The photo caption describes what it feels like more than the waffly title of this chilling article. M. Gessen names part of what's going on:
Like much of what this administration does, the war on higher education is driven by anti-intellectualism and greed. Trump is building a mafia state, in which the don distributes both money and power. Universities are independent centers of intellectual and, to some extent, political power. He is trying to destroy that independence.
