Harvard and Columbia universities, among other ivy-covered institutions of higher learning, now know how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky feels when President Donald Trump is in a mood to deal.

Trump isn’t a dealmaker; he is closer to an extortionist. At least he meets the definition of the term: someone who uses coercion or punishment to get what he wants.

Zelensky’s first lesson in the art of the deal was in 2019, when Trump essentially threatened to withhold $400 million in military aid if Zelensky didn’t investigate — or at least say he was investigating — Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine. His father, Joe Biden, was the presumed Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential election.

No one goes broke betting on Trump’s ability to hold a grudge. Once elected president, Trump again threatened to withhold much-needed aid (and security) unless Zelensky gave the United States access to his country’s mineral rights. This might seem like a legitimate exchange of goods for services, if only the stakes weren’t life or death for one of the parties. Never mind the end of Western Europe should Russia prevail. Trump is now demanding that war-ravaged Ukraine pay $100 billion to the U.S. for its military aid. He started at $300 billion.

In the spirit of throwing more at America than folks can keep up with, Trump turned to his higher-education gamble, this time threatening to eviscerate academic freedom at our oldest, elite schools as the price for receiving federal funding. In addition to requiring the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Trump wants universities to ban masks at protests and ensure merit-based hiring practices. As though Trump can claim bragging rights on the latter. He also wants to audit student and faculty viewpoints (if there were ever a sentence deserving of an exclamation point)! Is Trump, the nonreader, going to start reviewing term papers and dissertations? I’d like to watch.

Most MAGA-proud Americans probably support such demands in theory, but that’s not the point. It’s that they are made at all and by a president of the United States. Among other reasons, it’s not his job. Moreover, funding to these schools doesn’t benefit only faculty, staff and students. If you’d rather some of the world’s most brilliant minds not continue research into cancer, Alzheimer’s and other life-threatening diseases, then Trump’s your man. Of course, all Trump and his supporters see in places such as Harvard are petri dishes of liberal, elitist, woke propagandists, who then fill the courts, the media and the federal government.

In other leverage, Beijing wouldn’t mind if Trump’s tariffs lead to Americans’ suffering and a possible recession. Like Harvard, Beijing might just say no to Trump’s demand for China to clamp down on fentanyl production and to buy more U.S. products. Our extortionist, winning-obsessed president could lose — bigly — to China’s superior position and the patience of ancients. It seems unpatriotic to pull for the “enemy,” but this time the greater danger lies within.