This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.

I'm your host, Greg Sargent.

Harvard University has decided that enough is enough.

In a striking announcement, Harvard declared that it will not capitulate to Donald Trump's bullying, and openly refused Trump's command

that it bend to his will in numerous ways. Naturally, this infuriated Trump. He erupted on

truth social like a petty little tin pot dictator, raging that Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status.

If there's some way out of this disastrous mess

we're in right now, it partly involves major institutions refusing to buckle to Trump, which could,

if we're lucky, result in more institutions following suit and a real united front of resistance

coming together. So what are the prospects for that happening?

Today we're discussing all of this with one of the smartest commentators out there on free speech

issues, Jonathan Friedman, the managing director of the Free Expression Program at Penn America.

John, thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me, Greg.

Let's start with what Trump initially demanded of Harvard.

This included things like reporting foreign students for alleged violations, bringing in an outside

party to ensure supposed diversity of viewpoints, and reducing the power of students and faculty

over the university in various ways. Harvard said, no, we're not doing it.

John, what exactly is the Trump administration demanding here? I mean, I think the president

of Harvard called it an effort to control the intellectual conditions of the university,

and that seems exactly right. I don't think anyone has seen the federal

government in this country try to exert this kind of control over a private institution of any kind,

demanding that they want to say how different bodies in the institution should play a role in

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