With Trump attempting to make good on his campaign promises—tariffs, sweeping personnel changes within the federal bureaucracy, confirmation hearings for controversial cabinet picks, and so on—John and I are curious about what the elimination of DEI programs means for the race agenda.
You both wonder “what the elimination of DEI programs means for the race agenda”. I think Glenn answered this question by referencing the great Stanley Crouch—“Race is over”!
Whatever can be said to be good about Affirmative Action, what should be said is that it doesn’t work. This is like most (if not all) progressive policies. These policies sound great and leave people feeling so good, but after 50 years or so…… what are the positives results?
As commenter Robert Elliott points out, all of the BS celebration months are done. "Ask and You Shall Receive" I hope John can enjoy the moment and fruits of his, Glenn's, and many others efforts and not be detracted by the messenger. Remember when you advocated for a post-race society, John?
I am going to get whiplash. When last I listened, you two stated a desire to leave the discussion of race behind. Then today I hear one of the toughest, hardest-hitting discussions of race you've ever had. The first 30 minutes reminded me of the first episodes I encountered many years ago. I think an Age of Indifference has indeed arrived -- after 15 years of hyper-focus, it was inevitable. How it plays out will be fascinating to observe. Not the least will be the political repercussions.
A few stray notes on the second half...
* I think Kendi and the other one-trick ponies stick to it because it's so amazingly lucrative for them. Similar to the USAID people we are learning about who bring home $500K for choreographing trans plays in Bolivia or whatever. It would be hard to turn down.
* I don't catch many of John's columns, but I did encounter the one he discussed. The topic didn't appeal to me off the bat, but 1800 words later I realized I had read it straight through without my mind once straying. (Rare for me, thus I counted the words...)
* I've read Ulysses (and Portrait and Dubliners). I didn't really think Ulysses was all that great. My view is that it was one of those books that was important historically, as something innovative in its time. But what do I know.
Anyway, great show. I'm going to listen to that one a second time.
It's hard enough to select, accept, hire or advance the very best when that is your purpose. It's impossible if what you strive for, instead, is demographic balance, genital equality, and arithmetic skin tonal range representation.
Inclusivity flies in the face of American EXCLUSIVITY.
We believe in the Green Light. We are convinced that the cream rises to the top. We declare, with a handshake, may the best man win because each of us believes ourselves that Best man (or woman) who will, this time, triumph. The cold hard truth of the world is this: you either stand on the podium holding Gold, Silver, or Bronze or you stand in the audience.
Equity is anti-human. It can't be anything else.
We are naturally and absolutely unequal, save before God & the Law. Unequal genetics, unequal parents, unequal homes, unequal lives filled with unequal talents, abilities, skills, weaknesses, strengths, ambitions, desires, and fears. Is anyone shocked that such natural inequality in a free world generates unequal outcomes? And yet the Progressive God Equity declares inequality isn't right, isn't fair, makes people feel anxious and depressed...and thus requires a constant intervention by the state to guarantee the inhumanity which is sameness: ‘all lives built out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same’. Say hello to the insanity of 'Harrison Bergeron' (Vonnegut).
DIE has no place in America (Mao's China, or Stalin's Soviet Union, yes....but not here, not now, not ever).
As for leaving people (or institutions, like HBCU’s) behind as the world moves forward... that's an inevitability isn't it? Naturally inequality coupled with the reality of competition within a world filled with challenges, problems and opportunities produces winners just as much as it produces losers (or maybe we should say ‘lesser winners?’). Fortunately there are 10 million chances scattered across every lifetime to build each our own definition of success, of happiness, of contentment (And all those look differently, thank God. If we all felt we had to marry Miss America, have 3 genius kids that turned out to be Cancer-Curing doctors, or Superbowl QB’s, or the next Michelangelo...and live in Malibu, in a $20M mansion...well, there’d be about 330M people who would be seriously disappointed).
