As Trump and Musk continue to destroy the government agencies that monitor or prevent the illegal activities that enrich them, they’ve pursued an ancillary effort that lays bare the source of Trump’s narrow electoral win: MAGA’s war on “wokism” in general and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in particular.
As I have previously noted, the animosity toward efforts to address social and legal discrimination are part and parcel of an unfortunate but persistent strain of American bigotry. To our shame, millions of Americans have defended slavery and Jim Crow, opposed votes for women, donned white sheets and marched with the Ku Klux Klan. Others–who were less virulent but no less bigoted–merely refrained from hiring or otherwise doing business with minority folks, and blackballed Blacks and Jews from their country clubs and other venues.
The current assaults, ironically, are evidence of the nation’s historic protection of straight White Christian males from the uncomfortable reality that they are not a superior breed. It turns out that intellect, character and ability–and absences thereof– are pretty equally distributed among all races, religions and genders.
For confirmation of that fact, we need look no farther than the collection of clowns, incompetents and sycophants Trump has installed in important positions, and compare them to the credentialed and competent “DEI hires” he ejected from those same positions. If we ever needed evidence that White skin is no guarantee of intelligence, integrity or competence, virtually all of Trump’s appointees provide that evidence.
Trump’s base undoubtedly approves of the ferocity with which the administration has pursued its assault on anti-discrimination efforts, but it turns out that Americans in general have moved on from the days when your police chief was a disciple of Sheriff James Clark and your friendly banker or dentist was a Grand Dragon of the KKK.
A recent article in the Atlantic looked at the survey research, and concluded that the extreme positions—and appointments—of the Trump administration are wildly at odds with the views of most Americans.
The extreme positions—and appointments—of the Trump administration are self-evidently at odds with Americans’ views in the main. Recently, Trump appointed Darren Beattie to a senior diplomatic position at the State Department. Beattie is notorious for making arguments such as “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.” I don’t need to look at survey data to argue that this is a fringe position.
Earlier in the article, the author did look at survey data, and shared evidence of Americans’ views on DEI efforts in general.
Given the way this administration has targeted DEI and “woke” policies, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Americans were completely on board. Yet according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted right before the election, just one-fifth of employed adults think that focusing on DEI at work is “a bad thing.” Even among workers who are Republican or lean Republican, a minority (42 percent) say that focusing on DEI is “a bad thing.” In a January poll from Harris/Axios, a majority of Americans said DEI initiatives had no impact on their career; more respondents among nearly every demographic polled (including white people, men, and Republicans) said they believed it had benefited their careers more than it had hindered them. (The sole, amusing exception being Gen X.) A June 2024 poll from The Washington Post and Ipsos found that six in 10 Americans believed DEI programs were “a good thing.” And all of this was before any backlash to Trump’s presidency had time to set in.
An early signal that the administration is overreaching comes from a Washington Post poll on early Trump-administration actions, which found that voters oppose ending DEI programs in the federal government (49–46) and banning trans people from the military (53–42). When asked about one of Trump’s signature issues, deportation, the poll showed that, by a nearly 20-point margin, Americans do not want people to be deported if they “have not broken laws in the United States except for immigration laws.” It’s hard to imagine that those same Americans approve of sending a man to Gitmo for riding his bike on the wrong side of the street, or of calling a city’s administrator for homelessness services a “DEI hire” because she’s a white woman.
If there’s one thing Trump excels at, it’s demonstrating that White Christian men are not universally superior–and that those who most resent DEI tend to be both unintelligent and dangerously inept.
Sure, you don’t have to be uneducated to be a dummy, there are plenty of paper geniuses who in reality are about as smart as a bag of hammers. No common sense, very little practical knowledge, absolutely no discerning wisdom, who embrace moral turpitude, and cast moral efficacy into the proverbial trash chute.
