A.G. Gancarski
Ron DeSantis is continuing his attacks on diversity efforts as he campaigns in South Carolina.
During remarks in Lexington, the Governor asserted the “need” to “get rid of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) in all facets of American life,” including “military, corporations, and bureaucracy.”
DeSantis illustrated that alleged need with an anecdote suggesting that organizations were invested in making white people feel guilty.
“I think it’s bad in corporate America,” said DeSantis, who has been in elected office since 2013 without interruption.
“I mean, you know, you have a job with, like, a corporation and they force you to do a training where you basically say, you know, have to say you’re bad because you may be white or something like that,” the Florida Governor added.
“I mean, how stupid is this? And honestly it’s divisive, it’s going to create more conflict,” he continued. “That’s not bringing unity.”
He has also vowed to strip accreditation from universities with DEI programs in the past, and repeated that claim in Lexington.
“You will not get accredited if you do DEI,” he said Saturday.
DEI has been a punching bag for DeSantis both as a Governor and a national candidate.
During a recent campaign stop, he said he didn’t want a Vice President who was “trying to satisfy the DEI sweepstakes” and vowed to avoid that kind of “funny business” in the event he had to pick a running mate.
He has also vowed to use the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to “look at corporate America, government, academia, how they are wielding things like DEI in a discriminatory manner against other people,” with a goal of “no tolerance for discrimination of all kind, regardless of whether you’re in the majority or the minority.”
The Governor has also blamed “DEI and politics and all kinds of stuff” for the failure of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year.
DeSantis declared war on DEI in rolling out legislative proposals “pushing back against the tactics of liberal elites who suppress free thought in the name of identity politics and indoctrination.” These proposals targeting universities and colleges spending money “for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination” became law during the 2023 Legislative Session.
But the Governor’s derision of DEI is new. Earlier, in his first term, his administration greenlighted much of it in the very colleges he’s targeted more recently.
DeSantis told reporters last February he was ignorant of the subject back then.
“I didn’t know what DEI was a couple of years ago as this had taken hold. I mean, it sounds innocuous, right? I thought maybe diversity of ideas, maybe actually have more than one viewpoint. Well, that’s not what it is. What it is, is trying to enforce a political agenda and a political orthodoxy under the auspices of administration,” DeSantis said. “And that is something that is not in the best interests of the state.”
27 comments
Earl Pitts "Sage Political Expert Emeritas" American
January 20, 2024 at 6:09 pm
Good evening America,
I, Earl Pitts American, encourage everyone to keep a “Cool Head” during this political process leading up to the POTUS election.
Everyone may “Relax Their Sphincters” knowing Earl’s “Got This For The Good Guys” and look forward to EIGHT STRAIGHT years of prosperity under The DeSantis Administration.
EPA
tom palmer
January 20, 2024 at 6:23 pm
The DEI bureaucracy may be a grift, but the idea of respecting the diversity of your neighbors and colleagues is just old-fashioned common courtesy
MH/Duuuval
January 20, 2024 at 9:52 pm
Well-said, and the work goes easier when the team is together.
My Take
January 21, 2024 at 9:05 am
I once told an inquirer, “No, I don’t toleratre my black neighbors.”
“I like my black neighbors.”
“And I am glad my children are growing up with black neighbors.”
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January 20, 2024 at 6:30 pm
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Mark King
January 20, 2024 at 6:36 pm
I don’t know WTF he’s talking about.
The only thing I can think of is DEI is the new word to replace “affirmative action”.
Richard Golden-Dewitt
January 21, 2024 at 3:00 pm
It’s not the same affirmative action mostly affected larger companies of 50 or more employees whereas 2% of that workforce had to be a parson of color and 2% has to be woman
companies had to hire and a white man was to apply and they didn’t have that quoter he could you could pass you by so they can make that quotes. BTW mostly white women benefited from affirmative action. Next
if you identify as Gay Lesbian transgender or even one of the many other minorities including native americans you could not only not be hired you could even get fired also be denied a rental, lodging even a table at a restaurant under DEI they cant do any of this kind of discrimination to anyone to put it simple under DEI you cant be told we don’t want your kind. affirmative action is about employment DEI is about non discrimination across the table.
