“Stop disgracefully weaponizing antisemitism to attack universities,” New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer told US President Donald Trump in a post to his social media accounts on Thursday, the day Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Schumer, the Senate minority leader, added that he was standing with fellow Jewish Democratic senators in his call for the Trump administration to cease its current policy. The post came shortly after he and four democrats – Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Adam Schiff of California, and Brian Schatz of Hawaii – sent a letter to the president regarding the subject.
“[Trump’s] failing to address the real problem of antisemitism—instead using this crisis as a pretext to attack those who disagree,” he wrote.
Earlier in the day, the New York Times obtained the letter, which reportedly demands detailed explanations from President Trump about his administration’s decision to terminate federal funding to institutions including Harvard University.
Schumer and the other signatories said they were disturbed by Trump’s “broad and extralegal attacks against universities and higher education institutions as well as members of their communities.”
The moves “seem to go far beyond combating antisemitism, using what is a real crisis as a pretext to attack people and institutions who do not agree with you,” the letter added, according to NYT.
The senators’ letter claimed the Trump administration is “undermining or even destroying these vital institutions while hiding behind claims of tackling antisemitism as a guise” and laid out eight questions for Trump to respond to by April 30, the NYT added.
This comes shortly after Harvard sued the Trump administration for moving to freeze $2 billion in federal funding to the prestigious school. The university’s president, Alan Garber, told NBC that Harvard had “no choice” but to fight back against the Trump administration. He noted that he was unsure if Harvard could win the suit, but that “the stakes are so high that we have no choice.”
Also on Thursday, Trump called Harvard “an antisemitic, far-left institution” in a Truth Social post. “The place is a liberal mess, allowing a certain group of crazed lunatics to enter and exit the classroom and spew fake anger and hate.”
Trump has previously made derogatory comments about Schumer, and on more than one occasion called him “a Palestinian.”
“Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian,” Trump said in March.
Schumer himself recently published a book called “Antisemitism in America: A Warning.”
Jesus Christ is King
