Barack Obama has urged US citizens, colleges, and law firms to stand up against Donald Trump’s political agenda and has cautioned Americans to brace themselves for potential sacrifices in defense of democratic values.

Obama remarked during a speech at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, that it has been simple to advocate for progressivism, social justice, and free speech without repercussions throughout most of our lives.

The former Democratic president depicted the Trump administration as seeking to disrupt the international order established after World War II and a reconfiguration of domestic politics where ideological differences are no longer subject to mutual respect for free speech and the rule of law.

“It is up to all of us to repair this,” Obama asserted, emphasizing the role of “the citizen, the ordinary person who says, ‘No, that’s not right.'”

While expressing disagreement with some of the president’s economic policies, including the implementation of widespread new tariffs, Obama voiced greater concern over a federal government threatening universities for not surrendering students who exercise their right to free speech.

The former president referred to the measures taken by the Trump administration to withhold federal funding from top universities unless they compromised their student diversity programs and established guidelines that conflated legitimate protest for Palestine with anti-Semitism.

Obama encouraged educational institutions and students to assess their campus environments in terms of academic freedom and to be prepared for potential loss of government funding in defense of such freedoms.

“If you are a university, you might need to consider whether we are truly acting right and whether we have violated our own values and laws,” said Obama during the event at Hamilton College.

“If not, and you’re merely being pressured, well, you should be able to assert, ‘That’s why we have such a large endowment.'”

Columbia University, in New York, has been a focal point for the administration’s efforts to crack down on what it claims were campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war that allegedly crossed into anti-Semitism through the use of federal funding.

Federal immigration agents have apprehended and attempted to deport a graduate student they accused of violating immigration rules by participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations. Another student took legal action after immigration agents similarly attempted to detain and deport her following her involvement in such protests.

Following the Trump administration’s revocation of $400m in federal grants, the university consented to policy reforms, which included employing security officers with arrest powers and prohibiting protests in academic buildings. The administration may now reinstate the funding.

Reviews of federal funding are also underway for Harvard, Princeton University, and other institutions due to their policies on the issue.

“Now we have reached a moment where, perhaps, simply voicing support is not enough; we may actually have to take action,” Obama said.

The former president further questioned the deals made between corporate law firms and the administration after they faced executive orders due to their involvement in legal actions against Trump during Joe Biden’s presidency or for representation of the current administration’s political opponents.

“It is unimaginable that those parties, which remain silent now, would have tolerated such actions from me or any of my predecessors,” Obama remarked, going on to criticize the White House’s decision to restrict the Associated Press’s access to official events on account of the news agency’s refusal to acknowledge Trump’s proposed renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.