Former President Trump railed against the anti-Israel chaos on Columbia University’s campus, calling the school’s president “weak” for not squelching the unrest when it first arose.
“New York was under siege last night,” Trump said Wednesday during a rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
“She waited so long. She was so weak. She was so afraid. She was so bad,” Trump continued, referring to Columbia President Minouche Shafik. “They could have done this with the tents and it would have gone quickly and no problem.”
Anti-Israel protesters unified on Columbia’s campus nearly two weeks ago, and have since protested outside the school’s gates, established a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the Academic Lawn, and even took over a school building, Hamilton Hall, this week. The New York City Police Department, wearing mostly riot gear, conducted a raid inside Hamilton Hall late Tuesday night, clearing the building in about two hours.
Former President Donald Trump speaks in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Fox News )
“They did an incredible job. They [overtook] one of the big buildings, beautiful landmark building. Boy, it got the hell beat out of it last night. You know you’re supposed to take care of those buildings. It took a beating. But the police came in. In exactly two hours, everything was over. It was a beautiful thing to watch,” Trump continued.
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The protest on Columbia’s campus is just one of dozens playing out across colleges nationwide, with some of the nation’s most elite universities coping with mass protests and encampments demanding schools divest from Israel. Schools such as UCLA, Yale, Harvard, Fordham and UT Austin are just a few of the schools embroiled in the protests.
Anti-Israel protesters hang signs from Columbia University in New York City on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
“We say justice, you say how. Burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” protesters have chanted on Columbia University’s campus in recent days. “Hamas, we love you. We support your rockets, too,” other chants have included.
Columbia’s president is facing calls to resign over her handling of the unrest, including New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik urging school trustees to remove Shafik after the school lost control of Hamilton Hall to the radicals on campus.
Columbia University faculty and staff gather on the campus in solidarity with anti-Israel student protesters, Monday, April 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Trump has repeatedly condemned the protests amid his trial in Manhattan, where he is facing 34 felony charges of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty to each of the charges, and has largely been kept away from the campaign trail to attend the trial.
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“What’s going on at the college level… Columbia, NYU and others is a disgrace. And it’s really on Biden,” Trump said last week outside the courtroom.
“New York was under siege last night,” Trump said Wednesday during a rally in Wisconsin. (Fox News)
“He’s got the wrong words. He doesn’t know who he’s backing. And it’s a mess. And if this were me, they’d be after me, they’d be after me so much, but they’re trying to get him a pass. And what’s going on is a disgrace to our country. And it’s all Biden’s fault, and everybody knows it. He’s got no message, he’s got no compassion and doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Trump continued, adding Biden is the “worst president in the history of our country.”
New York Police Department officers detain dozens of anti-Israel students at Columbia University after they barricaded themselves at Hamilton Hall, on April 30, 2024. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The NYPD arrested an estimated 300 people at Columbia and City College overnight. Following the arrests, an encampment was established on Fordham University’s campus in the Bronx, with the school informing student protesters Wednesday afternoon that they are suspended and banned from campus.
Trump is on the campaign trail in Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday before he heads back to Manhattan to resume trial proceedings Thursday morning.