Granted, when you can walk around and listen to what people say or what they will tell you, because they think you are probably on board with that thought process, you realize how expansive bigotry and prejudice is. And I would venture to say, but there are those that just not their heads in agreement, and then there are those who are like the Judas goats, they would walk in front of the sheep and led them to the slaughter. But the Jude is goat was given a pass, because that was the goat’s job to deceive, convince, and blind the privileged malcontents which are the aforemented bag of hammers, that they deserve a seat at the hierarchy overseeing those who are inferior! This happened in Germany, and even happened to certain self-hating Jews in Germany who fell for the line, until they ended up taking a shower with cyanide gas. Just look around, you can see all the Judas goats revealing themselves! But it’s not just the stupid who are blinded! There are plenty who are blinded because it’s easy to point out the splinter in your neighbor’s eye, without removing the rafter in your own eye! By the way that’s one of Christ’s parables.
You will never find a society that did not eat their own, that did not treat everyone equally and fairly! They don’t understand, how kids raised in the inner cities suffer with PTSD. We look at those in the military, and it’s understandable. But some of these kids have seen people gunned down, bleeding out in the street or in some alleyway, way before many folks in the military ever thought about seeing that sort of thing. And yet, there is always finger pointing.
There’s so much unfairness in this country, it’s astounding! And there really is no excuse for it. There is really no excuse for supporting it. Throughout history, there have been so many proclamations, a few extremely well known and of course taught about in school, trying to make everyone equal. But the church fought against some of those, and the politicians fought against many of those, and yet they will tell you how evil it is! Hypocrites, one and all!
Sometimes a revolution is necessary, but then you have those individuals leading a revolution become the next dictators, the next authoritarians, those who would rule with an iron fist!
The world is on the cusp of something dramatic, something civilization changing, something unbelievably grievous, and something that must happen as a purge. Because ingrained bigotry no matter what race color or creed, cannot be blotted out by reeducation or something similar. Throughout recorded history, there’s been way way more evil than there has been righteousness. Until that issue is solved, they’ll be much more pain. And, it might lead to the eventual extinction on this planet of all sentient life. Maybe only cockroaches and rats will survive. And it never had to be that way, or has to be that way!
Sure, you don’t have to be uneducated to be a dummy, there are plenty of paper geniuses who in reality are about as smart as a bag of hammers. No common sense, very little practical knowledge, absolutely no discerning wisdom, who embrace moral turpitude, and cast moral efficacy into the proverbial trash chute.
Granted, when you can walk around and listen to what people say or what they will tell you, because they think you are probably on board with that thought process, you realize how expansive bigotry and prejudice is. And I would venture to say, there are those that just nod their heads in agreement. There are those who are like the Judas goats, they would walk in front of the sheep and led them to the slaughter. But the Judas goat was given a pass, because that was the goat’s job to deceive, convince, and blind the privileged malcontents which are the aforemented bag of hammers, that they deserve a seat at the hierarchy overseeing those who are inferior! This happened in Germany, and even happened to certain self-hating Jews in Germany who fell for the line, until they ended up taking a shower with cyanide gas. Just look around, you can see all the Judas goats revealing themselves! But it’s not just the stupid who are blinded! There are plenty who are blinded because it’s easy to point out the splinter in your neighbor’s eye, without removing the rafter in your own eye! By the way that’s one of Christ’s parables.
You will never find a society that did not eat their own, that did not treat everyone equally and fairly! They don’t understand, how kids raised in the inner cities suffer with PTSD. We look at those in the military, and it’s understandable. But some of these kids have seen people gunned down, bleeding out in the street or in some alleyway, way before many folks in the military ever thought about seeing that sort of thing. And yet, there is always finger pointing.
There’s so much unfairness in this country, it’s astounding! And there really is no excuse for it. There is really no excuse for supporting it. Throughout history, there have been so many proclamations, a few extremely well known and of course taught about in school, trying to make everyone equal. But the church fought against some of those, and the politicians fought against many of those, and yet they will tell you how evil it is! Hypocrites, one and all!
