ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In a display of academic clairvoyance, University of Michigan (U-M) faculty recently convened a teach-in to prognosticate the myriad of ways President Trump’s administration might upend their scholarly sanctuary. In front of approximately 300 students and with the foresight of Nostradamus armed with a syllabus, these educators examined looming threats to democracy, education, and the core of their institution.
The teach-in was divided into three panels: executive power and the rule of law, the role of tech moguls in government and the Republican Party’s fear of the president.
Executive orders are different under Trump.
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According to the Michigan Daily, the university’s independent student-run newspaper, the first panel kicked off with Kenneth Lowande, associate professor of political science and faculty associate at the Center for Political Studies, who said that Trump’s executive orders are unlike any in the past. He told the crowd, “The first difference is that political wins for the Trump administration are the first and most important objective.” He also explained how the volume and pace of them are to make Americans think that the president can do anything.
All about Elon.
The second panel – the role of tech moguls in government – was, not surprisingly, all about Elon Musk. Salomé Viljoen, associate professor of law, added to the fear mongering, currently being done by Democrats all over the country regarding Musk’s leadership role in the elimination of waste, fraud and abuse. She said, “DOGE associates have accessed the U.S. Treasury computer system. The Treasury department systems contain basically the technical blueprints for how the federal government moves money. I have to emphasize here, this is basically all U.S. government payments. They have access to the bank account information of anyone who pays U.S. taxes; they have social security numbers for everyone.”
She went on to say, “We have inexperienced operators, almost all of which seem to be lacking the appropriate vetting and security clearance and working with minimal oversight. They’re gaining the highest levels of administrative access, and they’re making changes to the United States’ most sensitive networks, and potentially everywhere that they’re doing this, introducing new security vulnerabilities in the process.”
Republicans aren’t pushing back against Trump like they did during his first term.
Charlotte Cavaillé, assistant professor of public policy, spoke during the third panel and said that Congressional Republicans aren’t challenging Trump because they don’t want to lose votes. She said, “Members of the Republican Party fear that if the policies they’re associated with affect people who vote Republican, it’s going to potentially come back to bite a bunch of members of the Republican Party in many districts.”
Rob Mickey, associate professor of political science added that the GOP needs to start to appeal to moderates, ignoring his own party’s embrace of extreme progressivism which led to Trump’s presidential win in the first place.
As the University of Michigan faculty braces for the so-called Trumpocalypse, it looks like academia’s version of a survival bunker involves panels, hand-wringing, and dire predictions. If history is any guide, they’ll spend the next four years during Trump’s presidency continually sounding the alarm while conveniently ignoring the fact that their own ideological echo chamber helped create the very political climate they now fear.