But yes, in the end, there are/will be those among us (and maybe that turns out to be a collection of HBCU’s?) who end-up at some bottom (and there are 10M bottom points that could be occupied). Life is hard, as they say....time to move on. Tomorrow is another day. Or, as Chumbawamba put it: “I get knocked down...But I get up again...You're never gonna keep me down... I get knocked down... But I get up again... You're never gonna keep me down.”
Teddy Roosevelt described it, quite accurately, this way: ““If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.”
All of humanity should learn Black history. MLK is arguably the most important figure in American history. The stories are biblical in importance and MLK is right up there with Jesus Christ. Understanding the progress under Reconstruction and then the dismantling of Reconstruction and rise of Jim Crow are basic essentials to understanding the U.S. The Great Migration followed soon after by the Great Deindustrialization are fundamental to understanding our current situation.
We also cannot dumb down the the technical and scientific level at Universities, which is the inevitable consequence of affirmative action. The humanities are already so corrupted by woke ideology that they can't be dumbed down. There is no other way but up.
Instead of affirmative action at the University level we must invest heavily in early childhood education and rehabilitation of poor communities. We must create infrastructure jobs to sustain poor families, with fathers and mothers able to spend time with their children rather than working multiple subsistence jobs.
The Black Community must also revive attempts to combat the ghettoization of Black Culture. P-Diddy, Ye, and Cardi-B cannot be the standard bearers of Black Culture. The glorification of the violent pimp-ho culture is a tragedy that needs to be destroyed. The largely white media is also guilty of promoting this toxic culture, because they found out that white-boys will use their allowances to pay for it.
Agreed....with a significant reservation: 'MLK is right up there with Jesus Christ'??? As in the Son of God, the Messiah, the one who said: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me... I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
That guy?
Methinks in your enthusiasm you have lost a certain perspective.
Now if you had said Eric Clapton (who was God!), that might be a different matter.
I'm a atheist jew, so MLK and Jesus occupy the same plane for me. When I was young I was more of a lefty and admired the Panthers and had the usual distain for the "revisionist reformer" MLK. In retrospect that view has completely collapsed.
As a former government employee, I'm very aware of the waste and inefficiency of layers of bureaucracy ... BUT, I think there should be a process vs. Elon Musk slash and burn. These are people's livelihoods! These are human beings, not numbers.
Also, so they all go on unemployment post layoff? That'll cost taxpayers also.
You're absolutely right -- they are people, not numbers.
But if you are charged with the elimination of billions of dollars worth of federal waste, scattered across a federal workforce of 3M people (all of whom have a story...all of whom have problems...all of whom have dependent parents or children or are battling debilitating illness, or or or or -- then to treat all 3M as separate distinct individuals who deserve special handling as per their individual needs -- then nothing will change.
Blob-like bureaucratic inertia would slow everything to a snail's crawl (and an ailing, arthritic, very Kafkaesque kind of snail at that).
There are a million stories in the Naked City (in this case, 3M)... but those stories become people counts....become labor totals....become the largest single cost driver in every organization, and those charged with change, must make difficult choices. In reality, incrementalist approaches simply do not work...at least not in any way that would generate billions of dollars worth of savings.
Instead: we should eliminate, as a for instance, the Dept of Education NOW and then figure out what broke as a result and what needs to be fixed. Far cheaper and faster (albeit a painful cheaper, faster).
And sure, as the labor force resettles there will be a surge in unemployment costs. This is unavoidable.
It's similar to soldiers as tools in war. Much easier to deploy them to die when they are anonymous. Makes it easier to tally the dead body count.
Sure, the federal government staff could do with some culling, but some examination is warranted as well as some application of humanity.
The glee with which all of this slash and burn is announced is unsettling.
I mentioned this before, but e.g. this obsession with eliminating Telework is bizarre, and clearly personal. One of the best things to come out of the pandemic was the rise of telework and the research of the many benefits. A rare win/win for employees and employers. The federal government has actually had quite a robust system for remote work accountability. (I have a friend who is an attorney for one of the departments. Currently, she is able to flex her schedule while working from home and caring for an infant. The requirement is that she work 80 hours every 2 weeks. She logs in and out and is closely monitored.)
