Trump's "Meritocracy"

 

ICYMI, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart covers a range of topics starting with "Cankles Muldoon's" photobombing Spain's World Cup celebration, last week's bullshit gaslighting on election security, the explosive diarrhea outbreak that was un-monitored by the incompetent regime, along with many other examples of Trump's clown car "meritocracy" -- Whiskey Pete Hegseth's testosterone testing, Bobby "Brainworm" Kennedy making America un-healthy again (Stewart eviscerates this particular clown), and more.   A great puncturing of the anti-DEI balloon.

QOTD -- "The Great Resegregation"

 

"If the Great Resegregation proves successful, it will restore an America past where racial and ethnic minorities were the occasional token presence in an otherwise white-dominated landscape. It would repeal the gains of the civil-rights era in their entirety. What its advocates want is not a restoration of explicit Jim Crow segregation—that would shatter the illusion that their own achievements are based in a color-blind meritocracy. They want an arrangement that perpetuates racial inequality indefinitely while retaining some plausible deniability, a rigged system that maintains a mirage of equal opportunity while maintaining an unofficial racial hierarchy. Like elections in authoritarian countries where the autocrat is always reelected in a landslide, they want a system in which they never risk losing but can still pretend they won fairly..." -- Adam Serwer, in The Atlantic, writing about the Malignant Fascist and his white nationalist grievance campaign to expunge "DEI" and "wokeism" from America's politics and culture after 60 years of incremental progress on civil rights.  

One high-level official in the Malignant Fascist's State Department recently said the quiet part loud:

 

 

This is what they mean when they talk about "DEI" and "wokeism" when the shields are all the way down.  As Serwer says, this is their goal: to ensure a perpetual system of racial and gender inequality.  

Fly Delta

 

As the corporate cowards and bootlickers of our time scramble to please the Malignant Fascist and his white Christian nationalist goons (see partial list below), it's important to give credit to those in the business community who won't back off their previous commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, like Delta Airlines:

While many institutions are retreating from their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, Delta Airlines said it is staying “steadfast” in supporting DEI efforts.

In a report from FOX5 Atlanta, the city’s largest employer issued a statement reaffirming its dedication to diversity. 

“We are steadfast in our commitments because we think that they are actually critical to our business,” said Peter Carter, Delta’s chief external affairs officer. Carter further emphasized that DEI is about talent — a key focus of the airline — and is integral to its long-term sustainability.

“The key differentiator at Delta is our people,” Carter said. 

In an executive order last month aimed at making government contractors get rid of DEI initiatives, President Donald Trump claimed such policies “undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement.”

Many corporations have already fallen in line with the Trump administration’s stance. In an apparent response to the executive order, Google has scaled back its diversity hiring goals.

“We’re committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities,” Google said in a statement to The Associated Press, adding that it has spent the past year reassessing its programs.

Target has also joined the growing list of companies dialing back DEI efforts, saying it would end initiatives aimed at hiring and promoting a more diverse workforce. Other companies scaling back diversity initiatives include Amazon, Meta, McDonald’s and Walmart.  (our emphasis)

Don't patronize those smarmy cowards.  

This is what resistance looks like.  Fly Delta.

Trump's "Meritocracy" And DEI

 

Anyone familiar with the despicable life of the Malignant Fascist knows of his racism and misogyny. Going back to his days in the 1970s as a partner with his father Fred in redlining their apartment holdings to exclude people of color, to his infamous "Central Park Five" display of racism, to leading the racist "birtherism" charge against President Obama, it's all there. His vile campaign to wipe out diversity, equity and inclusion not only in government but to pressure the private sector to go along is but the latest in a lifetime of discrimination. In his column, Jamelle Bouie writes about the MF's nasty campaign against DEI, and how his claim to want "meritocracy" is undermined by his absurd Cabinet nominees and other incompetent MAGA associates:

"Donald Trump does not care about merit.

If he cared about merit, then Pete Hegseth — a former Fox News host who has been accused of having a history of alcohol abuse and professional malfeasance — would not be secretary of defense. If he cared about merit, then JD Vance — with even less experience than one of his least experienced predecessors, Dan Quayle — would not be vice president of the United States. And if he cared about merit, then neither Robert F. Kennedy Jr. nor Kash Patel would be a hair’s breadth away from serving as secretary of health and human services or director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

Trump does not care about merit, but he talks about merit all the time. It is the key term in his war on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, or D.E.I. But if Trump does not care about actual merit then what, exactly, is he going on about? What is “merit” and what is an anti-meritocratic D.E.I. policy?

Trump gave us one answer last week when he revoked a 60-year-old nondiscrimination order and shut down civil rights enforcement at the Justice Department. [snip]

...in the mind of the president and his deputy, the mere fact of diversity is evidence of incompetence and unfair treatment. To have women or nonwhites or people with disabilities in sensitive roles, says the president, is to necessarily court disaster.

What does D.E.I. mean to the president and his administration? It’s the presence — in a skilled or high-status role — of anyone who isn’t white, male and able-bodied, regardless of qualifications or abilities. And on the other end, in the Orwellian formulation of the president and his allies, it is meritocracy to bestow the highest public trust on men like Hegseth, who have, if nothing else, the right look."  (our emphasis)

The column is well worth reading to understand what the MF is doing with his statements on DEI and "meritocracy." It's the MF's response the decades-old white males' complaint about affirmative action and that their jobs / promotions etc. were given to less qualified minorities and/or women for the sake of "diversity." White MAGA men see the MF as their champion against a changing nation that encourages  non-white and female achievers, but it's racism and misogyny by any other name.