Trump Is Destroying Higher Ed. Here’s How Democrats Can Rebuild It | Right Now With Perry Bacon

Right Now With Perry Bacon · Jan 20, 2026 · 1h

The Trump administration has laid siege to colleges, cutting their funding and launching ridiculous investigations. But the administration took advantage of preexisting frustrations with higher education, says Marshall Steinbaum, an economics professor at the University of Utah and fellow at the Jain Family Institute. Policy decisions by Republican and Democratic politicians and universities themselves have created an unequal higher education system, where schools with lots of resources and money draw students from upper-income families, while those from poorer backgrounds attend schools that…