Battenfeld: Trump declaring war on elitist Harvard pocketbook

President Trump is going after the fat pocketbooks of Harvard PBS and other elitist institutions in a deliberate strategy to get them to bend to his administration s positions It s an effort on Trump s part to hit his opponents where it hurts the largest part right in the wallet That s where it breaks them Harvard s billion endowment makes it the richest university in the world and Trump s attempt to revoke the university s tax exempt status would be a severe blow to its ability to raise funds and attract top notch students and faculty Trump is also now escalating the fight demanding to know Harvard s source of foreign funds Can the school withstand the disinfectant of sunlight Tax exempt status I mean it s a privilege it s really a privilege Trump explained this week And it s been abused by a lot more than Harvard It s something that these schools really have to be very very careful with It s a question a large number of Americans may now be asking Why should Harvard and other Ivy League schools be tax exempt They don t provide a institution to the average person The average person s kids can t go to Harvard The school is the very definition of elitism Yet Harvard has decided to take Trump on refusing to yield to the president s demands after Trump froze billion in funding Who s their consultant Claudine Gay Trump is not legally allowed to force the IRS to revoke tax exempt status but the IRS maintains it launched its own study into the matter before Trump made it a priority The law says if you re a tax exempt organization you can t take political positions a strict limitation that Harvard and others may be violating While calling Harvard a disgrace and obviously antisemitic Trump reported there had been no final decision on making the university lose its tax status But the president is not stopping at Harvard The Trump administration is withholding millions in federal funds to Maine to get the state to change its initiative on allowing transgender athletes to compete against girls and women Trump is also employing the pocketbook strategy to punish residents media like PBS pulling back federal funds because of their liberal bias It s a battle of populism vs elitism and one that Trump hopes to have the community on his side Locally tax exempt Harvard is consistently dragging its feet to make payments in lieu of taxes to the city of Boston a battle every mayor has had to engage in in contemporary years If the IRS revokes the tax exempt status of Harvard and other universities it could have a major impact on the city s efforts to collect payments