The Trump administration has, in recent days, taken strong action against a number of America's top universities, withholding federal funding due to the schools' failure to address antisemitism on campus, remedy discriminatory admissions processes, and cease DEI programming deemed contrary to federal directives.
Harvard University is among those facing stringent sanctions from Trump, spurring a viral rumor that the president's particular ire at the Cambridge, Massachusetts institution stems from its supposed decision denying admission to his son, Barron, as the Hindustan Times reports.
The rumors regarding Barron Trump's thwarted aspirations began to emerge online last week, with X user @BraddrofliT asserting, “Want to understand the feud between [Trump] and Harvard? They rejected Barron, also Stanford, and Columbia.”
That theory was echoed by another social media user, James Tate, who said on X, “Guess what colleges didn't accept Barron Trump? Harvard. Stanford. Columbia. Any college Trump is attacking -- are the ones that with all of his money they said 'no endowment will let him in.'”
X user Alex Cole piled on, suggesting that a decades-long family grudge was at play, writing, “Trump's just angry that even his rich dad couldn't get him into Harvard. President Obama got into Harvard.”
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) also appeared to stoke the flames of speculation, posting on Threads, “Can't help but wonder how many Trumps got rejected by Harvard.”
Despite all of the mean-spirited comments about the president and his son's college admissions histories, there is no concrete evidence to suggest that Barron Trump sought to attend Harvard or was rejected by the school.
The first son has attended New York University's Stern School of Business since last fall, making his way back to the Big Apple after graduating from Florida's Oxbridge Academy.
Notably, Barron's father was quoted last year as saying that the young man was accepted “everywhere” he had applied, though no specifics on targeted schools were offered.
“He's amazing actually, in a certain way. He's tall good-looking...a very good student. And he's applied to colleges and gets into everywhere he goes,” Trump said at the time.
The then-presidential hopeful added, “He's very sought after from that standpoint; he's a very smart guy. He's a very tall guy. And he's a great kid. He's cool, he's pretty cool, I'll tell ya.”
Since matriculating at NYU, Barron Trump has been the subject of much on-campus curiosity, with People reporting, “He's really popular with the ladies” and noting, “Even liberal people like him.”
With the Trump administration already implementing a freeze on billions in grants and contracts to Harvard, it appears that the battle over the school's direction is unlikely to end anytime soon.
As the Associated Press notes, the administration is reportedly considering halting Harvard's ability to enroll international students and endeavoring to pull its tax-exempt status, but whether these moves are the result of personal animus or a more substantial ideological stance will likely remain a topic of popular debate.
