Christopher Rufo

Absolutely. Yeah, just follow me on Twitter at RealChrisRufo. Sign up for my sub stack at ChristopherRufo.com. And keep fighting, Charlie. You're doing incredible work. You're really a tremendous leader on all these issues, and we're all grateful for it.

Absolutely. Yeah, just follow me on Twitter at RealChrisRufo. Sign up for my sub stack at ChristopherRufo.com. And keep fighting, Charlie. You're doing incredible work. You're really a tremendous leader on all these issues, and we're all grateful for it.

Yeah, I mean, it has been a journey. And some of the moments in the past few months have had a surreal feeling. I've been working on these issues for five years. At the beginning, it felt like I was the only one fighting. And now, fast forward five years, some of the ideas that I had cobbled together suddenly... become reality. They become policy.

Yeah, I mean, it has been a journey. And some of the moments in the past few months have had a surreal feeling. I've been working on these issues for five years. At the beginning, it felt like I was the only one fighting. And now, fast forward five years, some of the ideas that I had cobbled together suddenly... become reality. They become policy.

They affect billions of dollars in the flow of funds. And so that's a great feeling. I think as an activist, there's really nothing better than seeing the ideas that you fought for against the odds triumph and become reality.

They affect billions of dollars in the flow of funds. And so that's a great feeling. I think as an activist, there's really nothing better than seeing the ideas that you fought for against the odds triumph and become reality.

Well, it could happen to a larger number of universities. But what we're seeing right now is, in fact, a prototype of that strategy. And if you take Columbia University as really the first trial of this strategy, we've seen an enormous payoff.

Well, it could happen to a larger number of universities. But what we're seeing right now is, in fact, a prototype of that strategy. And if you take Columbia University as really the first trial of this strategy, we've seen an enormous payoff.

And so what I'd like to see and why this is a medium and long-term goal is I'd like to see that prototype industrialized and applied to all of the universities as a sector. All of them.

And so what I'd like to see and why this is a medium and long-term goal is I'd like to see that prototype industrialized and applied to all of the universities as a sector. All of them.

And I would like to see, in addition, a modification in about $120 to $150 billion a year from federal taxpayers to universities used as leverage to extract significant reforms and to reduce the size of the sector itself. I think that is what is coming. It's going to come either through the market mechanisms, but I think it could come even faster with good policy.

And I would like to see, in addition, a modification in about $120 to $150 billion a year from federal taxpayers to universities used as leverage to extract significant reforms and to reduce the size of the sector itself. I think that is what is coming. It's going to come either through the market mechanisms, but I think it could come even faster with good policy.

Yeah, well, I mean, even in my own personal experience, I entered my university education with a far left mindset and politics. Yeah, how far left? You know, very far left. You know, I grew up, my kind of formative political education was from my... family in Italy. And my family in Italy is all unreconstructed communists.

Yeah, well, I mean, even in my own personal experience, I entered my university education with a far left mindset and politics. Yeah, how far left? You know, very far left. You know, I grew up, my kind of formative political education was from my... family in Italy. And my family in Italy is all unreconstructed communists.

So my first exposure to political literature was in my aunt's house in Rome and browsing through her collected works of Lenin. And so I grew up very committed to left-wing politics, getting out of high school, wanting to be in politics, going to Georgetown in DC for that reason.

So my first exposure to political literature was in my aunt's house in Rome and browsing through her collected works of Lenin. And so I grew up very committed to left-wing politics, getting out of high school, wanting to be in politics, going to Georgetown in DC for that reason.

But the kind of ideals that I had built up in my head as a young person through my own study and experience and conversations, once they made contact with the reality of left-wing politics in elite university kind of milieu, Everything just shattered. It broke apart. And what I found is that in America, left-wing politics is an elite venture geared towards social status.

But the kind of ideals that I had built up in my head as a young person through my own study and experience and conversations, once they made contact with the reality of left-wing politics in elite university kind of milieu, Everything just shattered. It broke apart. And what I found is that in America, left-wing politics is an elite venture geared towards social status.

It's not a popular venture geared towards the material or psychic well-being of the average citizen. And that led to a question saying, all right, well, this doesn't feel right. This seems empty. This seems cynical. And so what I decided was that I wanted to actually get a political education outside the university context, outside the academic context.

It's not a popular venture geared towards the material or psychic well-being of the average citizen. And that led to a question saying, all right, well, this doesn't feel right. This seems empty. This seems cynical. And so what I decided was that I wanted to actually get a political education outside the university context, outside the academic context.