Trump's attacks on universities get darker, with shadows reaching our shores

Academic brain drain and university targeting

• Commenters highlight prominent Yale historians of fascism leaving for Canada and European initiatives to recruit “censored” American researchers as evidence of a real-time brain drain.
• Some see loss of liberal arts faculty as an intended feature of current policy, with concern that once engineers, scientists, and pharma researchers follow, US scientific leadership will erode.
• Multiple posts describe the university crackdown and “DEI word” purges (including terms like “woman,” “diversity,” “inclusion”) as a frontal assault on academic freedom and First Amendment norms.

Authoritarian drift and fascism analogies

• Many frame current moves (criminalizing dissent, targeting critics, loyalty-first appointments, expanded executive power) as textbook authoritarianism, explicitly comparing the US trajectory to Russia, Hungary (Orbán), Turkey (Erdoğan), Israel, and Venezuela under Chávez.
• Some argue this is the “end of American empire” and a McCarthy-level era of thoughtcrime; others say US politics had already normalized lawfare and institutional capture under the previous administration, but are countered as drawing false equivalence.
• A minority insists fears are exaggerated or partisan; another group says the key difference is one side attempted to overturn an election.

Canada, annexation, and alliance instability

• A long subthread debates Trump’s reported “51st state” / Canada annexation talk.
• Some see economic and strategic logic (resources, climate, contiguity) and note Canada’s weak military; others call the idea absurd given deep social, military, and familial ties.
• There is speculation that pressure could start with a friendly province like Alberta, and concern about US withdrawal from NATO and need for a US-free Western alliance.

Non-citizens, detention, and due process

• Detention and deportation of critical foreign students and residents—sometimes acknowledged as “errors”—are seen as tests of a doctrine that constitutional protections don’t apply to non‑citizens.
• Several warn that once due process is removed for one category, it can be extended to naturalized and then native-born citizens, especially if courts refuse to check executive power.

Media, culture war, and polarization

• One side fears a monoculture controlled by federal agencies, social media, NGOs, and universities; another points to Fox News, X, and conservative government dominance as evidence this persecution narrative is overstated.
• The Hunter Biden laptop saga is debated in detail: some see it as proof of coordinated suppression; others emphasize lack of coercion and note parallel Republican takedown requests.
• Multiple users stress that many Americans are not alarmed: they welcome the “overthrow” of Hollywood, NPR, and liberal institutions, prioritizing punishment of perceived enemies over material self-interest.

Prospects for resistance

• Commenters discuss protests, defending the Constitution, and scheduled national demonstrations; others are pessimistic, citing public apathy, partisan courts, and a growing appetite for a “king” figure.
• Civil war is widely dismissed as unlikely; a “slow authoritarian slide” with escalating repression and counter-radicalization is seen as more plausible.