A former Obama campaign adviser blasted the Trump administration’s efforts to combat diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the federal government, likening the president to a Ku Klux Klan member.
“He doesn’t believe in fairness, and at this point, he might as well just put on the white hood, because every Black person in this country in particular knows what message this is signaling and knows exactly what he’s doing when he talks, the way he talks, and when he employs these types of regulations,” Ameshia Cross said Saturday on MSNBC.
Cross made the racially-charged comments in response to a question regarding President Donald Trump’s recent executive order calling for a formal review of FAA hiring practices during the Biden administration.
The order came in response to the tragic DC plane crash which killed 67 people Wednesday, after an Army helicopter collided with a passenger jet near Reagan National Airport. Immediately after the crash, some speculated that the FAA’s DEI policies may have played a role in the disaster.
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Trump’s executive order came in response to the tragic DC plane crash. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),” the order said.
“We must have only the highest standards for people who work in our aviation system. I changed the standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary… We must have safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first,” the president said at a press conference the day after the crash. “We need to have our smartest people, it doesn’t matter what they look like.”
Cross claimed that Trump’s executive orders and rhetoric bashing DEI hiring practices are little more than thinly veiled racism, and accused the president of trying to “erase the achievements and accomplishments and history of Black people.”
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President Trump is calling for a review of all FAA hiring practices, and has banned DEI from the federal government. (Melina Mara – Pool/Getty Images)
The Democratic strategist claimed that Trump’s anti-DEI measures are part of a “messaging strategy” and conceded that the strategy has so far been successful “across many states.”
“We’re seeing colleges and universities roll back their DEI campus relations… we’re seeing time and time again so many of the private sector giants also back away from their DEI pledges,” Cross said.
Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram among other companies, announced they were ending their DEI policies in January. The company’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, Joel Kaplan, told Fox News Digital ending DEI would allow them to build teams “with the most talented people.”
Meta has announced they are dropping DEI policies from their companies. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Cross saw something more nefarious in Trump’s push to end DEI, however, saying the president “does not want anyone else to be able to reach the American dream.”
“If you let Donald Trump tell it, merit is only found, excellence is only found in White men,” she said.
