'Fascism speedrun': Trump's threats over campus protests ignite firestorm

Critics warned that Donald Trump's threat to punish colleges and universities for "illegal threats" was a sprint toward fascism.

The president vowed to strip federal funding from schools that allows such protests, which he did not define, and threatened to expel, arrest and even deport students who take part in those demonstrations, and other social media users were alarmed.

"All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests," Trump wrote. "Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter."

Trump's threats struck many as blatantly unconstitutional and undemocratic.

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"It's a fascism speedrun," said Rolling Stone politics reporter Nikki McCann Ramírez.

"Not for nothing but once again HE HAS NO LEGAL OR CONSTITUTIONAL ABILITY TO DO THIS," posted Seth Masket, a professor of political science and director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver.

"If you’re a professor in a classroom today & you don’t mention this, I believe you’re doing your students a profound disservice," said journalist and author Jeff Sharlet, who teaches writing at Dartmouth College. "This is targeted 1st at international students, but it’s deliberately broad enough to lay groundwork for a scene Trump & Hegseth have fantasized: troops on campus."

"Is it in his power to declare this? no," added activist Magatwe Wankuki. "Will universities use this as an excuse to further infringe on students' rights to protest? absolutely."

"If Trump or JD Vance or any of these hypocrites who claim to be free speech warriors actually believed in free speech, they would vociferously defend speech they hate, including pro-Palestine/anti-genocide speech. But they don't," wrote journalist and author Jeremy Scahill. "This has been the con from the start with that crowd."

"At some point the opposition needs to say what is happening here: Donald Trump is a tyrant in the full sense of the term, an American fascist dictator who believes the law flows directly from his command," added researcher Will Stancil. "And he is also a deeply unwell, unfit, and criminal man with nonsensical whims."

"Trump thinks anyone protesting must be from another country when the right and will to protest our own government is a foundational American value," wrote journalist Marisa Kabas.

"This would seem to run afoul of the First Amendment in several important ways," said Andrew Feinberg, White House correspondent for The Independent.

"I sincerely think that the 'attention to this matter' kicker is a function of his seeing his lawyers write that on letters for years and he thinks it makes it sound more legal-y," addedWashington Post columnist Philip Bump.