What is Extortion? According to Wikipedia, “Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions, it is likely to constitute a criminal offense. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded threats in order to obtain an unfair business advantage is also a form of extortion.”  We have all heard of protection rackets where organized crime would demand money in exchange for not damaging your business. We have also seen that same practice where the police offer extra protection or turn a blind eye to illegal activities for money under the table. Extortion has a long history in America, but I feel that it is being taken to new heights.

Trump is demanding $500 million for Harvard as a settlement of a dispute over accusations of civil rights violations related to the treatment of Jewish and Israeli students and the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. To me, this appears to be extortion, plain and simple. Why would I say this? Where is the money going? Is it going to victims of discrimination? No! It is going to the Federal Government. They are also threatening more fines if the University doesn’t consent to continued monitoring or control. I looked up Harvard, and they are in the top 60 in terms of Jewish population. Hillel serves this location, and Hillel is the largest Jewish student organization in the United States. They even have kosher dining. I think it is very difficult to be Jewish in America, but I would like to point out that there are many times when it is difficult to be Jewish in America, and that is not Harvard's fault. Generally, if you are antisemitic, you are a person who voted for Trump. I have a friend who has a shirt that spells out Florida in Hebrew, but was concerned about wearing it in public. I am not Jewish, but I ordered a shirt that says Florida in Hebrew and wear it out in public. I have Jewish friends who are very kind and decent people, and don’t think that because they are Jewish, they should be treated any differently than any other nationality. We are a nation of mutts, and the Hebrew people have been part of our history from the beginning. Trump extorting money from Harvard will not change the discrimination that has always existed in this country. If anything, it will just make it worse. I think this is just a way to try and control one of the more free-thinking colleges in America. Free thinking usually leads to liberal thinking, because the truth has become a very liberal concept.

Much of what is happening today, in my opinion, is just extortion. One of the saddest forms of extortion is when you use our courts to extort money and power over our news media. CBS, whose parent company is Paramount Global, agreed to a 16-million-dollar settlement because Trump didn’t like how they edited an interview with his presidential opponent, Kamala Harris. I have read that the settlement, paid to Trump’s future presidential library, was viewed as a “shameful bribe” paid to secure approval on a $8 billion merger with Skydance Media that was approved soon after. I view it as not much different from the protection racket that the Mob ran. Critics argue that it is undermining the First Amendment by making the media capitulate to political pressure. I view it as Racketeering and Extortion by the U. S. Government. Trump is now suing Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation, Dow Jones (The Wall Street Journal’s parent company), and two Journal reporters over a story alleging that Trump sent a “bawdy” birthday letter and sketch to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. I am not a fan of Rupert Murdoch, but this, to me, is just another example of Trump using the courts to extort money and power.

I am not opposed to tariffs in certain situations, but not as a means of extortion to make other countries try to bend to our will. When you are doing that, I again feel that this is a form of extortion. Trump wants Canada to become the 51^st State, so he threatens them with tariffs. He says that it is because of unfair trading agreements, but what the hell. Trump, in his first administration, was the one who negotiated that agreement. Trump thinks bullying and trying to extort more favorable trading practices are going to bring back jobs. Yes, some jobs may come back over time, but there is not going to be a huge revival of American manufacturing of all those industries that left. If Trump is such a good businessman, then he would know that if a business is going to invest money, there has to be a return on that investment. They just are not going to build plants to make Trump happy. It also takes years of planning and building to start a new factory. Instead of chasing old businesses, he should be helping develop new businesses and new technologies. That takes research, and that is something that I feel he is stifling in America.  Tariffs will do more harm than good, in my opinion. First, extortion just pisses people off. There was a huge backlash of Canadians just taking American goods off the shelves, things like American-made alcohol products. It is just simple physics, for every action there is going to be a reaction. Trump's extortion will always end up with a negative reaction.

Trump uses extortion, whether it is through the courts or with his tariffs. Columbia has paid Trump's extortion money, and it looks like Harvard will too. I can’t say that it is good for the country or education. The damage that Trump's effort to extort our trading partners will hurt not only their economies and our economy for years to come. Trump is not running our country like a business. He is running it like a criminal enterprise, in my opinion.