Why not investigate cost BENEFITS of remote work? Huge costs savings in office space costs. Huge savings of the environmental costs of commuting. And benefits to local businesses when employees buy their coffee and lunches nearby. Meetings via Zoom have amazing benefits.
Why throw the baby out with the bathwater? Why not offer CHOICE? Hey, why not offer telework options in exchange for salary reduction?
Anyway, I'm looking for the "compassionate conservatism".
I think downtown DC is going to be pretty bleak after all these cuts. Perhaps there will be a net gain with more staff onsite? Perhaps it'll be a wash.
The domino effect will be interesting.
Someone who is in the military told me recently how reducing federal job opportunities very much affects the military because many military members move to government jobs when they leave the military. This will affect their choices to join, remain, exit. Just one example.
Anyway ... we shall see.
Truly grateful to be retired at this tumultuous time. Fingers crossed social security holds up.
"There is a difference, after all, between “colorblindess,” which is the attempt to treat everyone equally no matter their race or ethnicity, and “indifference,” which is a lack of concern about racial discrimination. We should strive toward for the former, not the latter. I hope the Trump administration sees things that way as well."
I don't think it looks too promising when so many members of the new administration have connections to white supremacist organizations.
"Indifference" would be superior to antagonism. I would imagine these folks ... and the likes of Elon Musk who grew up in apartheid South Africa (and believes that the whites there are being discriminated against, regardless of any past indiscretions) ... would look at John and Glenn as DEI/Affirmative action beneficiaries ... regardless of credentials, merit, talent, success ... The trigger of course was Obama (and, e.g., the women currently on SCOTUS) whose achievements and hard work are dismissed as DEI/Affirmative action (regardless of what you think of their politics).
Trump is the ultimate example of someone who was born with a silver spoon and milked it ... and has spent most of his career screwing over contractors and flaunting the rule of law and taking advantage of having a team of lawyers at his disposal. (It's always a bad sign when one has a team of lawyers on retainer.) As we all know, this goes back to being sued for housing discrimination in his early real estate developments. The Central Park 5. Promoting the birther myth.
Seriously? There's hope for ANY promotion of 'colorblindness'? Civil service IS merit based. People take civil service exams to qualify for positions. They qualify for interviews, or they don't. Hopefully the interviewers aren't pushing personal agendas. (I worked for the state, and there was a Filipino who worked in Human Resources who frequently misplaced the paperwork of qualified applicants who she didn't like, and insured a preference for Filipinos. So, everything can be gamed. Hence the need for checks and balances and examination of and accountability for bias, overt and covert, acknowledged or not.
BUT, I appreciate your optimism and benefit of the doubt gentlemen. We need something to be hopeful about.
John, wake up man. Climate Change is not one of the most pressing issues facing mankind. It doesn't even make the top 50 list. Kendi taking on Climate Change and AI borders on laughable.
In a military environment, where teamwork and having your teammates' back is crucial, black history or pride week or Hispanic history weeks can cause more harm than good.
Question for McWhorter. You said that you grew up in Philadelphia. Bari Weiss is from Pittsburg, unless I am mistaken. I know the age difference is probably 15-ish years. But, did you know her or cross paths?
Thank you Glenn and John for exploring life after DEI.
1: I imagine the possibility of a decade-long back-and-forth tug of war between the pro and con camps. SF HRC, a department within SF-Gov began secretive DEI planning meetings in 2009. I discovered this in 2022. DEI may go into sleeper cell mode and then “wake-up” during a future administration.
2: 100 cities are still held captive to DEI hegemony inside city-Gov. Had Mayor Breed been re-elected; SF could have seen the earthquake version of the LA fires nightmare. Our cities need to expel those who hijacked democratic governance into unlawful political dictatorship.
3: Today, I walked past a line of 20 million young people mostly women waiting to see pop-music performer Zayn at SF Civic Center Bill Graham Auditorium. I wonder if it is necessary for a more serious pop culture to lead the way for youth?
4: On Rufo and “physically ugly” social media comment; don’t do that again.
"Trump added: “The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”
Elon Musk, Trump’s close ally and one of the faces of his new administration, was born in South Africa in 1971, during the country’s apartheid era."
