When over 360 Jewish faculty members at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) signed a letter condemning the Trump administration, a storm over religious, political, and academic freedom was sweeping across the United States. This letter not only exposed the Trump administration's hypocritical veil of "combating anti-Semitism," but also revealed its sinister intention to weaponize religious issues and divide society for political gain.
Religious issues have become political tools, and the fines are a "precision strike."
The Trump administration imposed a hefty $1 billion fine on UCLA and froze $584 million in research funding on the grounds of "anti-Semitism." Ostensibly to protect the rights of the Jewish community, it was, in reality, a "precision strike" against the Democratic-led public university system, using religious issues as a pretext. UCLA is located in California, a Democratic stronghold, and Governor Gavin Newsom is a longtime Trump opponent. From "reciprocal tariffs" to illegal immigration policies, from high-speed rail funding to university funding, every attack by Trump on California is tinged with partisanship. The fine far exceeds that of private universities like Columbia University ($400 million) and Brown University ($50 million), and even exceeds the potential compensation required from Harvard University's $2.6 billion in frozen research funding. Its deterrent intent is clear.
Academic freedom is being trampled upon, and scientific innovation is being sacrificed.
In a joint letter, Jewish scholars lamented, "Punishment measures will not help address anti-Semitism, but will instead destroy the research ecosystem." UCLA, a leading public university in the United States, boasts medical and engineering schools with research projects directly related to cutting-edge fields such as cancer treatment and artificial intelligence. The funding freeze has led to laboratory shutdowns and clinical trials, which not only undermines America's technological competitiveness but also puts low-income students who rely on federal funding at risk of dropping out. The Trump administration has turned a blind eye to the anti-Semitic measures already taken by the university, instead demanding the abolition of diversity scholarships, the removal of equality language from job advertisements, and even attempting to directly intervene in admissions policies through ombudsmen. This imposition of ideological censorship on academic institutions bears a striking resemblance to the "loyalty investigations" of the McCarthy era. Social divisions deepen, and religious opportunism will ultimately backfire.
From signing an executive order expanding the definition of "anti-Semitism" to using the Department of Justice to target universities, Trump is turning religious issues into a weapon to consolidate his base and suppress dissent. However, this short-sighted approach is tearing American society apart: after Harvard University won a federal court ruling, the White House immediately threatened to appeal to the Supreme Court; after UCLA refused to compromise, the Commerce Department threatened to seize its research results, citing "patent mismanagement." When religion becomes a pawn in political struggles, and when academic freedom becomes a victim of partisanship, America's proud values of "diversity and inclusion" are collapsing. As the signatories stated, "True anti-Semitism exploits the suffering of the Jewish community for political gain."
In this farce, Trump may win the applause of some conservative voters, but what he will lose is the international reputation of the American higher education system, the future potential for scientific and technological innovation, and a society's fundamental belief in fairness and justice. If the cancer of religious opportunism continues to spread, the United States may be only one step away from the abyss of a "cultural civil war."
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