COMMENTARY: College cheating scandal becomes personal

It’s been quite a week. I’ve found myself smack dab in the middle of the biggest news headlines.

I was the first to recommend President Donald Trump declare a national security emergency and grab funds from the military budget for the border wall. After the president issues a veto, my dream will be on the verge of becoming a reality.

Second, I wrote a Review-Journal column only weeks ago calling Democrats “border crisis deniers.” I made sure to send that column off to the Trump White House. I advised it was time to fight fire with fire. Democrats call us “climate change deniers.” It’s high time to brand them as “border crisis deniers.” I was honored to see the president tweet out my exact words a few days ago. He branded Democrats as “border deniers.”

Third, I wrote a column here a week ago called “Jexit,” imploring Jews to make an exodus from a Democratic Party filled with Jew haters. My column and my brand name “Jexit” have been quoted in various media outlets across the country over the past few days.

Now we come to what could be the worst scandal in the history of the U.S. education system. I never imagined being in the middle of that one. It turns out my son, Hudson Root, was cheated out of not only a deserved acceptance at USC, but a large academic scholarship.

A little background. My daughter Dakota was accepted by Harvard, Stanford and every other great Ivy League university in America. She had the top SAT scores in the nation and won the prestigious National Merit Presidential Scholarship. My son Hudson had similar SAT scores and also won the National Merit Presidential Scholarship. He could have been accepted by Harvard and any other top Ivy League college, too.

But for Hudson, the dream was always USC. He visited USC. He made friends at USC. He talked to alumni at USC. He lived and breathed USC. National Merit asked him to narrow his choice to one college to apply the presidential scholarship to if he won. He chose USC. And USC promised a 50 percent scholarship to winners of the presidential scholarship.

Hudson won. His USC dream was about to become a reality. And so was a 50 percent scholarship. That was dad’s dream!

Then he received a rejection letter from USC. We were all in shock. His resume was good enough for Harvard. But USC rejected him. Now it turns out many wealthy cheaters probably stole his USC slot — including the undeserving slacker children of Hollywood stars such as Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.

But here in Vegas, I can point to the specific cheaters who may have stolen his spot. There are limited slots at USC for Las Vegas kids. Hudson was clearly among the best and brightest USC applicants in the nation, let alone Vegas. Yet he was denied while two wealthy Las Vegas parents — media executive Elizabeth Kimmel and former casino executive Gamal Aziz — were named among those that bought their children admission to USC.

You think either of the Kimmel or Aziz kids had the highest SAT scores in the nation? You think either of those kids won the prestigious National Merit Presidential Scholarship?

Hudson was robbed. Cheated out of his lifelong dream.

Class-action lawsuits have already been filed from coast to coast. But not one student/scholar in the country has a better case than Hudson Root. USC has some explaining to do. And if they don’t make it right, the weight of the U.S. legal system is about to come crashing down upon their heads.

Contact Wayne Allyn Root at Wayne@ROOTforAmerica.com. Hear or watch the nationally syndicated “WAR Now: The Wayne Allyn Root Show” from 3 to 6 p.m. daily at 790 Talk Now and at 5 p.m. on Newsmax TV.