MH/Duuuval
January 22, 2024 at 10:36 am
Affirmative Action never required quotas — this is right-wing hogwash. Large companies could voluntarily put in place rules to proactively hire minorities. And, yes, women have taken advantage. (It wasn’t that long ago that the glass ceiling was much lower since all women were assumed to drop out and have a few babies.)
WhatNow
January 20, 2024 at 7:16 pm
“ ‘You will not get accredited if you do DEI,’ he said Saturday.” – Apparently moron doesn’t realize that the US President has *zero* say in which schools get accredited and which do not.
MH/Duuuval
January 20, 2024 at 7:35 pm
Dee also imagines the President can change the Constitution unilaterally. Specifically the 14th Amendment protection of birthright citizenship. Dee has taken W’s “I am the decider” and added a dimension.
Richard Golden-Dewitt
January 21, 2024 at 3:21 pm
Your quite right BUT they can make it difficult for students to get Federal student loans, he can cut grant monies without federal assistance many schools would not beable to remain open
MH/Duuuval
January 22, 2024 at 10:38 am
Voucher schools, too? Oh, wait, they don’;t need accrediting bodies — or at least as we know them.
My Take
January 20, 2024 at 9:36 pm
Lexinhton SC is Joe Wilson home base. They’ll lap it up. It’s also where that kid who killed all the black people in the church in Charlestln learned to hate. It’s probably dripping with rednecks. A natural for DeSSantis.
My Take
January 20, 2024 at 9:41 pm
When you read or hear his talk it is he who who might be suspected of incípient dementia.
MH/Duuuval
January 20, 2024 at 9:55 pm
My guess is he has a carefully balanced regimen of pills to keep him stabilized. And when the pills are out of balance, so is the candidate who is not the incumbent.
God Bless President Biden
January 20, 2024 at 10:54 pm
“If you’re not in my exact church, you can’t live.”
Ron DeNazi, each morning
Alan Raun
January 21, 2024 at 7:40 am
I could agree with De Satin if black people had the same opportunity as whites. BUT THEY DON’T.
My Take
January 21, 2024 at 1:38 am
“GOOFBALL” is a term that ought to be more generally applied to Rhonda.
Jojo
January 21, 2024 at 2:35 pm
I ever realized that the man can’t string together a coherent sentence. Like, you know, stuff like that
Richard Golden-Dewitt
January 21, 2024 at 7:01 am
Right on
Michael K
January 21, 2024 at 8:22 am
Did it ever occur to our governor that he is failing so spectacularly because only a sliver of the MAGA ultra right wing electorate feed on his anti-Bkack, anti-LGBTQ, anti-science, anti-women, anti-public education red neat? Reasonable people are appalled and turned off by his hate mongering. He deserves to be at the bottom of the heap and he keeps sinking deeper. Good riddance.
My Take
January 21, 2024 at 9:10 am
Bullseye.
My Take
January 21, 2024 at 10:50 am
History major DeSSlantis is running a 1940 Florida state campaign..
Jojo
January 21, 2024 at 2:32 pm
What has happened in our governors life that has made him so racist and homophobic?
Clearly he’s never heard the truism Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.
Jojo
January 21, 2024 at 2:51 pm
Governor… perhaps you didn’t know what DEI was because it’s only taught in upper level law degrees. And you went to Harvard AND Yale?
Richard Golden-Dewitt
January 21, 2024 at 3:41 pm
What your thinking of is Critical Race Theory, DEI is about diversity policy that subjects like homosexuality, gender affirmation race issues can be openly discussed
MH/Duuuval
January 21, 2024 at 6:56 pm
This is correct. Dee essentially dropped CRT and moved to DEI. Did he imagine he had destroyed CRT in Florida? Or, doe DEI provide him with more things to break?
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