Three Yale professors are taking a brave stand against the Trump administration and fleeing the United States for Canada. But by doing so, they appear to be admitting that they don’t really care about the country’s supposed descent into fascism.
The New York Times on Wednesday published a glowing profile of Marci Shore, Timothy Snyder and Jason Stanley, three Yale University professors and “experts in authoritarianism” who are leaving for our neighbors up north due to what they see as a “democratic backsliding.” The professors, who will be taking new posts at the University of Toronto, explained their decisions to part ways with the United States, with two of them arguing that Trump is on the verge of turning the government into an authoritarian regime. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)
“I want Americans to realize that this is a democratic emergency,” Stanley proclaimed.
“We’re like people on the Titanic saying our ship can’t sink. And what you know as a historian is that there is no such thing as a ship that can’t sink,” Shore told The Times.
We’re losing THE Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University??? https://t.co/SZc9x4zRQr
— Natalie Sandoval (@NatalieIrene03) May 15, 2025
Snyder, who’s married to Shore, said his reasons are slightly more complicated, and cited that he was leaving mainly to support his wife and kids (and kudos to him). He also told The Times that he shares the same concerns as his colleagues, and that working at a large public university will allow him to have conversations about freedom. (Not that he couldn’t already do that at Yale.)
“I did not leave Yale because of Donald Trump or because of Columbia or because of threats to Yale — but that would be a reasonable thing to do, and that is a decision that people will make,” he wrote in a Yale Daily News article.
On the one hand, you have to give these professors a scintilla of credit for leaving the country, as so many hysterical liberals have promised but failed to do. Rosie O’Donnell pulled the trigger, moving to Ireland, but apparently has had trouble sleeping because the doctors there won’t prescribe her Xanax.
😆Rosie O’Donnell says she’s having trouble sleeping since moving to Ireland & is “disappointed” her doctor won’t prescribe her Xanax. pic.twitter.com/wANEg5fuhD
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 13, 2025
On the other hand, though, by ditching America, aren’t they admitting that they don’t really care about democracy?
If you truly believed that the country was on the verge of a fascist takeover, and you were also a stalwart champion of liberalism, democracy, human rights, and the gambit, wouldn’t you at least put up a fight? Wouldn’t you stay, quit your job as a professor, and devote yourself to some good ol’ activism on the streets? Why would you give up so easily, tuck your tail, and decamp for Canada?
Maybe it’s because these professors never actually cared that much about American democracy to begin with. And sure, maybe we are on the Titanic and believe our ship cannot sink. But the most noble people were the ones who stayed behind and went down with it.
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This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
