With the modern Republican Party, every accusation is a confession. This is true when it comes to supposedly hating child rapists while supporting Jeffrey Epstein’s close personal friend Donald Trump with every inch of their being, or when Matt Gaetz starts talking about how things he disagrees with are racist.
Gaetz, known for accusations of sexual misconduct and sex trafficking, various vehicle-related offenses, and being seemingly proud about how little he knows about slavery, has spent the last couple of days tweeting about diversity, equality, and inclusion, also known as DEI.
The backlash against DEI is one of the Republicans’ key talking points this election. Much like critical race theory, it’s a right-wing bogeyman that is being trumpeted as one of the reasons America is supposedly failing. Nobody has made a clear link between these kinds of programs and issues like obscene house prices, stagnant wages, and crumbling infrastructure, but then again if Republicans needed proof to spew the nonsense they do, they would have been pretty quiet since at least the Bush years.
While DEI certainly isn’t a perfect system, there is no doubting its efficacy when it comes to raising the general standard of education and living for many minorities, especially Black Americans.
In one post, Gaetz referred to both critical race theory and DEI as being a “SCOURGE” on the American military, stating that it needed to be uprooted “COMPLETELY from the Department of Defence.” Exactly how it has been a scourge was not quantified, or even explained.
The general gist of these complaints from right-wingers is that DEI leads to unqualified people being put into positions of power because of their background rather than their abilities. Kind of like, say, putting your son-in-law in charge of negotiating peace in one of the world’s most volatile regions despite a glaring lack of foreign policy experience. Or, perhaps, getting several high-profile political roles leading to a place in the House of Representatives because your daddy and grandfather were also politicians.
The military wasn’t the only place Gaetz called out DEI. In another post, he claimed it has “NO ROLE in our society,” and that it needed to be driven out of “CORPORATE BOARDROOMS.” He ended the message by referring to the programs as “racist garbage,” which is definitely a choice considering his political affiliation.
If he were capable of any modicum of self-reflection, or even just understanding the concept of shame, Gaetz might take back his words. As it is, the man who has expounded on the merits of the incredibly bigoted and unfounded Great Replacement theory and called the Anti-Defamation League racist will continue to get air time, and America is worse off for it.