One of the real quandaries facing American culture and politics today is the White male backlash against the past 60-plus years of the Black civil rights and women's equality movements. Anti DEI measures are now official government policy as the Trump regime attempts to force down the throat of education institutions, corporate America, and all of the executive branch of the federal government with their anti-DEI edicts and requirements. Trump and some of his advisors imply, if not openly in words, but in their political actions and policy goals, that White men are by their nature superior to any women and men of color. Publicly, this is not stated public policy, but by their deeds, we can deduct.
Case in point: remember how quick Trump and his minions were to condemn the crash at the airport at the Potomic on diversity in the control towers? Trump rails against DEI after DC plane crash, but it doesn't apply to air traffic controllers - ABC News
The anti-DEI movement has its roots in claiming that what we once called "affirmative action" discriminates against white men and therefore does not get us the best quality we need to run the government and the military... Hiring by "merit" standards is preferable to the DEI they now tout. It is a standard that Trump's appointees do not exemplify, but give their support to, anyway.
Whatever you think of their ideological purity, incompetence was never the main thrust of criticism of any Democratic or Republican appointees to important cabinet posts in my memory, and it was particularly diverse in the Obama and Biden years. If Trump was out to prove the superiority of his race over others, he just illustrated the opposite with some of his very unqualified cabinet appointees, most of whom got his attention as FOX commentators or outspoken MAGA boosters in other positions of power or campaign contributors.
Touting meritorious hiring as the better standard supported by those so opposed to anti-DEI is, in reality, a deceptive cover for racial and sexist attitudes, as the practices of the Trump administration and appointments in the first 100 days exemplify. Merit was not the characteristic of excellence for these appointments to positions of great power.
Watching the very white across-the-board appointees to positions of power, cabinet and staff appointees of the Trump executive branch, is visual evidence of Trumpist inclinations. Women are included if they meet a certain standard of being ready for FOX TV types. Other than that deviation from the white male supremacist attitude, women are still not the preferred hire throughout today's US society. Per a very balanced and down the middle discussion by USA Today of the anti-DEI ideology of Trumpist rule, and not necessarily the rule of law. "Today, white men still dominate the corridors of power.Even with recent gains, Black Americans are outnumbered 12 to 1 by white people in executive roles." https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/03/04/trump-dei-backlash-explained/81170427007/.Still, white males feel discriminated against, having to compete for power with women and men of color.
Given the constant reports of ignorance of laws and the agencies Cabinet members were appointed to lead,(looking more like they were chosen for a TV reality show), the first 100 days do not prove the point that White people were superior just because of their White race. ( Being a billionaire was also a criterion for appointment approval, as well.) Incompetence was right there to observe on TVespecially exemplified by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's feigned or real lack of understanding of the, fith and 14th amendments of the Constituion regarding due process and deportations, and stumble bumble Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's abuse of his cell phone for reporting very sensitive military operations in real time. Anti-science Robert F Kennedy Jr, as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a frightening example of quacks determining what citizens should believe about immunizations and other issues. Heaven help America if we are faced again with a COVID-like crisis because RFK, Jr. will not be trusted to help. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s FDA Commissioner Marty Makarty Wants Diabetics to Get Cooking Classes Over Insulin is his newest quackery.
Topping the charts was Elon Musk's total lack of understanding of the mission of government agencies when he took his chainsaw to them without any regard to what services they provided people needed. If there was a pattern, those that got the brunt of his DOGE act were those right wing conservatives had been trying to axe for years that provided "socialist" safety nets to the least of those able to care for themselves or protections against corporation practices that screw consumers and the environment. Musk's incompetence was his lack of knowledge of the wheels of government. This was coupled with self-serving motivation of subversion of agencies of which he disapproved, or harmed his businesses, with the protection of consumers from bad business practices. While he never found large quantities of abuse, feeding kids who are hungry any place in the world, those who are too sick or too old, who need health care, were a de facto waste of money, worthy of his chainsaw.
Above, all uppity women of any color or white need not apply for a job in the Trump administration. They should be especially targeted for retribution by using or abusing the power of the executive branch, calling for their impeachment and jail, particularly if they are judges ruling against Trumpist edicts. Especially singled out for revenge by using abuse of power are educational institution that permits the expression of divergent views on racism and DEI. Only one view is to be taught: anti-DEI.
Using Harvard as an example of their revenge against a powerful center daring to stand up for their rights on teaching DEI and anti-DEI both (academia has a way of permitting debate and a variety of views ), has fortunately been temporarily restrained by a federal judge. At stake are First Amendment rights and due process requirements of contract law, research rights and funding of disease causes and cures, and the denial of foreign student visas. It is as if every foreign student were a Hamas supporter, as anti-Semitism was used as a pretext for their crackdown on Harvard. This over-the-top abuse of power will probably not stand in courts, but it will serve to put every other institution on notice that they, too, could be Harvard. From the Trump administration's view, public opinion will be on their supporters' side. Anti-pointy heads have been a streak of the political right as long as I can remember, dating back to the Adlai Stevenson campaign loss in the 1950s. Yes, I am that old.
(Note: I am a white Christian woman who has lived long enough, born in one of the reddest states in the union, served in public office, to be sensitive to certain smells emitted by certain public administrators and elective officials.)
How much of this anti-DEI stuff is Trump himself just being a racist? It was he himself ranting against brown migrants on one hand and welcoming white migrants from South Africa and Norway on the other. In campaigning in New England and Iowa in the presidential campaign of 2024, it was Trump himself who condemned immigrants at the border for "adultering our blood," straight out of Mein Kampf. At Iowa rally, Trump doubles down on comments about immigrants poisoning the nation’s blood | PBS News
MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: What Trump's actions reveal about him Is Trump himself a white nationalist? A white supremacist?
Civil rights leaders warn DEI rollbacks could erase hard-fought gains in the workplace.
Without DEI, "we risk reverting to environments where homogeneity is the norm, bias and discrimination go more unchecked and the status quo remains unchallenged, where our nation will increasingly default to the belief that competence and privilege lie first and foremost with white men," said Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, president of the Christian nonprofit Sojourners.
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