A Case Study in Control: Trump, Universities, and the Authoritarian Strategy

This study highlights how Donald Trump’s first six months back in office have showcased an aggressive executive attack on academic freedom, an attack that bears the hallmarks of an illiberal regime. Drawing on executive orders, legislation and media reports from January 20, 2025, until July 20 2025, our analysis situates Donald Trump’s actions against academia alongside an existing pattern of authoritarian strategies. This analysis, which is organized around three central hypotheses—that the administration is defunding and restricting academic programs, is actively centralizing university governance, and is targeting dissenting scholars and research—showcases that the Trump administration’s actions at the beginning of its second term greatly mirror those used by past and contemporary authoritarian or autocratizing regimes. Our analyses pinpoints that American academia is continuously being reshaped into an ideologically compliant institution through executive pressures and coercion. Thus, our study highlights how academia can serve as both a site and a signal of democratic erosion in the United States.