Trump Mocked After Threatening To Remove Universities' Tax-Exempt Status

"The would-be dictator wants to withhold funding based on the content of speech. So much for the Constitution," said ethics expert Walter Shaub.
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The man who once famously said, “I love the poorly educated,” apparently has a big problem with higher education.

President Donald Trump on Friday railed against universities and school systems that he argued were “about radical left indoctrination, not education.”

In two tweets, the president said he was telling the Treasury Department to “re-examine” the tax-exempt status of colleges and universities if they use “propaganda or act against public policy.”

But Trump’s proposal to eliminate tax-exempt status for educational institutions that supposedly indoctrinate students may not pass legal muster.

The “advocacy of a particular position or viewpoint” can qualify as educational for tax purposes “if there is a sufficiently full and fair exposition of pertinent facts to permit an individual or the public to form an independent opinion or conclusion,” according to IRS policy reported by Politico.

Many Twitter users also took issue with the president’s tweets.

One person gently suggested that the president might want to rethink his plan.

HuffPost reached out to the Treasury Department for comment.

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