Republicans have spent the past decade accusing the Internal Revenue Service of political bias in how it determines which organizations are exempt from income taxes.
But now, as President Donald Trump is publicly suggesting that Harvard University should lose its tax-exempt status — and as his IRS has launched a review after the school defied administration demands — most Republicans on Capitol Hill don’t see a conflict between their previous stances on protecting the president’s ideological opponents from IRS scrutiny and their support for the president’s recent moves.
In interviews, Republicans argued Trump’s demands were in the public interest, pointing to instances of antisemitism on Harvard’s campus. Trump’s feud with Harvard goes beyond concerns about antisemitism, though — he’s called it a “liberal mess” and a “threat to democracy” on social media — and the administration demanded the school broadly change its policies as part of his administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.