OpEd: Spoiled Easter eggs in Trumps version of the constitution

By Emil Amok Guillermo

Whatever your spiritual or religious bent, celebrating Easter, Passover, or 4-20, it’s Springtime, time for renewal and just 10 days short of Donald Trump’s first 100 days.

That’s not a cause for celebration, necessarily. But it’s worth pointing out some Asian American notes in some of Trump’s recent actions.

Remember that whole affirmative action fight at Harvard that ended the practice of using race in admissions in higher ed? The conservative zealots used Asian Americans as their poster children, the “victims” of a system they claimed was rigged. We were the convenient minority then. (The “model;? Bite your tongue).

But it was never really about us, was it? Asians with perfect scores and straight A’s are still rejected routinely.

We were just the pawns.

Now, if that wasn’t enough the Trump administration is pulling the same move in attacking Harvard yet again. But this time it’s not about Asian Americans anymore. They’ve moved on to their next “perfect victims”: Jewish people.

Suddenly, reigning in Harvard is all about fighting anti-Semitism. And who’s gonna be against that? It’s the perfect moral shield, right?

Sure, Harvard was not as forthright in addressing anti-Semitism after 10-7.

But don’t be fooled. This isn’t about protecting anyone’s rights. It’s about taking them away. It’s Trumpian fake outrage against a perceived anti-Semitism, and it’s being used as a cover to grab control of Harvard, and potentially any other institution of higher learning that doesn’t kiss the ring.

If you haven’t caught Trump’s bent, he wants to dictate everything – academic freedom, what gets taught, who gets admitted, who gets hired, even student protests.

And why stop with higher ed?

It’s another Trumpian power play, the same that was used to make several Big Law firms give up tens of millions of pro-bono work, normally reserved for the indigent, to represent Trump and his causes.

The president is using his bullying skills to lawyer up.

One by one, he’s going after prominent institutions in America. And for Harvard, he’s actually being antisemitic in claiming antisemitism.

Antisemitism is a scourge. No decent person is going to defend it. But to exploit the fight against it, to weaponize it for this kind of political takeover? That’s lower than low.  But that’s the Trump playbook.

He doesn’t want universities to be places of critical thinking, of debate, of pushing boundaries. He wants them to be his reborn Trump University – remember that? While not admitting any wrongdoing, he agreed to a $25 million dollar settlement following claims from students the university made failed promises to teach them real estate.

TRUMP’S TAKING A BAT TO THE CONSTITUTION 

A new twist came this weekend that exposed the haphazardness of Trump’s style. The New York Times reported that the letter that made demands of Harvard wasn’t even authorized to be released. It was sent by mistake.

Like deporting an innocent man by mistake?

Last week, Trump raised the stakes in that case of the Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, mistakenly deported to a notorious Salvadoran prison. There had been no hearing where any evidence of criminality could be presented. A district judge ordered the government to “facilitate” his return. And because Garcia’s due process rights had been denied, the Supreme Court backed the district judge unanimously.

But Trump isn’t budging and insists Abrego Garcia will never be returned to the U.S. He’s  even raised the stakes saying publicly he wants to send “homegrown” criminals–U.S. citizens–to his dream of an American Gulag he’s outsourcing to El Salvador.

Whenever Trump is asked to elaborate, he always mentions his targets are bad people who among other things, attack people  “with a baseball bat.”

That’s always a triggering phrase to Asian Americans who recall Vincent Chin, the Chinese American killed in June 1982 in a Detroit suburb. (See my column)

Chin was killed by Ronald Ebens, who used a baseball bat, a Jackie Robinson signature model. There appear to be a lot of bat killers out there. One last January was a white nationalist.

So, Trump wants to send U.S. citizens now to El Salvador, a violation of the Constitution’s 8th Amendment against “cruel and unusual” punishment?

He’s already going after Birthright citizenship, the first line of the Fourteenth Amendment, that has been upheld by the Wong Kim Ark case.

And the Harvard case is really a matter of the First Amendment, with Asian American notes.

The pattern is clear this Easter time. Put aside the Bible and renew your familiarity with the Constitution.

These first 100 days, the man who took an oath to defend it, is doing all he can to rip it into political confetti.

No one should be cheering him on.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist and commentator. He has written a weekly column on Asian America since 1995. Watch his “Emil Amok’s Takeout/What Does an Asian American Think?” on YouTube.com/@emilamok1