So, we have a president whose foreign policy reflects Elon Musk's personal vendettas?
So we're back to promoting the Eugenics policies that Hitler used as his guide? (Interesting that Trump is so fond of "Mein Kamph".)
My husand works for feds in a job related to environment. The whole staff is scrubbing certain words from reports in fear of being fired. Every grant that protects the environment or wildlife was to be cut last week putting a whole in my budget for local government i work for that hires and trains people of all ethnicities but majority african americans with past involvement in justice system to work in the green industry. This stellar program would turn these people who are serious about getting out of illegal activities back to the streets. None of this is cost effective or the right thing here in terms of the citizens of chicago. We won a competive bid to secure these funds and we are in the middle of hiring. These are real people and real programs that make a positive difference. I feel like a pawn swept up in some crazy political scheme that only hurts the community and is making me and my husband nervous wrecks.
John mentioned Cathy Young in this episode - she would be an interesting guest for a debate on Trump Admin anti-DEI policies!
John talked about a necessary correction clearing out of bad policies, etc, that have built up over the past 5 years. Let's even call it 10 years. If that was the problem, why would it be necessary to REVOKE (not revise or modify or partyl supersede) Lyndon Johnson's anti-discrimination executive order? I think we're not getting John's correction, we're getting an overcorrection.
John now want a DEI that is refined and nuanced to fulfill a certain type of African-American mentality. OMG, why not have a white history month. NO, NO, NO. Let race stay on its lane. The US military must be transparent, merit based, and absolutely non-discriminatory. especially not racially discriminatory. Of course, discrimination regarding minimum IQ has realistic utility.
You both wonder “what the elimination of DEI programs means for the race agenda”. I think Glenn answered this question by referencing the great Stanley Crouch—“Race is over”!
Whatever can be said to be good about Affirmative Action, what should be said is that it doesn’t work. This is like most (if not all) progressive policies. These policies sound great and leave people feeling so good, but after 50 years or so…… what are the positives results?
As commenter Robert Elliott points out, all of the BS celebration months are done. "Ask and You Shall Receive" I hope John can enjoy the moment and fruits of his, Glenn's, and many others efforts and not be detracted by the messenger. Remember when you advocated for a post-race society, John?
I am going to get whiplash. When last I listened, you two stated a desire to leave the discussion of race behind. Then today I hear one of the toughest, hardest-hitting discussions of race you've ever had. The first 30 minutes reminded me of the first episodes I encountered many years ago. I think an Age of Indifference has indeed arrived -- after 15 years of hyper-focus, it was inevitable. How it plays out will be fascinating to observe. Not the least will be the political repercussions.
A few stray notes on the second half...
* I think Kendi and the other one-trick ponies stick to it because it's so amazingly lucrative for them. Similar to the USAID people we are learning about who bring home $500K for choreographing trans plays in Bolivia or whatever. It would be hard to turn down.
* I don't catch many of John's columns, but I did encounter the one he discussed. The topic didn't appeal to me off the bat, but 1800 words later I realized I had read it straight through without my mind once straying. (Rare for me, thus I counted the words...)
* I've read Ulysses (and Portrait and Dubliners). I didn't really think Ulysses was all that great. My view is that it was one of those books that was important historically, as something innovative in its time. But what do I know.
Anyway, great show. I'm going to listen to that one a second time.
DIE is deadly. This should come as no surprise.
Diversity kills Quality.
It's hard enough to select, accept, hire or advance the very best when that is your purpose. It's impossible if what you strive for, instead, is demographic balance, genital equality, and arithmetic skin tonal range representation.
Inclusivity flies in the face of American EXCLUSIVITY.
We believe in the Green Light. We are convinced that the cream rises to the top. We declare, with a handshake, may the best man win because each of us believes ourselves that Best man (or woman) who will, this time, triumph. The cold hard truth of the world is this: you either stand on the podium holding Gold, Silver, or Bronze or you stand in the audience.
Equity is anti-human. It can't be anything else.
