WASHINGTON, DC – Following the recent fatal mid-air collision above the Potomac, President Trump blamed programs like DEI (diversity, equality, inclusion), which promotes fairness in hiring, according to the New York Times.
At the core of Trump’s attacks is the clear argument that “diversity equals incompetence,” and, suggests in the New York Times, to many, the racism in Trump’s words is an alarming demonstration of prejudice “at the highest levels of American government.”
Trump’s statements have sparked significant backlash from civil rights leaders, like Margaret Huang, president and chief executive of the Southern Poverty Law Center, according to the Times.
On a call with civil rights leaders, Huang charged, the Times said, “His attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion aren’t about a particular program or some acronym — they’re just a sanitized substitute for the racist comments that can no longer be spoken openly.
“But the message is the same, that women, Black and brown communities are inherently less capable, and if they hold positions of power or authority in government or business, it must be because the standards were lowered.”
Since taking office, Trump has implemented efforts to roll back federal DEI initiatives, attempting to foster a “colorblind and merit-based” society, the New York Times wrote, adding, Trump claims that his decision to purge DEI is “the most important federal civil rights measure in decades.”
By doing this, Trump has made it clear that his beliefs align with those who regard DEI and its programs as discrimination towards white people, using this position as justification to label women and non-white leaders as unqualified, according to the New York Times story.
Trump’s congressional allies have echoed such arguments, the New York Times said, claiming Vice President Kamala Harris was a “DEI hire” during her 2024 campaign for the presidency.
The current battle over DEI, and diversity and inclusion in general, comes among growing tensions in America regarding the role of race in our society, the New York Times notes, suggesting the tensions enabling Trump’s political comeback have found that his voters hoped to see a “correction” to “progressive politics gone too far.”
As such, DEI has become the scapegoat for all of “society’s ills,” said the story in the New York Times.
“It’s the latest term that serves as a proxy for race,” says Timothy Welbeck, director of the Center of Anti-Racism at Temple University, adding “it’s used as a politically expedient slur, as a way to stoke white grievances and to give a convenient scapegoat to whatever ails our nation.”
The percentage of American workers who view DEI programs unfavorably is on the rise, but most workers believe that diversity and inclusion should be an important consideration for employers, according to a November survey conducted by Pew Research Center, cited in the New York Times.
However, some, like White House spokesman Harrison Fields, argue DEI undermined “true equality…the Trump administration rejects this backward thinking,” quoted by the New York Times.
While commenting on last week’s deadly mid-air collision, Trump, without evidence, claimed DEI was to blame for the accident, justifying his attack by simply saying that he had “common sense,” according to the Times report.
Trump claimed, the Times wrote, that former President Barack Obama and his administration staffed the Federal Aviation Administration with unqualified people, incorrectly claiming that Obama’s administration had “actually come out with a directive: “too white.”
Federal diversity programs like DEI are not necessarily new, many having come out of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York Times reports.
The legislation’s goal was to remove barriers for women, minorities, and people with disabilities, added the Times, noting the first to benefit from such efforts were white women, white people from rural areas, and disabled veterans, said Welbeck to the New York Times.
While critics argue that such efforts for diversity work to overlook qualified candidates, Welbeck, in the article, confirms these measures were not “discriminatory, because it was always about offering qualified people an opportunity to have a seat at the table. They weren’t supplanting people, it was more so an opportunity for access.”
However, opponents of DEI argue it distracts employers from more “urgent,” primary goals: “When you don’t focus on safety and you focus on social justice or the environment, bad things happen,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to CNN, insisting the Trump administration wants “the best and brightest,” according to the Times.
In response to such statements, FAA officials and those of other agencies say that the programs have the same requirements for all hires, according to the story in the New York Times.
Some of Trump’s supporters have moved to critique his attacks on DEI, like Melik Abdul, a strategist for Black Americans for Trump, finding contradiction in Trump’s tirades, pointing out that, while he emphasizes the importance of “merit” in hiring, most of his staff are white males, the New York Times writes.
Abdul argued in the Times that “if it was all about merit, then we wouldn’t have Pete Hegseth,” referring to Trump’s Secretary of Defense, a veteran and ex-Fox News host, who has little management experience, and has been critiqued for his management in the past.
Trump’s attacks on DEI are in line with his racially inflammatory remarks, these use of dog whistles going back to the 1980s, from his campaign against five Black men wrongfully convicted of assaulting and raping a white woman, to accusing former President Obama of being a non-citizen, recalls the New York Times, adding these attacks are just part of recent Republican movements to work against “left-wing politics run amok.”
During the presidential race, Trump’s campaign aired a great many political ads attacking Harris’ support for certain groups, like transgender people, said the Times story, noting one tagline, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
This and other attacks on liberal policies come as Republicans attempt to fight “woke” politics they see as “taking over” American culture, with such policies coming into prominence after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, writes the Times.
The 2020 murder prompted the creation of policies aimed at resolving systemic inequities, but these policies alienated some people, according to the New York Times article.
Some, like the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty’s deputy counsel Dan Lennington, cite “the oppressiveness of DEI in the common culture, workplaces and in schools” for this alienation, stating in the Times story, “People being told they have white privilege and they ought to read a book about it is not the way to make friends and have influence.”
Conservative backlash to DEI is similar to that over past discussions of critical race theory, where conservatives have argued that children were being indoctrinated to become “radical race warriors,” and that schools were shaming them by teaching the history of slavery, reports the New York Times.
While critical race theory was not something taught in K-12 schools, Republicans like Christopher F. Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, turned it into a “rallying cry,” according to the New York Times, adding Rufo created a plan for Trump, its goal to eliminate “left-wing radicalism” on the federal level.
“Trump can end these programs under his executive authority and replace D.E.I. with a policy of strict colorblind equality. This action would deliver an immediate shock to the bureaucracy,” said Rufo in his post, “Counterrevolution Blueprint,” in the Times.
Rufo, having been in contact with Trump’s policy team since 2020, is enthusiastic about Trump’s execution of their plans, according to the article. “For an activist, there is no greater thrill than seeing a blueprint turn into reality…It’s a new day in America.”
Civil rights groups have been quick to point out that these “counter-revolutionary” movements are reminiscent of white backlash and violence towards Black people during the Reconstruction era, as well as when President Woodrow Wilson resegregated the federal workforce, writes the Times.
In the article, Samuel Spital, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Defense Fund, warns that Trump’s efforts against DEI are an attempt to “remake our society” and to “collectively gaslight the American people” about the true targets of discrimination in the United States.
