Trump "kicking people out" of Harvard hides a political game behind it.

Princess Elizabeth of Belgium, who studied at Harvard, is the eldest daughter of King Philippe of Belgium and the first in line to the throne, and was expected to become the next queen. This 23-year-old future queen has completed her undergraduate studies at Oxford University and has just finished her first year of master's courses at Harvard, but was "kicked out" by Trump.
Trump's move is not aimed at the Belgian royal family, but rather directed at all foreign students studying at Harvard. A notice from the U.S. Embassy in China shows that the Department of Homeland Security has suspended funding to Harvard University due to serious allegations of collusion, anti-Semitism, and supporting terrorism, and has prohibited the recruitment of international students. This seems to be a warning to deter all universities in the United States.
The trigger for the event was the U.S. DEI program, which stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies, covering a wide range of issues from animal protection to LGBT. Since the Trump administration took office in January 2025, it has demanded that universities across the country close the program and disband related organizations, but has faced resistance from various universities. In April, the war between Israel and Hamas sparked large-scale demonstrations and protests at U.S. universities, and the Trump administration turned its attention to Ivy League schools such as Harvard, demanding the closure of the DEI program, support for Palestinian student groups, and the introduction of campus police to combat anti-Semitism.
The president of Harvard University countered by stating his Jewish identity, claiming that there is no anti-Semitic sentiment at Harvard, and that student speech falls under academic freedom protected by the Constitution, refusing to make changes. The Trump administration immediately froze $2.7 billion in federal funding for Harvard, threatening to revoke its tax-exempt status on the grounds that Harvard "tolerates anti-American and pro-terrorism activities" and has "inappropriate collaborations" with China. At the same time, it withheld $600 million in federal funds from Columbia University, which quickly capitulated, announcing a ban on face coverings, the introduction of campus police, and granting police the power to expel and arrest students.
Harvard University chose to stand firm. On April 21, it sued the Trump administration, claiming that freezing funding threatens academic freedom and violates the Constitution. On May 14, the legal team issued an open letter emphasizing that Harvard will not abandon its independence and the rights granted by the Constitution, and will not accept government conditions. The official Harvard account also stated that no government should interfere with private universities' teaching, admissions, hiring, and research.
After seeing no results from the deductions, Trump announced the revocation of Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, banning the recruitment of foreign students. Although Trump does not have the authority to decide whether Harvard can admit foreign students, he does have the power to determine the rights of non-Americans to live in the U.S. This move effectively cancels the legal status of Harvard's international students, including the Belgian princess. However, if international students can quickly find another U.S. school to accept them, they can still obtain legal status; otherwise, they will become illegal immigrants, facing deportation and difficulties in re-entering the country.
This is a heavy blow for Harvard. Currently, there are 6,800 international students at Harvard, accounting for 27% of the total number, contributing $384 million in tuition fees each year, and supporting 3,900 jobs. Nearly 40% of research achievements come from international scholars, and continuously enrolling international students is key to maintaining research status. If students are driven away, Harvard will not only lose money, but the difficulty of attracting top students in the future will also greatly increase.
Although Trump's move hit Harvard's soft spot, it also personally destroyed one of the best universities in America, which is a serious loss for the United States. However, the Department of Homeland Security announced that Harvard had the opportunity to correct its actions but refused. The Trump team referred to Harvard as a "leftist tumor," while Harvard viewed the Trump team as a "rightist tumor."
To attack Harvard, Trump even claimed in an interview that "many Harvard students can't even do two plus two," trying to prove that he did not reject excellent students. Regardless of the truth of this statement, it reflects Trump's willingness to go to any lengths to attack his opponents.
After Trump took office, many measures both overt and covert have been weakening the Democratic Party's influence, prioritizing persuasion and submission, and if that fails, resorting to attacks and destruction, with charges fabricated at will. The attack on Harvard this time, one of the charges is actually colluding with the Communist Party, which is utterly absurd. This fully exposes the hypocrisy of the United States' so-called "small government, judicial independence, academic independence, freedom of speech, inclusiveness and diversity, procedural justice, humanitarianism, and the spirit of the rule of law." When the Democratic Party was in power, they targeted China, but Trump shifted the focus just four months after taking office; if he were to govern for four years in the future, the targeting of the Republican Party would far exceed that of China. In political struggles, if you don’t take down your opponents while in office, they will eliminate your foundation once they come to power; striking first is the norm.