We are naturally and absolutely unequal, save before God & the Law. Unequal genetics, unequal parents, unequal homes, unequal lives filled with unequal talents, abilities, skills, weaknesses, strengths, ambitions, desires, and fears. Is anyone shocked that such natural inequality in a free world generates unequal outcomes? And yet the Progressive God Equity declares inequality isn't right, isn't fair, makes people feel anxious and depressed...and thus requires a constant intervention by the state to guarantee the inhumanity which is sameness: ‘all lives built out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same’. Say hello to the insanity of 'Harrison Bergeron' (Vonnegut).
DIE has no place in America (Mao's China, or Stalin's Soviet Union, yes....but not here, not now, not ever).
As for leaving people (or institutions, like HBCU’s) behind as the world moves forward... that's an inevitability isn't it? Naturally inequality coupled with the reality of competition within a world filled with challenges, problems and opportunities produces winners just as much as it produces losers (or maybe we should say ‘lesser winners?’). Fortunately there are 10 million chances scattered across every lifetime to build each our own definition of success, of happiness, of contentment (And all those look differently, thank God. If we all felt we had to marry Miss America, have 3 genius kids that turned out to be Cancer-Curing doctors, or Superbowl QB’s, or the next Michelangelo...and live in Malibu, in a $20M mansion...well, there’d be about 330M people who would be seriously disappointed).
But yes, in the end, there are/will be those among us (and maybe that turns out to be a collection of HBCU’s?) who end-up at some bottom (and there are 10M bottom points that could be occupied). Life is hard, as they say....time to move on. Tomorrow is another day. Or, as Chumbawamba put it: “I get knocked down...But I get up again...You're never gonna keep me down... I get knocked down... But I get up again... You're never gonna keep me down.”
Teddy Roosevelt described it, quite accurately, this way: ““If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.”
All of humanity should learn Black history. MLK is arguably the most important figure in American history. The stories are biblical in importance and MLK is right up there with Jesus Christ. Understanding the progress under Reconstruction and then the dismantling of Reconstruction and rise of Jim Crow are basic essentials to understanding the U.S. The Great Migration followed soon after by the Great Deindustrialization are fundamental to understanding our current situation.
We also cannot dumb down the the technical and scientific level at Universities, which is the inevitable consequence of affirmative action. The humanities are already so corrupted by woke ideology that they can't be dumbed down. There is no other way but up.
Instead of affirmative action at the University level we must invest heavily in early childhood education and rehabilitation of poor communities. We must create infrastructure jobs to sustain poor families, with fathers and mothers able to spend time with their children rather than working multiple subsistence jobs.
The Black Community must also revive attempts to combat the ghettoization of Black Culture. P-Diddy, Ye, and Cardi-B cannot be the standard bearers of Black Culture. The glorification of the violent pimp-ho culture is a tragedy that needs to be destroyed. The largely white media is also guilty of promoting this toxic culture, because they found out that white-boys will use their allowances to pay for it.
Agreed....with a significant reservation: 'MLK is right up there with Jesus Christ'??? As in the Son of God, the Messiah, the one who said: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me... I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
That guy?
Methinks in your enthusiasm you have lost a certain perspective.
Now if you had said Eric Clapton (who was God!), that might be a different matter.
I'm a atheist jew, so MLK and Jesus occupy the same plane for me. When I was young I was more of a lefty and admired the Panthers and had the usual distain for the "revisionist reformer" MLK. In retrospect that view has completely collapsed.
One correction: Hendrix was god :)
Also ... this purge is creepy.
"What Happened the Last Time a President Purged the Bureaucracy
The impact can linger not just for years but decades."
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/06/government-workers-purge-1950s-communism-00202336
As a former government employee, I'm very aware of the waste and inefficiency of layers of bureaucracy ... BUT, I think there should be a process vs. Elon Musk slash and burn. These are people's livelihoods! These are human beings, not numbers.
Also, so they all go on unemployment post layoff? That'll cost taxpayers also.
You're absolutely right -- they are people, not numbers.
