After successfully forcing Columbia and Brown to hand over granular admissions data to the administration, President Donald Trump seems to be taking aim at a bigger target: every university in the United States.

Trump is expected to sign an order Thursday mandating that universities turn over applicant data in order to prove they’re not carrying out affirmative action policies, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X.

Leavitt’s post gave no further details on how the government would make these determinations, or what consequences the universities would face if they refused to cooperate.

Trump’s battle against the Ivy League appears to have been a slippery slope leading to a grab for total control over higher education. The president has threatened universities with enormous funding cuts if they don’t follow his orders: dismantling anything purportedly related to diversity, equity, and inclusion; harshly punishing pro-Palestinian protesters; and giving the federal government sway over curriculums and entire academic departments in the name of combating antisemitism.

Since the 2023 Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action, universities have already significantly reworked their admissions processes and criteria. This would go even further, ceding enormous control to the state over not only who gets accepted to these schools but what goes on there. There’s nothing stopping the federal government from using and misusing this data as leverage to further sue, threaten, and claw back funds from universities.

Nothing is more important in Donald Trump’s second administration than subservience and loyalty.

FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the ousting of two agents at the bureau Thursday, including Brian Driscoll, who served as the acting director for the agency at the beginning of Trump’s second term.

Driscoll, an 18-year agent, was accidentally appointed acting director of the FBI. But he made a new name for himself in February when he adamantly resisted the president’s early efforts to excise bureau employees.

“Last night I was informed that tomorrow will be my last day in the FBI,” Driscoll wrote in a note to his colleagues, obtained by MSNBC. “I understand that you may have a lot of questions regarding why, for which I currently have no answers. No cause has been articulated at this time.

“Please know that it has been the honor of my life to serve alongside each of you,” Driscoll continued. “Thank you for allowing me to stand on your shoulders throughout it all. Our collective sacrifices for those we serve is, and will always be, worth it. I regret nothing. You are my heroes, and I remain in your debt.”

The Trump administration intended to install Robert Kissane as Christopher Wray’s replacement in January. But a clerical error instead placed Driscoll at the top of the agency, with Kissane acting as his number two—an oversight that wasn’t corrected until the Senate confirmed Patel at the end of February.

The issue came to a head just two weeks after Trump’s inauguration. When the White House demanded the names of the bureau staff who were involved in the January 6 probe, Driscoll refused, sparking accusations from Justice Department official Emil Bove that there was “insubordination” among the FBI’s leadership.

Driscoll’s full-throated defense of his colleagues was well received by the department, turning him into an unexpected champion defending the agency from the Trump administration’s encroachment. Current and former FBI agents circulated memes referring to the 45-year-old as “Saint Driz.”

New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani excoriated Andrew Cuomo’s recent call with President Donald Trump as a “betrayal” to the entire city.

“It is at this very site that we understand the cost of this news, that former Governor Cuomo has been conspiring with President Trump about the fate of this city, about the future of this city, about the facts of this race,” Mamdani said at a Thursday press conference. “It is knowledge that is a betrayal of everything we stand for as New Yorkers. It is knowledge that disappoints us, and yet it does not surprise us. Because it builds on a history that we have seen with this former governor, a history of trying to hide that which he knows is offensive to the values of this city from the people of this city. We see that with this call itself.”

Mamdani on Cuomo "conspiring" with Trump: "It is time for us to make clear that what this city deserves is a mayor who when he sees Donald Trump attacking the people of this city will stand up and fight back against that vision, who will not get on the phone with the architect of… pic.twitter.com/ViTpSN4jt5

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Cuomo “spoke about the race directly” with the president in recent weeks. Though it’s not clear who initiated the call, or what the two spoke about, Mamdani pointed out that it taking place is enough to condemn Cuomo.

“We know that this former governor has very little regard, whether it be for the Democratic Party, the democratic process, or for Democrats themselves,” Mamdani said. “Because he would rather look past having been beaten by close to 13 points, by a campaign that amassed more votes than any Democratic primary winner in New York City history, to the extent that he would actually have a conversation with the very president who is stealing food from the hungry, who is throwing New Yorkers and Americans from coast to coast off of their health care, and doing so all in service of yet another significant wealth transfer........

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