Many of these gestures have practical consequences, though. Just look at the NIH funding freezes, the DoE being gutted, or the fact that they did go after Columbia.
Yeah, people shouldn't entirely change course in response to these sorts of actions unless absolutely necessary, but it's important to be aware of the ramifications of these policies. Downplaying them is unwise given the historical precedent there is for attacks on education of this scale, not to mention the consequences we're already seeing.