Degrees of freedom? Harvard’s shakedown dilemma

<p>Donald Trump’s mission to bend higher education to his will maintains its <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/07/30/what-donald-trump-is-teaching-harvard?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=theintelligence&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sharpest focus</a> on Harvard. Will the venerable university settle—and should it? Our correspondents meet with France’s <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/07/31/frances-top-general-says-russia-could-attack-in-five-years?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=theintelligence&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">top general</a>, who believes Russia will threaten Europe sooner than many people think. And a look at how <a href="https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/07/24/how-satire-is-adapting-to-the-second-coming-of-donald-trump?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=theintelligence&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">satire changes</a> when politics is beyond parody and its practitioners cannot be shamed.&nbsp;</p><br /><p><em>Impressions courtesy of </em><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ghsimpo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>George Simpson</em></a></p><br /><p><em>Get a world of insights by </em><a href="https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>subscribing to Economist Podcasts+</em></a><em>. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our </em><a href="https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FAQs page</em></a><em> or watch </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>our video</em></a><em> explaining how to link your account.</em></p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>