Heather Mac Donald on Trump and free speech

Heather Mac Donald discusses the Trump administration’s free speech record amidst its battles with higher ed, mainstream media, law firms, and more.

Mac Donald is Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Her most recent book is “When race trumps merit: How the pursuit of equity sacrifices excellence, destroys beauty, and threatens lives.”

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:54 Mac Donald’s personal experience with being shouted down
05:34 Amy Wax, Carole Hooven, and other cancelled professors
11:04 Mac Donald’s support and concern on Trump’s free speech approach
23:41 Rümeysa Öztürk situation
32:08 The problems of campus bureaucracy
36:40 Trump’s executive orders on law firms
43:14 Trump’s attacks on AP News, CBS, ABC, Paramount, and other media companies
59:54 Outro

Read the transcript https://www.thefire.org/research-lear....

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Show notes:
“The White House’s clumsy attack on Harvard” (2025) Heather Mac Donald https://www.city-journal.org/article/...
“Everyone knows that Harvard has “lost its way…” (2025) President Trump via Truth Social https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTr...
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Mike Benz” (2025) U.S. Department of State https://www.state.gov/secretary-of-st...
“Tufts student returns to Massachusetts after 6 weeks in immigration detention” (2025) The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/us...
“Headlines compared: Kamala Harris’ multiple answers to ‘60 Minutes’ question” (2024) Straight Arrow News    • Headlines compared: Kamala Harris’ multipl...