My brush with Trump's thought police

The Trump administration’s decision to stop funding for a Danish lecture series showed its determination to extend its control to the smallest of ventures.

- By Joseph E. Stiglitz

THE E-MAIL arrived in early February from the US Embassy in Copenhagen, carrying a blunt message. It informed the organizers of a Danish lecture series — one I was soon scheduled to speak at — that the final portion of American funding would be released only after they signed a statement essentially saying they were in compliance with a US executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

It was a head-spinning turn of events; under President Biden, attention to DEI issues had been a requirement for receiving the grant. Unwittingly, Denmark seemed to have been swept into America’s culture wars.

Before the organizers at the University of Southern Denmark could respond, the US State Department sent an even blunter message: The grant was “being terminated for the convenience of the US Government.” It concluded by thanking the Danes “for your partnering with the Department of State and God Bless America.”

Some partnership!

The stakes here were relatively small. The lecture series was respected, but not overly prominent, and the savings amounted to a minuscule $10,000. Sometimes, though, a small story reveals a great deal — in this case about the priorities and obsessions of the Trump administration.

First, the two notices suggested there might have been no communication between the State Department and the embassy in Copenhagen — an apparent lack of coordination that we’re likely to see more of as the administration hollows out the government. A recent New York Times/Siena College survey noted that two-thirds of Americans thought the word “chaotic” “described President Trump’s second term in office well.