Trump’s war with the woke university system is just beginning, and while some colleges are looking to fight back, others are thinking about doing a little “Art of the Deal” to curry favor with The Donald, On The Money has learned.
Trump wants massive cultural changes at the nation’s top colleges. No more protests celebrating the Oct. 7 massacre of innocent Israelis. More western civ and fewer courses depicting America as the great Satan. He wants to squeeze the colleges financially to get his way.
Wall Street executives who work with endowments are talking about different ways their clients can soften the blow of likely cuts in federal funds, stiff new taxes on endowments, and a possible loss of the schools’ tax-exempt status, which would throttle donations from alumni since they couldn’t write them off, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
While Harvard is fighting back, praying the courts can lend a hand and restore funding, colleges are also hiring lobbyists to scour Capitol Hill and convince lawmakers that they aren’t that woke and shouldn’t be paying for the sins of Harvard or say Columbia. They’re also arguing that withholding federal aid will likely impact the sciences, not the woke gender studies departments, and thus curtail crucial medical research.
Another avenue being discussed is to possibly get on Trump’s good side and get him to back off his assault by appealing to his well-honed instincts as a deal maker.
Trump the businessman is the reason his name is on some many buildings in NYC and around the world. He loves to do deals. and some colleges might just cut him in on a little side hustle they’ve developed in recent years, my sources say.
It involves using federal grants to create patents that ultimately lead partnerships and business with venture capital firms. Money is made if they create useful products — drugs, computer chips, AI whatever — that can be sold to the public, On The Money has learned. The idea to give the Trump White House a piece of the action in the form of government ownership stakes in whatever business comes out of the federally funded research.
To be sure, this idea is far from being fleshed out, though it is in the discussion phase by people on Wall Street involved in the endowment racket. Plus, who knows how amenable the White House might be to such a deal. But knowing Trump, getting him interested might not be so far-fetched. Even as president, he has businesses under his name being led by his son and outside advisers, including golf courses, country clubs, and most recently crypto.
He wouldn’t personally be making money in this scenario but the country would. The idea would be to give the US government warrants in the early stage companies that colleges own with their VC partners. The federal budget can benefit when companies are sold or converted into public shares.
“Trump has spoken about a US sovereign wealth fund that makes investments in various things,” said one investor with knowledge of the matter. “This would be a perfect holding.”
And he has the perfect people to begin crafting the plans. Michael Grimes was among the elite Wall Street dealmakers involved in tech, and he now works the Trump White House helping former Cantor Fitzgerald chief and now Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attract more investment for domestic manufacturing (A Commerce spokesman declined comment).
Again, a lot of talk here and very little in the way of real dealmaking. I should point out that except for some of the elite universities, colleges have a pretty uneven record in making money trying to get federal grants.
Yet the very fact that deal making with Trump is being discussed is a tell about how the entire elite university system feels under siege. Then again, if you want to go woke, it’s hard not going broke with Trump controlling the old purse strings.
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