Kamala Harris, DEI Hire

08/02/2024•Power & Market•Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.

DEI stands for “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.” This is the view that members of certain “oppressed” groups, like racial minorities and women, should get preferential treatment. In blunt language, we should give jobs to incompetent people. Kamala Harris is a perfect example of a DEI hire. She is an incompetent black woman. Mark Thiessen does a good job of explaining why she is incompetent; “Harris is undeniably vulnerable. She ran a catastrophic campaign for president four years ago, flaming out before even reaching the Iowa caucuses. Her public approval has hovered around that of Biden, who is himself one of the most unpopular presidents in 70 years. She is also less popular than former president Donald Trump, the man she must beat. Indeed, The Post’s recent average of 11 polls conducted since the debate found little difference between how she and Biden stack up against Trump.

She is as gaffe-prone as Biden, but without the excuse of advanced age. She has a grating habit of saying simple-minded things in a profound voice (‘There is great significance to the passage of time’) and of talking to voters as though they are small children (‘Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine.’). She is an episode of ‘Veep’ come to life.” 

Even though DEI is their program, supporters of DEI avoid using the term. Brain-dead “President” Joe Biden is an exception:

“PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN:
To me, the values of diversity, equality, inclusion are literally — and this is not kidding — the core strengths of America. That’s why I’m proud to have the most diverse administration in history that taps into the full talents of our country. And it starts at the top with the Vice President.” But what can you expect from him? He’s brain-dead. 

Why do supporters of DEI avoid the term?

One explanation is that although the DEI supporters favor DEI, they feel guilty about it. At some level, they realize that DEI violates the rule of law. Unlike blacks in South Africa, who are quite happy to say that they are DEI hires, the DEI beneficiaries in the United States are shame-faced about it.

A problem with this suggestion is that there are some people who benefit from DEI who do say they are DEI hires. In times past, when DEI was called “affirmative action,” there were some blacks and women who said, “We wouldn’t be here without affirmative action.” But Harris evidently isn’t one of these, nor are most of her supporters.

Another possible explanation is that if the Democrats said Harris was a DEI hire, this would play into the hands of their Republican opponents. Wouldn’t they say, “Oh! You admit Harris is incompetent?”

But there is a problem with this as well. The Republicans don’t call her a DEI hire either. In his first speech attacking Harris since she became the likely Democratic nominee, Donald Trump minced no words in attacking her. But he didn’t call her a DEI hire: “’So now we have a new victim to defeat: Lyin’ Kamala Harris,’ Trump said, labeling her ‘the most incompetent and far-left vice president in American history.’

Trump called her a ‘radical left lunatic’ and said she was ‘crazy’ for her positions on abortion and immigration. He repeatedly mispronounced the first name of the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent likely to lead a major party’s presidential ticket.

Trump has ramped up his criticism of the vice president since Biden’s abrupt departure, calling Harris ‘the same as Biden but much more radical.’

He blamed her for what he portrays as the Biden administration’s failures, particularly security along the U.S.-Mexico border. On Wednesday, the speakers who appeared on stage before the Republican nominee attacked Harris’ record on the border, highlighting she was tasked with leading a White House effort to tackle migration issues. Harris’ name was met with boos several times during the speeches.

‘She was assigned that, she was given that task, and she failed,’ said Brandon Judd, former president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents agents.

Trump also accused Harris of being just as responsible for Biden’s policies at the U.S.-Mexico border, which saw illegal crossing arrests reach record highs at the end of 2023 and repeated his pledge to conduct mass deportations with the help of local police.

‘Kamala’s deadly destruction of America’s borders is completely and totally disqualifying. She shouldn’t be allowed to run for president with what she’s done,’ Trump told supporters,”

Trump’s failure to call Harris a DEI hire wasn’t an oversight. Other Republican leaders have warned against “racist and sexist” attacks on Harris and clamped down on people who did call Harris a DEI hire: “Republican leaders are warning party members against using overtly racist and sexist attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, as they and former President Donald Trump’s campaign scramble to adjust to the reality of a new Democratic rival less than four months before Election Day.

At a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Tuesday, National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., urged lawmakers to stick to criticizing Harris for her role in Biden-Harris administration policies.

‘This election will be about policies and not personalities,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the meeting.

‘This is not personal with regard to Kamala Harris,’ he added, ‘and her ethnicity or her gender have nothing to do with this whatsoever.’

The admonitions came after some members and Trump allies began to cast Harris, a former district attorney, attorney general and senator, as a ‘DEI’ hire — a reference to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

‘Intellectually, just really kind of the bottom of the barrel,’ Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman said in a TV interview. ‘I think she was a DEI hire. And I think that that’s what we’re seeing and I just don’t think that they have anybody else.’” 

The Republicans are afraid of being called “racists and sexists.” Haven’t we reached a sad state of affairs when both Democrats and Republicans have adopted the mindset of the radical Left?

If the Republicans come to their senses, they should mount an all-out attack on Harris, because she is indeed a radical Leftist. When she served in the Senate, her voting record was to the left of avowed socialist Bernie Sanders: “She would be the most radical candidate ever to secure the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Four years ago, Democrats panicked at the prospect that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) might be their nominee and chose Biden instead. Well, Harris’s Senate voting record was to the left of Sanders — in fact, it was the furthest left of the entire U.S. Senate, according to the nonpartisan government transparency watchdog GovTrack.” 

Regardless of what the Republicans and Democrats do, we Rothbardians won’t hesitate to call Kamala Harris a DEI hire.