But if you are charged with the elimination of billions of dollars worth of federal waste, scattered across a federal workforce of 3M people (all of whom have a story...all of whom have problems...all of whom have dependent parents or children or are battling debilitating illness, or or or or -- then to treat all 3M as separate distinct individuals who deserve special handling as per their individual needs -- then nothing will change.
Blob-like bureaucratic inertia would slow everything to a snail's crawl (and an ailing, arthritic, very Kafkaesque kind of snail at that).
There are a million stories in the Naked City (in this case, 3M)... but those stories become people counts....become labor totals....become the largest single cost driver in every organization, and those charged with change, must make difficult choices. In reality, incrementalist approaches simply do not work...at least not in any way that would generate billions of dollars worth of savings.
Instead: we should eliminate, as a for instance, the Dept of Education NOW and then figure out what broke as a result and what needs to be fixed. Far cheaper and faster (albeit a painful cheaper, faster).
And sure, as the labor force resettles there will be a surge in unemployment costs. This is unavoidable.
It's similar to soldiers as tools in war. Much easier to deploy them to die when they are anonymous. Makes it easier to tally the dead body count.
Sure, the federal government staff could do with some culling, but some examination is warranted as well as some application of humanity.
The glee with which all of this slash and burn is announced is unsettling.
I mentioned this before, but e.g. this obsession with eliminating Telework is bizarre, and clearly personal. One of the best things to come out of the pandemic was the rise of telework and the research of the many benefits. A rare win/win for employees and employers. The federal government has actually had quite a robust system for remote work accountability. (I have a friend who is an attorney for one of the departments. Currently, she is able to flex her schedule while working from home and caring for an infant. The requirement is that she work 80 hours every 2 weeks. She logs in and out and is closely monitored.)
Why not investigate cost BENEFITS of remote work? Huge costs savings in office space costs. Huge savings of the environmental costs of commuting. And benefits to local businesses when employees buy their coffee and lunches nearby. Meetings via Zoom have amazing benefits.
Why throw the baby out with the bathwater? Why not offer CHOICE? Hey, why not offer telework options in exchange for salary reduction?
Anyway, I'm looking for the "compassionate conservatism".
I think downtown DC is going to be pretty bleak after all these cuts. Perhaps there will be a net gain with more staff onsite? Perhaps it'll be a wash.
The domino effect will be interesting.
Someone who is in the military told me recently how reducing federal job opportunities very much affects the military because many military members move to government jobs when they leave the military. This will affect their choices to join, remain, exit. Just one example.
Anyway ... we shall see.
Truly grateful to be retired at this tumultuous time. Fingers crossed social security holds up.
"There is a difference, after all, between “colorblindess,” which is the attempt to treat everyone equally no matter their race or ethnicity, and “indifference,” which is a lack of concern about racial discrimination. We should strive toward for the former, not the latter. I hope the Trump administration sees things that way as well."
I don't think it looks too promising when so many members of the new administration have connections to white supremacist organizations.
"Indifference" would be superior to antagonism. I would imagine these folks ... and the likes of Elon Musk who grew up in apartheid South Africa (and believes that the whites there are being discriminated against, regardless of any past indiscretions) ... would look at John and Glenn as DEI/Affirmative action beneficiaries ... regardless of credentials, merit, talent, success ... The trigger of course was Obama (and, e.g., the women currently on SCOTUS) whose achievements and hard work are dismissed as DEI/Affirmative action (regardless of what you think of their politics).
Trump is the ultimate example of someone who was born with a silver spoon and milked it ... and has spent most of his career screwing over contractors and flaunting the rule of law and taking advantage of having a team of lawyers at his disposal. (It's always a bad sign when one has a team of lawyers on retainer.) As we all know, this goes back to being sued for housing discrimination in his early real estate developments. The Central Park 5. Promoting the birther myth.
Seriously? There's hope for ANY promotion of 'colorblindness'? Civil service IS merit based. People take civil service exams to qualify for positions. They qualify for interviews, or they don't. Hopefully the interviewers aren't pushing personal agendas. (I worked for the state, and there was a Filipino who worked in Human Resources who frequently misplaced the paperwork of qualified applicants who she didn't like, and insured a preference for Filipinos. So, everything can be gamed. Hence the need for checks and balances and examination of and accountability for bias, overt and covert, acknowledged or not.
