President Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled his $500 million demand from Harvard University, ramping up his long-running feud with the university over disputed claims of antisemitism. Harvard is “feeding a lot of ‘nonsense’ to the Failing New York Times” about the cash demand being dropped, Trump said in a series of social media posts Monday night and Tuesday morning. “We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University.”
Who said what
Trump’s “blistering attack” on Harvard followed a report in The New York Times that he “privately told negotiators he was willing to drop his demand for a $200 million payment” and $300 million workforce training investment if it “would secure an agreement,” the Times said. This “sudden shift was characteristic” of Trump’s “vacillating demands” while trying to “hammer out a Harvard deal” he views as central to his “broader push to alter the culture of a higher education system he had derided as a factory of ’woke’ ideology.”
With the new cash demand, “both sides appear to move further from reaching a deal,” The Associated Press said. Trump’s “outburst” leaves Harvard and the White House “firmly entrenched” in a conflict that he has repeatedly “said was nearing an end” since June.
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Trump “fired a new shot in his war with Harvard,” but “the battleground has changed” in the university’s favor, The Wall Street Journal said. Harvard “rode into 2026 on the back of significant court victories” that restored $2.2 billion in funding and “halted Trump’s bids to block international students.” The fight isn’t over, the Times said, but Harvard has “seen that it can survive bombardment from the White House.”
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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
