[By Guancha.net columnist Zhou Deyu]
When I woke up, the Trump administration had done something new again: after completely banning Harvard from enrolling and retaining international students, they suspended international student visa interviews and planned stricter social media reviews for international students...
Seeing this kind of news, I could only feel grateful that I returned home early and didn't have to worry about such things...
Of course, it's not surprising that the situation has developed to this point. The U.S. has been moving toward exclusionism for more than just a day or two. I've been complaining about American xenophobia and anti-Chinese sentiment for more than a year or two. However, for most Chinese students studying in the U.S., universities and the American companies they might go to are often the most liberal and globalized places in America, allowing them to maintain a peaceful life in their personal lives, viewing my concerns as scaremongering.
Although the trigger for these events was the U.S. government's suppression of American support for Palestine and criticism of Israel's ethnic cleansing, "anti-Semitism" is a convenient excuse for the Trump administration. However, various retaliations and restrictions on universities and international students are just a small part of the long-term anti-globalization and anti-liberal elite strategy represented by Trump and MAGA. This step-by-step development has been predictable.
Although to ordinary people, top universities like Harvard and the talents brought to the U.S. from around the world are part of what makes America "great," such a closed-door policy is clearly unwise for the U.S. But for Trump and MAGA, such "greatness" has nothing to do with them. It's still the same old question: What is America? Who are Americans?
For ordinary white Americans, the benefits brought by liberal elites and foreign talent are invisible, but what is visible? They dominate the nation's political power and economic lifelines, take away their jobs and resources, and even more dangerously, make America change color, causing the former white Christian nation to decline and perish.
So we can look back at the conflict that erupted between tech elites like Musk and Ramaswamy and grassroots white MAGAs on the issue of foreign talent when Trump first won the election.
Their ideas are the same as other liberal elites: wanting to hire the best foreign talent to work for them, after all, this is the nature of capitalists. But when they advocate that the U.S. should loosen H1B visas to attract talent, native whites get upset.
For example, when Musk promoted the idea that there aren't too many foreign talents but too few on X, arguing that recruiting foreign talent is like building a team, where you recruit the best players regardless of origin to win, almost all the comments below were mocking him:
One of the typical comments is shown in the image above: "The U.S. has over 330 million people, surely there are enough people here to form your so-called super team. Why bring foreigners in and deprive pure Americans of opportunities?"
You see, the key point is "pure Americans," REAL Americans.
Other comments put it even more bluntly:
"Our country isn't a football team! You'd better shut up and stop insulting my homeland. My great-grandfather fought for our country in World War II, not for your fantasy football team made up of obedient foreign invaders."
Of course, this xenophobic sentiment is not unfamiliar to Americans. In the past, Americans also excluded the Irish and Eastern Europeans, and discriminated against Catholics and Jews, but eventually these groups became part of the mainstream American population. So some people think that MAGA's xenophobia will ultimately be temporary and won't affect the foundation of America as an immigrant nation.
However, it is worth noting that while European white immigrants who were once excluded have relatively successfully integrated into America, over the past hundred years, Asian and Latino immigrants—non-white immigrants—have remained subordinate in America. Of course, African Americans and Native Americans don't need to be mentioned. Moreover, America today is no longer the era of rapid development where everyone could eat meat. When immigrants take more, it seems like the local residents get less.
In this public opinion climate, "xenophobia" has always been one of the most supported and easiest areas for Trump's administration to achieve results. Although during the debates between right-wing elites and MAGAs a few months ago, Trump temporarily sided with Musk and others, Trump's administration has never been idle in expelling foreigners.
In the 2024 election, the record-high support from Latinos was one of the key factors in Trump's victory. Because Latinos themselves have diverse groups with various demands, many of them agree with Trump's conservative stance, and because the Democrats haven't done much good, they just bring in immigrants without addressing their true welfare.
