Trump All But Confirms His Petty Feud With Harvard Is Deeply Personal

President Donald Trump has had a busy start to his second term, to say the least. Between commencing a trade war and making Pope Leo XIV's election about himself, among other bold acts, the commander-in-chief confirmed he is back in full force — whether the public likes it or not. He's also gone on the offensive against Harvard University, which he deemed a problematic institution in need of immediate change. Some believe President Trump's gripe with the prestigious school could stem from more personal reasons, however, given how passionately he's campaigned against it. He all but confirmed these suspicions when he viciously attacked yet another media personality and displayed his wounded ego in the process.

President Trump infamously cannot handle when his fragile image is attacked. He seemed especially irked after his biographer, Michael Wolff, suggested on The Daily Beast Podcast that the school rejected him. It didn't take long for the president to rip into Wolff on social media and defend his honor. "Michael Wolff, a Third Rate Reporter, who is laughed at even by the scoundrels of the Fake News, recently stated that the only reason I'm 'beating up' on Harvard, is because I applied there, and didn't get in," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on June 2, 2025. "That story is totally FALSE, I never applied to Harvard. I graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania." The president further attacked Wolff's writing, along with his reporting style and supposed public perception. Although he should remember his own life better than anyone, it's also possible that President Trump's age caught up to him, and he might have forgotten his Harvard rejection ever happened. That, or he remembers the moment well, and his angry response shows he's still salty about it.

While it remains unclear whether President Donald Trump actually applied to Harvard University in his youth, the fact remains that he reserves a clear disdain for the institution today. He's targeted it and other Ivy League schools for supposedly promoting antisemitism and anti-conservative bias. We wouldn't doubt, however, if he was slightly motivated by his own personal vendetta.

Even if President Trump remembered correctly that he never applied to Harvard, it's also possible his opposition could be in defense of his son, Barron Trump. Trump biographer Michael Wolff posited in an April 16, 2025, Instagram post that a joke concerning Barron's possible Harvard rejection had floated around the White House. Though First Lady Melania Trump's team rejected the rumors, the idea that President Trump could have taken political action against an entire educational institution to retaliate on Barron's behalf is as unsurprising as the thought of him doing it for his own sake.