President Donald Trump's MAGA base melted down Wednesday as the president was dealt another loss in court.
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration unlawfully withheld more than $2 billion in funding for Harvard. The judge said in her order that the administration decided to withhold the funds after the university refused to capitulate to its campus antisemitism policy reforms. The order also prohibits the Trump administration from withholding future funding for the university.
Trump's MAGA base was not pleased with the order.
"Call it like it is: IT’S A COUP," Eric Daugherty, news director of the conservative outlet Florida's Voice News, posted on X.
"So essentially, US taxpayers are being forced to subsidize woke indoctrination camps to the tune of billions," Nick Sortor posted on X. "START. IMPEACHING. JUDGES!"
"Escalate!" Shabbos Kestenbaum political commentator with the conservative education organization PragerU, urged the Trump administration in a post on X. "Appeal all the way to the Supreme Court. No more bailouts for billionaires."
"When do we get to call this what it is, a judicial coup!" Gunther Eagleman posted on X. "It must be stopped!"
Other Republicans celebrated the order, although it is likely to be appealed.
"The government is engaging in extreme and unconstitutional coercion in violation of the First Amendment," Republican ethics lawyer Richard Painter posted on X.
"I’m glad the university held fast rather than buckling under to the bully," Walter Olson, law writer at the Cato Institute, wrote on Bluesky.
"Our government may not use civil rights laws as a pretext to violate the First Amendment," free speech advocacy organization FIRE posted on X.