Comrade Trump threatens to “seize the endowments” of Universities.

Silly comments like this by Trump gets this reaction

#yawn

 

What the hell happened to the Republican party?

A reasonable conservative would absolutely dominate an election right now. Like Reagan level domination. But they can't even get on the ballot for a general.

 

I wish him luck with that because he wouldn’t have the authority. Further there really aren’t that many universities that take in endowments, and most that do are private universities. Endowments also come with strings attached so he couldn’t just take them and do what he wants with them. Finally taxing the endowments will just dry them up and I don’t see how taking more money out of education helps anyone.

It looks like education is now the next great threat to the MAGA paradise. The educated are coming! Be afraid! Be very afraid!

 

I'm pretty sure that just about every college and university has an endowment. UF's is about $2 billion. FSU's is about half that.

 

Knowledge has a liberal bias. That's why people like DeSantis are attacking it. And that's why Trump said 'I love the poorly educated'. And that's why dictatorships often persecute educated people.

 

Yeah, that's not happening.

Still waiting for the conservatives on this board to be "ra ra, 100% tax on endowments, ra ra." That's not happening and such a policy measure will not happen. And because it won't happen it's not authoritarian right guys? Failed attempts at authoritarianism are not authoritarianism.

Hypocrisy goes both ways guys. And right now, I'm not seeing any conservative posters here who are super excited about this. But I do see some far left posters who suddenly call raising taxes in one sector "Communism."

 

'Failed attempts at authoritarianism are not authoritarianism'? There you go with your tortured rationalizations again. Also, I believe they were referring to confiscating private property as communism, not taxation.

 

That's not my logic. That's @gator_lawyer 's logic. I remember he said that threatening Chick-Fil-A with policy that would restrict them from cities like Boston or Chicago was not authoritarianism because nothing actually happened. It was just hot air by a politician (apparently).

I believe Trump's words were a 100% tax on endowments towards universities with a specific policy. Is that Communism?

 

If by my logic you mean your complete misunderstanding of my logic, you're correct. My logic was that a politician making empty threats isn't authoritarianism. As much as I disagree with the threats, unless they follow it up with actual policy changes (or legitimate attempts at changing the policy), it's just pandering and political theater. Now that we've settled that, I'm out.

 

I said this won't happen and that makes this "not authoritarianism by gator_lawyer's logic."

You said I'm wrong, then you proceeded to agree with me.

My point is that this is political theater because it won't happen by your logic.

Now typically I would call this authoritarian "rhetoric," but that's not your standard.

 

Why would someone reasonable be a republican? What exactly is there to reasonably advocate for from their platform?

 

I didn't read whatever vacuous debate you're having. Your post didn't accurately sum up my point, so I clarified it. Whether that helps or hurts whatever silly argument you're making isn't something I care about. Enjoy your Friday.

 

Happy Cinco! Have a tequila for me. God bless.

 

Sure, a 100% tax on something is the same thing as confiscation, which would be communism. And that's your 2024 Republican nominee for president who is calling for it.

 

And you would agree Communism is bad?

 

Yeah, communism is bad.

 

By far and away, the following was the most frequently run political ad in the Tampa Bay area by Adam Putnam during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign. He wasn't incorrect that a college education isn't for everyone, but it was so odd his most common ad was anti-college. In retrospect, Adam was letting us know that a college education was becoming the enemy of the Republican party. Flash forward to 2023, we have DeSaster sabotaging the state's university system and Trump wanting to defund our colleges and universities.

 

I’ve seen / heard this argument over and over. That’s just Trump/Desantis being Trump/Desantis, it will never happen. Then it happens.

As to Desantis - people said he’d never pass a 6 week abortion bill. Until he did. I am sure there are other examples between the two of them.

It’s the “yawn” from people like you that is dangerous, because you don’t take him seriously. If two things can be taken from Trump:

1. He means what he says and will try to do what he says
2. Most republicans will fall in line with whatever he says.

Also the nature of conservatives is that is ALWAYS better to be on the right than the left, so these politicians keep tacking to the right, to the point that they are circling back towards the authoritarian left with their authoritarian right wing ideas.

And as always, no matter how outrageous the Trump proposal, including just outright seizing private wealth - there’s always the response “but the libs are worse”.

 

Just like the Taliban

 

Well yes but I’m talking about schools like Harvard that have endowments large enough to cover a significant portion of their annual budgets. Those are the endowments the republicans are talking about.