The actions come as #Trump & his top aides seek to bend #academic institutions to their #ideological beliefs. The #State Dept’s public diplomacy office is run by #DarrenBeattie, a political appointee who was fired from a job during the first Trump admin after he gave a talk at a #WhiteNationalist conference. He has made social media posts on white grievances, including one saying “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”…

#law#Fulbright #authoritarianism

The board is also concerned that the budget that Secretary of #State#MarcoRubio is requesting from #Congress for the next fiscal
year #cuts spending for the Bureau of #Educational & #Cultural Affairs, which includes the #Fulbright program, to $50 million from $691 million this fiscal year. [Holy crap!!! That’s insane]

#law#FirstAmendment#AcademicFreedom#SeparationOfPowers#Trump #tyranny#AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism#AmericanAutocracy

In addition, the #State Dept is reviewing the applications of about 1,200 scholars from other countries who have already been approved by the board to come to the #UnitedStates, the people said. Those foreign #scholars were also supposed to receive acceptance letters around April.

#law#Fulbright#FirstAmendment#AcademicFreedom#SeparationOfPowers#Trump #tyranny#AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism#AmericanAutocracy

The board approved those scholars over the winter after a yearlong selection process, & the #State Dept was supposed to send acceptance letters by April, the people said. 🚨🚨🚨 But instead, the board learned that the office of public diplomacy at the agency had begun sending REJECTION letters to the #scholars based mainly on their #research topics, they said.

#law#Fulbright#FirstAmendment#AcademicFreedom#SeparationOfPowers#Trump #tyranny#AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism#AmericanAutocracy

The members are concerned that political appointees at the #State Dept, which manages the program, are acting illegally by canceling the awarding of #Fulbright #scholarships to almost 200 American #professors & #researchers who are prepared to go to #universities & other #research institutions overseas starting this summer, …including Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

#law#FirstAmendment#AcademicFreedom#SeparationOfPowers#Trump #tyranny#AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism#AmericanAutocracy

The confrontation escalated on Monday as new #protests occurred & #Defense Secy #PeteHegseth announced—on X—that he was mobilizing 700 #Marines from a base near #LosAngeles to guard federal bldgs. They are expected to join 2k members of the #California#NationalGuard whom #Trump ordered deployed without the authorization of the #state’s #governor, #GavinNewsom, who normally [legally] has command of the #troops.

#MediaLiteracy#SocialMedia #moderation #propaganda #disinformation#LAprotests