Sometimes a revolution is necessary, but then you have those individuals leading a revolution become the next dictators, the next authoritarians, those who would rule with an iron fist!
The world is on the cusp of something dramatic, something civilization changing, something unbelievably grievous, and something that must happen as a purge. Because ingrained bigotry no matter what race color or creed, cannot be blotted out by reeducation or something similar. Throughout recorded history, there’s been way way more evil than there has been righteousness. Until that issue is solved, they’ll be much more pain. And, it might lead to the eventual extinction on this planet of all sentient life. Maybe only cockroaches and rats will survive. And it never had to be that way, or has to be that way!
Oopsie.
John, your opening paragraph stimulated my mental picture machine and the worst of the worst you described popped up: Stephen Miller.
To these monsters, cruelty is the point. We are seeing, first hand, our version of Hitler 2.0 and his Nazi thugs. Watch for the armbands to come out soon. They’ll be orange, of course, not red.
“In the United States, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability.”
The quote above is copied and pasted from Wikipedia; working my way through the verbose definition (probably to be PC) it simply means doing away with racism and bigotry to hire and fire and protect the human and civil rights of. Being “woke” simply means we were once aware of the discrimination and passed Civil Rights acts through the Legislature, Executive divisions and finalized by the Judicial body of the Supreme Court. The three primary divisions of this government are now victims of a coup of Dictatorship and we passed being in a state of flux into total chaos as the government has been destroyed from within by home-grown terrorists.
“If there’s one thing Trump excels at, it’s demonstrating that White Christian men are not universally superior–and that those who most resent DEI tend to be both unintelligent and dangerously inept.”
An old adage comes to mind; “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Our close ties to the Roman Empire never existed as this country didn’t exist except for being inhabited by Indians, now PC referred to as Native Americans who have little if any freedoms or rights. I received news breaks on my phone yesterday that the records of women and Black Veterans buried in Arlington Cemetery have been deleted; later Hegspeth removed all Civil War records from Arlington. Trump, Musk, Vance and the others have obviously run out of live people to fire from their jobs, deny all rights and plans to end “entitlements” such as Social Security and Medicare which we paid into for every day we worked and they have started on the dead in our national cemetery to degrade and dismiss as unworthy of being listed.
Trump has ended our government connection to the National Institute of Health (NIH) and World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC information is no longer available to systems such as schools to be aware of impending epidemics or medical research. Trump has “walked back” (a Trumpian term) his oft repeated campaign promises to lower prices and end the war in Ukraine within his first 24 hours. I see polls stating that the majority of Americans favor DOGE which removes all authority from government Department and Division heads to clear out any unneeded staff or make needed changes if they are necessary. Those decisions being made by an immigrant who is unwanted in his own homeland of South Africa and his claim of Canadian citizenship. Trump and Musk held that Tesla car show on the White House lawn; demeaning to the government, this nation and all citizens and is detrimental to all other manufacturers and providers of services to keep this nation in working condition.
How would Trump deal with Canada as America’s 51st state with our earlier state of Alaska sitting within Canadian borders? Greenland does not want to become an overtaken or purchased state of the United States; the movement to make Washington, D.C. the 51st state makes more sense and would give them the right to add Senators to represent them. Meanwhile we see no information regarding who IS WORKING within our federal government other than those creating the chaos from their newly appointed positions by the head cuckoo in this current cuckoo’s nest.
“The Real DEI”; government of the people, by the people and for the people has perished from America.
Unfortunately, in this administration, being white, male, sycophantic, and corrupt have outranked merit time after time.
So, if diversity is a bad thing, why, in cities around the country, including our own, will there be parades for and huge celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day?
During my master’s program in organizational leadership at Gonzaga, we studied the roots of the “DEI” movement. It wasn’t about lifting up the disadvantaged because they don’t need to be leveled with anyone. As JoAnn said, “We, the people, are created equal.” However, as John Sorg would point out, that is not an American story – it’s “one nation under God,” according to Jesus.
