Princeton prof declared support for Trump, though it was ‘suicidal’ to do so
A mathematics professor at Princeton University explained his “irresistible” need to voice support for President Trump’s reelection.
As a former citizen of communist Romania, he debunked myths about Trump’s alleged shortcomings.
Princeton University mathematics professor Sergiu Klainerman, who previously challenged Princeton’s “systemic racism” narrative, discussed why he decided to vote for President Donald Trump in 2020 in a Newsweek op-ed.
Although “95 percent” of academics hold Trump “in contempt,” Klainerman explained his “irresistible need” to explain why he decided to vote for the president, though it is “suicidal for an academic today to be upfront about this.”
“As a former refugee from totalitarian, communist Romania, I feel a moral obligation to speak out and prove that academics don’t need to think and act in lockstep,” said Klainerman, who is opposed to big government, identity politics, higher taxes, and other “things Democrats push for.”
Expressing his distaste for the president’s personality, Klainerman lauded Trump for his judicial appointments, deregulation programs, tax reform, and foreign policy decisions.
Klainerman also dismissed common allegations against the president: namely, that he is a liar, a “racist white supremacist,” incompetent, authoritarian, and divisive.
“If Trump indeed wanted to be a dictator, as is so often mindlessly asserted, he missed a great opportunity during the pandemic,” he noted. “To the contrary, Trump is now routinely accused of not having imposed strong enough federal mandates and lockdowns.”
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In terms of the president’s divisiveness, Klainerman wrote that although the president is responsible for some degree of division, the Democratic Party’s “drift toward bigger government and more radical forms of identity politics” — including an “obsession with ‘diversity, inclusion and equity’” — has “continued unabated.”
Klainerman told Campus Reform that he has not directly received any negative feedback from his colleagues, although he has heard that some are unhappy with him. In contrast, he has received “a few statements of support from within Princeton, [and] a lot more nationwide.”
He received over 30 supportive emails from his op-ed and “only two” pieces of hate mail.
With respect to the aftermath of the 2020 election, Klainerman added that the “uncertainty in counting votes has nothing to do with the old totalitarian regime in Romania, where elections were always predictable.”
In contrast, “It is typical... to a democracy in crisis,” he said.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft
