confidential and that the institution does not comment on individual employment actions.

On Dec. 16, 2025, the collective said they were called individually into meetings, which were presented as discussions about the research station’s transformational efforts. During these meetings, they were told their research programs were being sunset and that their employment would end immediately.

The group said they were given no written grounds for termination and were pressured to sign severance agreements immediately without adequate time to review the documents or consult legal counsel. They said they were warned that refusal would result in the forfeiture of any severance.

When they declined to sign the agreements, they were escorted off campus by university police, required to surrender IDs, keys, and equipment, and issued trespass warnings despite no misconduct.
Dandridge said VSU recently made “programmatic adjustments” in the College of Agriculture to align research and operations with the university’s strategic goals.

“The college remains fully operational and continues to provide high-quality instruction, research, and outreach,” Dandridge wrote.

United Campus Workers, American Association of University Professors supporters, and other community members joined the six professors Tuesday as they gathered in a nearby park outside campus.

The American Association of University Professors said VSU’s actions breached accepted standards for academic due process, which require written charges and a chance to present evidence."