Episode
Ep 385 - MAGAcademy: The Hostile Takeover of Higher Ed with Nolan Higdon
- Podcast
- Macro N Cheese
- Published
- Jun 19, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3771
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://macroncheese.captivate.fm/episode/ep-385-nolan-higdon
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Summary
** Don't forget about Tuesday’s Macro ‘n Chill, the online gathering where we listen to the podcast together and discuss the issues it covers. Bring your insights, questions, and good-faith disagreements. June 23, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/yI-UE7W1TcGglJSZ2l-Ffg As much as we'd like to blame Donald Trump for the near-destruction of higher education, the rot set in long before he ever set foot in the White House. Political analyst and author Nolan Higdon is back to talk with Steve about his new book, MAGA Academy: How Corporatism Paved the Way for the Hostile Takeover of Higher Ed . Nolan makes the case that Trump's hostile takeover of the academy was only possible because fifty years of neoliberal corporatization had already reduced universities to profit-driven enterprises. (He also points out that this was spearheaded largely by so-called liberal Democrats.) From the weakening of faculty power and the crushing weight of student debt to the erosion of academic freedom and the treatment of students as mere customers, the stage was set long before MAGA became a political force. If higher education had a civic mission, it has been gutted. Critical inquiry is replaced by vapid careerism and market logic. Steve and Nolan examine how federal funding and corporate influence turned campuses into compliant institutions, more concerned with their bottom line. Steve brings the crucial macro-economic, challenging the false scarcity that puts the kibosh on public investment in education. As he often reminds us, the federal government is the issuer of the currency. It is not revenue-constrained, yet we continue to accept austerity and tuition hikes as if there were no other way. The conversation highlights how higher education…