rump is battling elite universities—and winning( comprehensive analysis of a historic battle as Western civilization is undergoing an attempted restructuring)

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

Also: Europe is now the actual land of the free

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April 14th 2025

The Economist today The best of our journalism, handpicked each day

Roger McShane US digital editor

Taxpayers have long funded scientific research at elite universities and provided grants for poor students. In return, these universities did world-changing research. That deal has fuelled American military and economic power. It has contributed to almost every technological leap, from the internet to mRNA vaccines. It has made America a magnet for talented, ambitious people. And it is now being rewritten by Donald Trump. Europe is not as innovative as America. It has relatively few trillion-dollar enterprises. On the other hand, it has no tech executives boasting on social media of feeding bits of the state “into the wood chipper”. Our Charlemagne columnist explains why Europe these days looks like a better exemplar of American values than America does.

Besieging the ivory tower Donald Trump is battling America’s elite universities—and winning The Ivy League sees little point in fighting the federal government in court

Related → MAGA’s remaking of universities could have dire consequences → Why can’t stinking rich Ivies cope with losing a few hundred million?

When it rains Short-term pain will lead to long-term gain, says Trump. Really? America will be a country with shabbier roads, older airports and more dated factories

Related → A flight from the dollar could wreck America’s budget

Charlemagne The thing about Europe: it’s the actual land of the free now Europe’s very real problems don’t look so bad by comparison

Start your free trial today Get digital access to independent global analysis Subscribe

23rd time lucky Javier Milei’s big move to normalise Argentina’s economy A gob of IMF cash will help partially float the peso, but political and market risks abound

Bartleby Biohacking in the office One company’s experiment with enhancing its workforce

Burn the tapes DOGE is coming for American officials’ magnetic tape But more modern methods of data storage are not necessarily better

A sticky situation Japan faces a reckoning over rice A crisis over its staple reveals cracks in the country’s food system

Parallel logic Nvidia and Jensen Huang are a study in contradictions What makes them tick?

Mobbed Feral “Minecraft Movie” fans spark irritation—and optimism These days it is unusual to see a crowd of teenagers at the cinema

Podcast

The Intelligence The slaughter in Sumy shows how Putin is dragging out the war Also on the daily podcast: Europe wants America’s fleeing scientists and a history of Britain’s consumer-price goods-basket

Figure of the day

13m, the number of talented young people Canada might attract on net if global barriers to movement were lifted and graduates were free to go where they pleased. Read the full story.

Most read by subscribers

→ Which countries would benefit most from an American brain drain? → A flight from the dollar could wreck America’s finances → Investors realise Trump’s pause was not the salvation it appeared → Lessons from the happiest countries in the world

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