Making America great for mediocre white men

Over thirty years ago, I drove cross country to sit down with a recruiter in hopes of getting a new job. I thought I was a pretty good fit for the position, but I had only been in the office for a few minutes when the recruiter interrupted me and told me there was really no point in continuing.

Lowering his voice and speaking in an off-the-record tone, he told me, "Look, the truth is, you're not Black and you're not a woman. So I can't hire you."

Guess what? That asshole recruiter was lying.

It took me some time to learn that the recruiter was holding the position for a friend of a friend. And the reason he had been so anxious to hustle me out of there and return my resume, was that he was covering up the fact that I had even applied.

Why did that recruiter blame DEI for why he couldn't hire me? Because it was easy. Because it redirected any anger I might feel toward the system – and indirectly toward Black people and women. And because, even then, claims that DEI was awarding jobs to unqualified people based on race or gender was already baked into the resentment felt by white men.

Looking at Donald Trump's first three days back behind the Resolute Desk, the easiest summary of what he's been up to is simply this: Nazi shit.

But going into slightly more detail, Trump has been focused on making racism, sexism, and anti-LGBTQ positions not just acceptable, but mandatory. Immediately after taking office, Trump ended programs that protect against racial and sexual prejudice in hiring. He placed all those involved in administering these programs on leave and has made it clear this is preliminary to firing them.

The attack on DEI goes beyond just halting its enforcement. Trump has notified federal employees that they may be prosecuted if they attempt to apply rules intended to open hiring and promotion – or if they fail to turn in someone else who was concerned about fair hiring.

The claim by Trump — egged on by chief Make Apartheid Great Again supporter Elon Musk — is that ending DEI allows them to return to merit-based hiring. But that's even bigger bullshit than what the recruiter tried to feed me many years ago.

The whole reason DEI was necessary in the first place is that government hiring, like hiring everywhere, was never based on merit.

Hiring happens at the discretion of whoever does the hiring. Since the first workers stumbled into the first clay pot factory in Ur people have hired those they know, those who share their views, and those who make them feel comfortable. When making hires, people apply their own prejudices. You don't have to look beyond Trump's cabinet choices to see what this means.

That reality is exactly why “merit-based” hiring ends up hurting women, people of color, and anyone who doesn’t reflect the culture of the decision-makers. Without some form of DEI, the people who get hired and promoted will mirror those who are already in power — in race, in gender, and in culture. It doesn't matter if this is deliberate or subconscious; it will happen.

DEI makes hiring closer to being actually merit-based. DEI is required if hiring is going to be anything even close to fair — and that's before considering how varying points of view make companies and agencies more flexible and capable.

Without DEI, you end up with a bunch of mediocre white men all standing around, slapping each other on the back, smugly sure they’re the best of the best. And it's true. Because they get to define "best." Like how Pete Hegseth is the best. Or Matt Gaetz.

But Trump's efforts to bake apartheid into every aspect of the federal government don't end with hiring. He's also ending rules that were meant to make federal contracting more fair that were implemented in 1965.

Those rules have not just helped ensure that federal contracting wasn't simply an old boys' club in which those in charge funneled money to their friends. They've helped create thousands of small businesses, many of them owned by women or people of color. That 1965 rule has been an engine of change that has propelled millions out of poverty — and they've helped Americans save billions by breaking monopolistic control over many aspects of government and introducing more competitive contracting. This is exactly why EO 11246 has been targeted by the right for years.

To put a cherry on that f’ing cake, as of Thursday the Department of Justice has reportedly been told to halt all proceedings in the Civil Rights Division. That’s not just hiring and contracting. It’s hate crimes. It’s housing discrimination cases. It’s violations of the American Disability Act. It’s everything.

In just three days, Trump has established that it is not just okay to ignore racial and gender bias in federal contracting and hiring, but made it a crime to even point out that such bias is taking place. He's making racism and sexism not just acceptable, but mandatory.

You know ... Nazi shit.