The point of bringing people from varied backgrounds into your organization is that you get a more realistic perspective of reality. Believe it or not, having a bunch of WASPs running the show is limiting your organization to a narrowed viewpoint. By deliberately hiring women and minorities, your organization becomes more broadly representative of our country. It had nothing to do with equality; it was an organizational strategy to enhance decision-making. There’s an old adage: “How do you know what you don’t know?”
For one, you surround yourself with varying perspectives. Voices that can introduce you to multiple viewpoints. It’s the essence of team-building!
Here’s what you don’t do in an organization: you don’t surround yourself with people like you who will also agree with everything the leader says. I recommend reading the old Dilbert cartoons that mocked poor leadership practices. It was based on the Peter Principle. Remember that one from college?
Trump and Musk have been elevated way beyond their level of competency. The government’s diversity, equity, and inclusion adaptation was done poorly. It acted more like another affirmative action program. World leaders didn’t help matters much either because they didn’t properly communicate with the masses. DEI was supposed to enhance perspectives for an organizational framework—team building. It went astray within the government.
As John and Vern like to indicate, we are definitely “headed for something.” The oligarchs are terrified the people may discover that they can confiscate their wealth, which is precisely what the framers thought as well when designing our government. This global right-wing movement – fascism – is simply Marxist philosophy for the end stages of capitalism. The two solutions are fascism or socialism, and guess which one the oligarchs want?
However, the Techies who believe AI is the beginning stages of GOD know that citizens will have to receive benefits from the wealth-enhancing programs, or there will be rebellion from the masses because they will have LOTS of free time on their hands. You don’t have to research very far to find Musk talking about a mandatory UBI. You can’t fire 100 million workers without a substitute. Maybe Trump and other sick bastards in global leadership want to reduce global citizenship rather than share the wealth. Several well-placed nukes would do the job while they’re in their moon capsule. 😉
Nancy Papas, 7:50 a.m.; it was two teenage white boys who molested me when I was 5 years old, a white football player at Tech High School who raped me when I was 16 years old, it was a 47 year old, white drug addict who attacked, permanently injured and robbed me on my driveway at 11:00 a.m one week before my 77th birthday. The white junkie got a 47 year sentence for the four old women he attacked and robbed he, was to serve 25 years in prison but only served 9 years and is back on our streets.
That old white “boys will be boys” in action. Trump’s charges just disappeared with his SCOTUS immunity.
Todd, two things got my attention.
First was the Peter Principle. In my five decades of working, I noted a problem with it. Most people generally get promoted at least a step or two above their level of incompetence. The simple fact is that it’s easier to promote than to fire someone. This is especially true in large organizations, where it’s possible to promote someone to a different department (the suckers). It was the same in both private enterprise and government.
Second is your comment that government didn’t understand DEI. I used to do training for all new employees in Diversity at Roudebush VAMC. The training began by saying that America shouldn’t be thought of as a melting pot, but rather as a salad bar with many different flavors. Each flavor contributes to the taste of the salad, making it something new. Does that sound like a government that doesn’t understand the reason for diversity?
And thanks for bringing up Dilbert. If you’d come to my office in DC, you would’ve seen my “Dilbert Door” covered with my favorite strips. I loved Wally.
Thank you everyone for the kindness, I’m sorry for the old double tap on the thread, I was trying to proofread and fix, and actually sent the flawed page which all of mine are anyway. But I continued with trying to correct. Mea culpa, at least I tried, lol!