BUT, I appreciate your optimism and benefit of the doubt gentlemen. We need something to be hopeful about.
You missed the news where Secretary Hegseth canceled ALL celebrations by month, not just Black History.
John, wake up man. Climate Change is not one of the most pressing issues facing mankind. It doesn't even make the top 50 list. Kendi taking on Climate Change and AI borders on laughable.
In a military environment, where teamwork and having your teammates' back is crucial, black history or pride week or Hispanic history weeks can cause more harm than good.
So John is ok with affirmative action which is racial discrimination no matter which way you slice it or present it. Got it
Question for McWhorter. You said that you grew up in Philadelphia. Bari Weiss is from Pittsburg, unless I am mistaken. I know the age difference is probably 15-ish years. But, did you know her or cross paths?
Thank you Glenn and John for exploring life after DEI.
1: I imagine the possibility of a decade-long back-and-forth tug of war between the pro and con camps. SF HRC, a department within SF-Gov began secretive DEI planning meetings in 2009. I discovered this in 2022. DEI may go into sleeper cell mode and then “wake-up” during a future administration.
2: 100 cities are still held captive to DEI hegemony inside city-Gov. Had Mayor Breed been re-elected; SF could have seen the earthquake version of the LA fires nightmare. Our cities need to expel those who hijacked democratic governance into unlawful political dictatorship.
3: Today, I walked past a line of 20 million young people mostly women waiting to see pop-music performer Zayn at SF Civic Center Bill Graham Auditorium. I wonder if it is necessary for a more serious pop culture to lead the way for youth?
4: On Rufo and “physically ugly” social media comment; don’t do that again.
I think this is worth a look also:
Trump vows to cut off aid to South Africa
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/02/trump-cut-aid-south-africa-00202018
"Trump added: “The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”
Elon Musk, Trump’s close ally and one of the faces of his new administration, was born in South Africa in 1971, during the country’s apartheid era."
So, we have a president whose foreign policy reflects Elon Musk's personal vendettas?
So we're back to promoting the Eugenics policies that Hitler used as his guide? (Interesting that Trump is so fond of "Mein Kamph".)
AND, wtf?
Elon Musk US financial data grab a ‘coup,’
https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/02/elon-musk-us-financial-data-grab-a-coup-heather-cox-richardson-says.html
This is NOT normal.
Dismantling DEI is the new justification for any action against established government department?
My husand works for feds in a job related to environment. The whole staff is scrubbing certain words from reports in fear of being fired. Every grant that protects the environment or wildlife was to be cut last week putting a whole in my budget for local government i work for that hires and trains people of all ethnicities but majority african americans with past involvement in justice system to work in the green industry. This stellar program would turn these people who are serious about getting out of illegal activities back to the streets. None of this is cost effective or the right thing here in terms of the citizens of chicago. We won a competive bid to secure these funds and we are in the middle of hiring. These are real people and real programs that make a positive difference. I feel like a pawn swept up in some crazy political scheme that only hurts the community and is making me and my husband nervous wrecks.
Makes me want to cry. Also, sadly, makes me want to be an expat.
John mentioned Cathy Young in this episode - she would be an interesting guest for a debate on Trump Admin anti-DEI policies!
John talked about a necessary correction clearing out of bad policies, etc, that have built up over the past 5 years. Let's even call it 10 years. If that was the problem, why would it be necessary to REVOKE (not revise or modify or partyl supersede) Lyndon Johnson's anti-discrimination executive order? I think we're not getting John's correction, we're getting an overcorrection.
John now want a DEI that is refined and nuanced to fulfill a certain type of African-American mentality. OMG, why not have a white history month. NO, NO, NO. Let race stay on its lane. The US military must be transparent, merit based, and absolutely non-discriminatory. especially not racially discriminatory. Of course, discrimination regarding minimum IQ has realistic utility.