I don't know whether to believe this was really a mistake - indicating internal disagreement within the government - or just the go-to excuse they seem to give whenever something receives...
I don't know whether to believe this was really a mistake - indicating internal disagreement within the government - or just the go-to excuse they seem to give whenever something receives pushback. Perhaps both?
Feels the the Narcissist's Prayer. It's looking like the White House won't be successful in bullying Harvard, at least not anytime soon, so they're distancing Trump from the outcome. We're at the...
Feels the the Narcissist's Prayer. It's looking like the White House won't be successful in bullying Harvard, at least not anytime soon, so they're distancing Trump from the outcome. We're at the "it's not my fault" phase.
Note how they still stand by the contents of the letter, the mistake was just making it public, and the demands remain.
The letter “was signed by three federal officials, placed on official letterhead, was sent from the email inbox of a senior federal official and was sent on April 11 as promised,” Harvard said in a statement on Friday. “Recipients of such correspondence from the U.S. government — even when it contains sweeping demands that are astonishing in their overreach — do not question its authenticity or seriousness.”
Still, Ms. Mailman said, there is a potential pathway to resume discussions if the university, among other measures, follows through on what Mr. Trump wants and apologizes to its students for fostering a campus where there was antisemitism.
It's a "mistake" in the same way deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a "mistake." The mistake is the attention it's receiving. They still stand by the action/intent.
Right. And at the same time, it seems like they want these actions to receive attention, which also fits the narcissism pattern as the greatest possible insult to a narcissist is to ignore him....
The mistake is the attention it's receiving.
Right. And at the same time, it seems like they want these actions to receive attention, which also fits the narcissism pattern as the greatest possible insult to a narcissist is to ignore him.
Maybe it works similar to dog whistles. They want the attention to reach out to their supporters, but they also have to do some fake backpedaling to pretend they aren't the baddies.
Maybe it works similar to dog whistles. They want the attention to reach out to their supporters, but they also have to do some fake backpedaling to pretend they aren't the baddies.
It's more like they wanted to boil the frog, but this Administration have proven to be both impatient and incompetent. They stand by the demands, but probably intended to slow walk them and get...
It's more like they wanted to boil the frog, but this Administration have proven to be both impatient and incompetent.
They stand by the demands, but probably intended to slow walk them and get Harvard and co to slip down the slope with small concessions. The mistake was officially demanding everything all at once. This has created a very public splash and now other Universities are banding together to fight the administration [0]. So not only are they not getting what they wanted, they incited firm opposition against their demands, and now have to fight for it in the public eye.
Similarly, that's what happened with the deportations. They had an opportunity to boil the frog, all they had to do is slow their roll and walk through the door the Supreme Court left them in their 9-0 opinion (at least pretend to try to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US). Not only did they dig in against it, they ramped up. They're more aggressively going after students on visas [1], people with green cards [2], "simply floating" the idea of deporting our most "heinous" criminals with citizenship [3], making immigrants "financially dead" [4]... etc (there's certainly more, like ICE grabbing children off the street, grabbing people they know they weren't sent for, etc etc, but this was meant to be a comment and not an essay - I leave that as an exercise for the reader). Not to mention the absolutely appalling rhetoric/propaganda/childishness that's come out of the White House regarding Garcia [5]. It's such an affront to common decency, sense, and the Court that they cannot turn a blind eye to it.
True. I also saw a theory that the letter was meant to be sent later on, after the university would have first caved in to some more mild demands. In that case it was a lucky mistake as the letter...
True. I also saw a theory that the letter was meant to be sent later on, after the university would have first caved in to some more mild demands. In that case it was a lucky mistake as the letter quite effectively concluded negotiations!
I shared a gift link in this previous thread. https://tildes.net/~society/1ndp/harvard_hit_with_2_2_billion_funding_freeze_after_rejecting_us_president_donald_trumps_demands#comment-fe0b
Oh, I didn't realise the link had been posted in there. Is it possible to get this topic merged into that one to keep all conversation in the same place?
Oh, I didn't realise the link had been posted in there. Is it possible to get this topic merged into that one to keep all conversation in the same place?
I don't know whether to believe this was really a mistake - indicating internal disagreement within the government - or just the go-to excuse they seem to give whenever something receives pushback. Perhaps both?
Feels the the Narcissist's Prayer. It's looking like the White House won't be successful in bullying Harvard, at least not anytime soon, so they're distancing Trump from the outcome. We're at the "it's not my fault" phase.
Note how they still stand by the contents of the letter, the mistake was just making it public, and the demands remain.
It's a "mistake" in the same way deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a "mistake." The mistake is the attention it's receiving. They still stand by the action/intent.
Right. And at the same time, it seems like they want these actions to receive attention, which also fits the narcissism pattern as the greatest possible insult to a narcissist is to ignore him.
It's definitely interesting to watch.
Maybe it works similar to dog whistles. They want the attention to reach out to their supporters, but they also have to do some fake backpedaling to pretend they aren't the baddies.
It's more like they wanted to boil the frog, but this Administration have proven to be both impatient and incompetent.
They stand by the demands, but probably intended to slow walk them and get Harvard and co to slip down the slope with small concessions. The mistake was officially demanding everything all at once. This has created a very public splash and now other Universities are banding together to fight the administration [0]. So not only are they not getting what they wanted, they incited firm opposition against their demands, and now have to fight for it in the public eye.
Similarly, that's what happened with the deportations. They had an opportunity to boil the frog, all they had to do is slow their roll and walk through the door the Supreme Court left them in their 9-0 opinion (at least pretend to try to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US). Not only did they dig in against it, they ramped up. They're more aggressively going after students on visas [1], people with green cards [2], "simply floating" the idea of deporting our most "heinous" criminals with citizenship [3], making immigrants "financially dead" [4]... etc (there's certainly more, like ICE grabbing children off the street, grabbing people they know they weren't sent for, etc etc, but this was meant to be a comment and not an essay - I leave that as an exercise for the reader). Not to mention the absolutely appalling rhetoric/propaganda/childishness that's come out of the White House regarding Garcia [5]. It's such an affront to common decency, sense, and the Court that they cannot turn a blind eye to it.
[0] https://www.yahoo.com/news/harvard-resistance-trump-igniting-broader-095522091.html
[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/18/us-revokes-nearly-1500-student-visas-who-are-the-targets
[2] https://www.npr.org/2025/04/01/nx-s1-5339698/green-card-holders-detained-border-crackdown
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs32oUJPXWU
[4] https://apnews.com/article/living-immigrants-dead-social-security-numbers-trump-c10737cbe36e3108fb244a555777d880
[5] https://xcancel.com/WhiteHouse/status/1913241658579440126#m
True. I also saw a theory that the letter was meant to be sent later on, after the university would have first caved in to some more mild demands. In that case it was a lucky mistake as the letter quite effectively concluded negotiations!
I was able to access the article using Safari reader view.
I shared a gift link in this previous thread.
https://tildes.net/~society/1ndp/harvard_hit_with_2_2_billion_funding_freeze_after_rejecting_us_president_donald_trumps_demands#comment-fe0b
Oh, I didn't realise the link had been posted in there. Is it possible to get this topic merged into that one to keep all conversation in the same place?
Not really, just is what it is, no worries!