Things got wild on ABC’s “The View” on Thursday, January 23, as co-host Sara Haines caused her fellow co-host Sunny Hostin to get visibly upset and melt down. That came when Haines argued that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs have “not accomplished things” and generally are just a waste of money that create bureaucracy.
That conversation was sparked by a day-one executive order issued by Trump on Monday, January 20, which ended “radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing” in the federal government and scrapped affirmative action in federal government contracting. Haines, commenting on it, said DEI is “great in theory,” but the programs that have been implemented “have been a bureaucracy of money suck.”
Making that point, she said, “One of the criticisms against DEI is — diversity, equity and inclusion, all great in theory. But the DEI programs have not accomplished things. They’ve been a bureaucracy of money suck that have not gotten anywhere. When you say people are threatened, what do you think the removal of DEI is going to do to those people?”
That sparked a huge debate between Haines and Hostin, with Hostin getting visibly upset about it. Responding, she said, “I can tell you that because the removal of DEI actually at this point in time … but they also stopped this thing, these ridiculous executive orders, what they are doing is also eliminating the protections for discrimination in awarding government contracts. And to be clear, that is going to hurt women, that is going to hurt business.”
Firing back, Haines noted to her that what she was criticizing was the effectiveness of the programs themselves, not diversity as a concept. She said, “It’s not just a criticism of diversity, it’s a criticism of the programs being effective.” Hostin, without providing a shred of evidence for her claim, said, “But they’re very effective.”
Not backing down, Haines told her, “That’s not what I’m reading. But the point here is that I would also say this all started in colleges and the turning over of affirmative action, I would ask that they immediately address legacy admissions as well. Because if we’re talking about equal opportunity, we need to get rid of legacy.” Watch Hostin meltdown and look visibly upset here:
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Trump’s DEI Executive Order provides, “Longstanding Federal civil-rights laws protect individual Americans from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. These civil-rights protections serve as a bedrock supporting equality of opportunity for all Americans. As President, I have a solemn duty to ensure that these laws are enforced for the benefit of all Americans.”
It continues, “Yet today, roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) or “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.”
It adds, “Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system. Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.”
Then, slamming DEI as illegal and discriminatory and declaring it ended, it provides, “These illegal DEI and DEIA policies also threaten the safety of American men, women, and children across the Nation by diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination when selecting people for jobs and services in key sectors of American society, including all levels of government, and the medical, aviation, and law-enforcement communities. Yet in case after tragic case, the American people have witnessed first-hand the disastrous consequences of illegal, pernicious discrimination that has prioritized how people were born instead of what they were capable of doing. The Federal Government is charged with enforcing our civil-rights laws. The purpose of this order is to ensure that it does so by ending illegal preferences and discrimination.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video