The U.S. Naval Academy has postponed a previously scheduled lecture featuring a New York University professor who’s regularly referred to former President Donald Trump as an “authoritarian,” The Federalist has learned.
First unearthed by The Daily Signal, the Naval Academy invited NYU Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat to give a keynote address at its annual Bancroft Lecture on Oct. 10, according to a Sept. 4 Substack post by the Trump-hating academic. The school’s history department previously established the lecture series to “honor the academy’s founder, George Bancroft” and provide Midshipmen, school faculty, and others an opportunity to hear from “eminent historians … about their research and the relevance of [their] craft to today’s world.”
As noted by The Daily Signal, Ben-Ghiat indicated plans to give “a partisan screed” attacking Trump “in the midst of a hotly contested presidential campaign.” In her post announcing her upcoming speech, the left-wing NYU professor signaled an intent to tie Trump to authoritarianism.
“I will be speaking about what happens to militaries under authoritarian rule, touching on Fascist Italy, Pinochet’s Chile and the Russian military during the war on Ukraine,” she wrote. “That brings us to today’s post, on why Donald Trump insults the military.”
Ben-Ghiat further criticized Trump for his August visit to Arlington National Cemetery at the request of Gold Star families whose loved ones were killed during President Joe Biden’s disastrous 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal. She also outlandishly claimed that “insulting and mocking the military are among [Trump’s] most consistent habits,” regurgitated Democrats’ debunked