But after Trump took office, the first group he targeted was these Latinos. After all, these people are numerous, have low status, and are ideal soft targets; punishing the innocent can easily boost performance. Therefore, we saw Trump's administration vigorously expel immigrants and tighten borders since taking office, which did yield results. Whether the judicial procedures were problematic or whether those expelled were illegal immigrants or honest citizens doesn't matter; as long as it can deter immigrants, it can gain support from the local populace.
In essence, these Latinos are not "pure Americans." When Trump needs public support, he uses their heads as scapegoats.
So many Latinos who immigrated under Trump now regret it. They consider themselves law-abiding citizens, but they find themselves being used as KPI tools by Trump's immigration bureau every day:
What use is there? They chose this themselves.
Now, people who still have illusions about America's supposed inclusiveness and diversity, who侥幸have侥幸a侥幸chance侥幸of侥幸escaping侥幸America's侥幸xenophobic侥幸policies侥幸,侥幸and侥幸those侥幸who侥幸aren't侥幸"pure侥幸Americans侥幸"侥幸but侥幸think侥幸they侥幸are侥幸just侥幸like侥幸white侥幸people侥幸and侥幸true-blue侥幸Americans侥幸,侥幸are侥幸just侥幸like侥幸those侥幸Latinos侥幸back侥幸then侥幸.侥幸Exclusion侥幸will侥幸eventually侥幸come侥幸to侥幸their侥幸heads侥幸,侥幸step侥幸by侥幸step侥幸.
Look, it's already come to Harvard and international students.
Of course, the reckoning for Harvard and others is not just about xenophobia, but also Trump's reckoning with liberal elites.
For a long time, Trump has believed that liberal elites control politics, business, and academia, systematically obstructing his governance in the first term, depriving him of victory in the 2020 election, and attacking and persecuting him during Biden's administration.
And when Trump dodged assassination and returned to the White House with a mandate, these liberal elites should feel "divine retribution."
Before Harvard was fully sanctioned by Trump, American government departments dominated by Democratic liberals had already been reorganized by the Department of Government Efficiency; progressive enterprises that valued multiculturalism and progressivism had also capitulated to Trump under economic policy pressure; even a few well-known law firms that had issues with Trump were beaten down by administrative orders and regulatory investigations... Harvard faces the same situation: "anti-Semitism" is just a pretext; fundamentally, they are not on the same side as Trump.
For ordinary Americans who have long been fed up with establishment elites, sanctioning these elite institutions is truly gratifying, so Trump's reckoning encounters little public pressure.
Step by step, we see that Trump's comprehensive sanctions on international students are very logical. For many years, international students, especially Chinese students, have been objects of suspicion and vigilance. And now, the extension to restrictions on international students worldwide stems not only from the overall rise of xenophobia in the U.S. but also from the incidental benefits of the crackdown on establishment elite institutions.
Under the overall changes in American society and politics, xenophobia is a difficult trend to stop. Even if the U.S. judiciary temporarily delays various bans from the executive branch, Trump can always think of new ways to irritate people. And following Trump's government's experience in expelling innocent civilians, neither legality nor American identity are shields for those unfortunate ones.
Even legal citizens or sick children were expelled? Once they're expelled, apart from the Democrats posting some messages for party struggles, what else can be done?
Some may say that the Trump administration's actions won't last long; either he'll step down, or traditional forces in America will counterbalance him... But don't forget that after Biden won the election in 2020, everyone also had such fantasies, and we all know what happened next.
As long as the issue of whether another Trump will come after Trump steps down is not resolved, someone will continue to be tossed around. And the order of who gets tossed around depends on who is softer and who is tougher; this has become clear since Trump took office these past few months.
Those holding a materialist view, thinking that American elites have a grand strategy and Trump has a big deal, will quickly sober up after being tossed around a few times. Tossing people around doesn't require much intelligence; brute force is enough. Although America lacks some brainpower now, it still hasn't lacked violence.
Therefore, in this situation, I still believe that having some study abroad experience in the U.S. is useful. Even if one doesn't really want to learn anything from the U.S., one should also go and see what not to learn from the U.S.
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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7509656045674054155/
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