In the lead-up to World War II , Winston Churchill had some harsh words for British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain: “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.”

Following Harvard ’s decision to retain recently ousted President Claudine Gay after her disastrous testimony on Capitol Hill last month and the multiple allegations of plagiarism that ensued, historian Victor Davis Hanson drew upon Churchill’s famous quote, telling Fox News: "Harvard can claim to be America’s preeminent university, or have a plagiarist as its president — but not both.” Upon hearing of Gay’s resignation on Tuesday, Hanson posted on X: "To paraphrase Churchill, Harvard had an initial choice between a scandal and dishonor. It chose dishonor and now it will have scandal."

Not even the White House could defend Gay’s refusal to admit that calls for genocide against Jews violated Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment. With a smug look on her face, Gay had insisted to lawmakers that it depended on the context. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a Harvard graduate and the third-ranking House Republican, shot back: “It does not depend on the context. The answer is yes and this is why you should resign.”

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, who gave a similar answer, resigned within days of her testimony. MIT’s president, Sally Kornbluth, still retains her position.

Stefanik deserves much credit. Her aggressive questioning of the presidents of America’s most elite universities during the Dec. 5 hearing on the rise of antisemitism on their campuses, and her relentless pursuit of their resignations afterward, showed a level of audacity rarely seen from a Republican.

It is precisely this boldness that others in the GOP should seek to emulate.

Politics have always been messy, but few could have predicted the sinister turn the Democratic Party would take when Donald Trump arrived on the scene. Dirty politics turned into abject corruption when the party embraced the Russian collusion narrative during the 2016 election cycle and refused to let it go until special counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-monthlong investigation failed to produce evidence of wrongdoing.

Because no one was held accountable for the hoax, Democrats grew even bolder. Buoyed by a complicit media, the party has now corrupted everything from our system of justice to our elections. Academia has become a breeding ground for radicalism and faculties have become increasingly intolerant of conservative speech.

As the rot in our government and our institutions has exploded, Democrats have played hardball while Republicans continue to play by the old rules. Difficult as it might be at a time when Democrats control the White House, the Senate, the legacy media, and our nation’s top law enforcement agencies, Republicans must grow a spine — fast.

And Elise Stefanik has shown us just what that looks like. Her courageous questioning of the trio of “elites,” followed by her pressure campaign on the powerful boards of directors behind them, has given the GOP a road map. Her audacity and persistence left a crack in the ivory tower of academia, something few thought possible.

As any driver who’s ever gotten a crack in their windshield knows, if left in place, bumps in the road, changes in temperature, and the like will combine to turn even a minor crack into a major one. It will eventually spread to the point where driving becomes unsafe and the entire windshield must be replaced.

Of course, it’s possible that Harvard can redeem itself by repairing the crack before it spreads. But, according to former Secretary of Education William Bennett, who once taught at Harvard, that’s not likely to happen. In remarks to Fox News following Gay’s resignation, he said , "Can Harvard recover? Yes. Will it recover? No. These problems are too ingrained.”

Gay’s resignation, and Magill’s, represent rare victories for the GOP. Republicans must build upon these wins. It really isn’t hard. Polls consistently show that the majority of people trust Republicans more than Democrats on many issues including the economy, foreign policy, crime, and immigration.

In fact, a Pew poll released in September showed that public trust in the federal government hit the lowest levels in “nearly seven decades of polling.” According to Pew, 1% of respondents said “they trust the government in Washington to do what is right ‘just about always,’” and 15% said they trust the government “most of the time.”

Stefanik refused to bow down to the presidents of Harvard, UPenn, and MIT. She knew she had to apply and maintain maximum pressure to effect change. Likewise, the GOP must push back hard against the lies that Democrats tell voters. As former President Ronald Reagan once said , “When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”

Elizabeth Stauffer is a contributor to the Washington Examiner, Power Line, and AFNN, and she is a fellow at the Heritage Foundation Academy. She is a past contributor to RedState, Newsmax, the Western Journal, and   Bongino.com . Her articles have appeared on RealClearPolitics, MSN, the Federalist, and many other sites. Please follow Elizabeth on  X  or  LinkedIn .