JoAnn,
My friend, you have endured much, and received little. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. But after a lot of this pain infiltrates every essence of society, there will be a change. Whether you would believe it or not, I do! Because if we don’t have that faith and hope that’s described and Hebrews the 11th chapter starting at verse 1, we are truly hopeless. Humans have to have hope, and that hope has to be based on faith. Now what do we hope for and what do we have faith in, well that’s a personal choice. But the years that you’ve lived on this planet have shown you that yes, there are good people, but do they really change anything? Because all the good people that have lived and served in this country, what has it accomplished? Every step forward was met with running backwards. Pushed backwards. And there has to be something more. That I believe. That’s my hope, and I have faith in it. Because I have actually without a doubt experienced undeserved kindness many times. I know about pain JoAnn, but none of us has ever exactly walked the same path in someone else’s shoes. But through compassion and empathy, we can extrapolate a person’s grief and anxiety from our personal experiences. I appreciate your comments, I don’t always respond, but you really are a compelling person. And I appreciate it. I’ve done a lot of really terrible things, but those terrible things didn’t make me feel better. And those terrible things ground on my conscience, it blinded me to discernment, and gave me a sense of regret and hopelessness. Fortunately I lived long enough to find my way, and my way does not include Faith in humanity. Because humanity is always evil to humanity. You be safe JoAnn. If you are my neighbor, my literal neighbor, I’d have you covered. But as Christ told us to love our neighbors, and basically the whole law hangs on two tenets, Love God and love your neighbor. Everything else falls into place. And there has been no place on this planet where that’s ever happened. And it will not be by men’s hands that things are going to get better. But hey, all we have is our faith, right? What else is there! Like my great uncles used to say, ‘We done whatever needed doing!” Whether war or peace, whether right or wrong, whether good or bad, whether driven by grief, whether be driven by faith, whether driven by wisdom or knowledge, whether driven by efficacy or personal vengeance, we leave it in God’s hands. The true judge of our heart!
Trump, going up in hugely dysfunctional family, going back at least 2 further generations that we know of, and trained by his father to be a bigot, and being “The dumbest student I ever saw,” according to one of his former college profs, is the perfect point man, as it were, for imbecility, and fear of intelligence, of being “awake” to the world beyond his nose.
What we fail to understand is that those who embrace the patriarchy, bigotry, homophobia, racism, misogyny and xenophobia of these fascist aspirants are cowards, so afraid of the “other” that they strike out at any and all.
DEI makes for good business decisions in a global economy where diversity dominates.
My question is always, “What are they so afraid of?”
Suddenly, the loss of what they always assumed was their entitlement is imminent, not from DEI, but from their own choices, based on their own biases. When family farms go bankrupt, when veterans are denied care, when children are allowed to die, when the elderly are pushed back home for family to care for or put out on the street to die, who made that choice? Churches and charities cannot provide care, food and shelter.
A for-profit company can close a service center based on loss of profitability. Government services are not for-profit businesses. Failed businesses and bankruptcies happen every single day. Mass elimination of libraries, clinics, schools, hospitals, SS centers, license and voter registration centers, tax collection, disaster relief agencies, weather services, water/air/soil protections, flood control, national health services, etc., impacts almost every single person in the country, directly or indirectly. Who will service the oligarchs lavish lifestyles if the peons are sick, hungry and angry? Revolution? Maybe. Blood in the street? Likely.
Remember, they don’t act themselves. The people who follow their orders do the dirty work, often willingly and enthusiastically. Those people are as much the domestic enemy as the oligarchs and fascists.
John Sorg; thank you so much for your kind words.
The white men that support Christian Nationalism are like incels, but instead of being involuntarily celibate and blaming women, they are involuntarily non-superior/non-preferred. And they furiously blame all the “other” groups for this fact. It’s pathetic.
As a white male myself, I find it intensely embarrassing. They are so _small_.
You have earned a solid reputation for terrific columns, well-written, all with a certain ‘bite,’ that hit home with me. But, Sheila, this sentence is one that really stands out and sums up so much:
“If we ever needed evidence that White skin is no guarantee of intelligence, integrity or competence, virtually all of Trump’s appointees provide that evidence.”
Good for you and, as always, thanks for showing up each and every day. Your take on what’s going on is a breath of fresh air focused on the foul smell emanating from Trump, Musk and the MAGA crowd.