FO° Exclusive: Trump Attacks Harvard as ICE Raids Continue in Los Angeles

In this episode of FO° Exclusive, Fair Observer Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh and retired CIA Officer Glenn Carle examine the collapse of US political norms, focusing on legal and cultural assaults on immigration law and institutions like Harvard University. They trace these events to deeper ideological efforts to reshape American governance and society. The result, they argue, is a systemic crisis that challenges democracy itself.

Check out our comment feature!

Fair Observer Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh and retired CIA Officer Glenn Carle open this section of their discussion with signs of American institutional decline: a muted presidential parade, unrest in Los Angeles and a growing perception that the United States now mirrors unstable developing nations. Atul laments the collapse of the principles that once defined America — rule of law, stable institutions and merit-based leadership. He warns that ideological extremism has replaced civic norms, with “totalitarians on the left and authoritarians on the right” dominating discourse and weakening the national center.

A focal point of this erosion is Harvard University, long a symbol of American soft power. Atul states that a legal battle now prevents the university, with its $53 billion endowment and large population of elite foreign students, from admitting any more international students. He sees this as part of a broader crackdown, including a sweeping immigration campaign that Donald Trump has pushed. Under this campaign, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carries out what is described as the largest mass deportation program in US history. It regularly ignores due process and answers protests with military deployments — a rare escalation in US domestic affairs.

Revolutionary shifts in governance and power

Glenn contextualizes these developments as more than political turbulence. They are, in his view, signs of a systemic revolution. He argues the US faces its most profound crisis since 1861, but unlike the American Civil War, today’s upheaval directly targets foundational institutions. At the heart of this shift are two radical ideological projects: Project 2025, which seeks to shrink the federal government to just border control and defense, and the theory of the unitary executive, which would grant the president unchecked authority, modeled after authoritarian regimes like China’s.

Glenn calls the theory “literally revolutionary in intent” and traces its intellectual roots to Carl Schmitt, a legal philosopher who served Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime during World War II. These ideas, he warns, are not theoretical — they’re being translated into policy. The federal deployment of Marines and National Guard troops to California, despite no declared emergency, marks a dangerous centralization of military authority. These actions represent to Glenn a conscious attack on the current American order, aiming to reshape governance, dismantle the post-New Deal consensus and exclude multicultural voices from cultural and political power.

Cultural crisis, social fragmentation and the decline of discourse

Atul and Glenn identify cultural and economic undercurrents fueling this crisis. Atul acknowledges that elite institutions like Harvard are not above criticism — he condemns their chilling effect on speech and the regulatory capture that shields large corporations. But he insists that these problems stem from deeper societal fault lines: a gutted working class, a crisis of affordability in education and housing and a collapsing media ecosystem. The ratio of journalists to public relations professionals has gone from 1:2 in 1998 to 1:10 today, turning political debate into constant spin and leaving voters uninformed.

Glenn underscores the racial and cultural dimensions of this upheaval. He describes a white male elite unwilling to accept the demographic and cultural evolution of America, lashing out to preserve dominance. Harvard, in this context, becomes a symbolic enemy — a stand-in for everything multicultural, intellectual and global. The result, he warns, is a paradigm shift in what is considered normal or acceptable in American society. Glenn reflects on French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville’s warning: When every voice carries equal weight but lacks authority or knowledge, democracy devolves into chaos and the tyranny of the majority takes hold.

[Lee Thompson-Kolar edited this piece.]

The views expressed in this article/video are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.

Comment

0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

FO° Exclusive: Trump Attacks Harvard as ICE Raids Continue in Los Angeles

August 02, 2025

FO° Talks: Why Is India’s Economy Slowing Down?

July 17, 2025

FO° Talks: Did Russia Recruit Donald Trump as a Spy? Former CIA Officer Reveals

July 13, 2025

FO° Talks: Denuclearization or Regime Change: Why Did Israel Strike Iran?

July 12, 2025

FO° Talks: Israel Strikes Iran. Tehran Hits Back. What Now?

July 11, 2025

FO° Talks: From MAGA to Gaza: How Trump Changed US–Israel Relations Forever

July 10, 2025

Eastminster and Vice-Regalism: How the British Empire Still Shapes Former Colonies

July 09, 2025

FO° Talks: Meet Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, Prince of Udaipur

FO° Exclusive: What Will the Middle East Look Like if Iran’s Islamic Regime Falls?

July 04, 2025

FO° Talks: Taking Stock of the DeepSeek Revolution, with Sanjay Mittal

June 25, 2025

FO° Talks: The Case for a Responsible Right in the US

June 20, 2025

FO° Talks: The Culture of Culture, Part 4: The Sacred Origins of Music

June 15, 2025

FO° Talks: The New Strategic Landscape in India–Pakistan Relations

June 12, 2025

FO° Live: Make Sense of the Houthis and Civil War in Yemen

FO° Exclusive: Hunger Now Strikes Gaza and Big Crisis Brews in Israel

June 04, 2025

FO° Exclusive: US Budget and US–China Tariff Deal Unleash New Economic Uncertainty

June 02, 2025

FO° Talks: US–Israeli Relations Explained, Part 3: Shifting Coalitions

May 31, 2025

FO° Talks: US–Israeli Relations Explained, Part 2: Consequences of the Six-Day War

May 29, 2025

FO° Talks: US–Israeli Relations Explained, Part 1: Post-World War II

May 27, 2025

FO° Talks: Islamist Terrorist Attack Triggers New India–Pakistan Tensions

May 21, 2025

 

Fair Observer, 461 Harbor Blvd, Belmont, CA 94002, USA