I don't get it. GOP is in theory all about small government, libertarian ideas, states rights. People who care about those things should care about this ... but I guess we can't count on that. Obviously that's all BS as far as the GOP goes and everything now is all autocratic, sort of cult of personality, and at times government policy seems to be, based on trumps own words, what he heard from his wife when he got home.

In a functioning democracy there's no place for a president to make these kinds of demands.

I would at least expect SCOTUS to have some level of concern regarding the law that would clash with all this, but they've put their hands in their pockets striking down any lower court action.

Harvard is suing so that's something, but outside that there doesn't seem to be anyone in power willing to say no.

Heck the demands for Harvard ask to employ someone to enforce "viewpoint diversity" of staff AND students and make adjustments based on input from that monitor. https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/...

The executive branch has no authority to tamper with funding that congress has approved, with a normal supreme court that honors the constitution.

With legislative and judiciary capture, government dissolves into autocracy and an extortion racket.