There are an endless number of qualified minority candidates for all sorts of positions. That's why we should stop excusing incompetence from people of all colors who are unqualified.
While I agree that having some diversity of thought in teams is good, I will add two additional points.
If a team is supposed to accomplish a goal there has to be one person to decide which path they should take after an airing of the issues they are facing.
The second is that diversity among a team is acceptable, but there has to be a minimum competence before diversity is even considered.
The other problem with diversity is that it's open-ended; it doesn't focus upon anything. It could be diversity of intelligence, diversity of education, diversity of social status. Ad infinitum.
The other big problem with the Democrats is that too many try to be these party loyalists and are unable to honestly reflect what went wrong. I think Karine clearly falls into this kind of pathetic inability to see that the world really has changed. Her clueless avoidance of simple yes or no answers and her immediate flaunting of her sexuality and race are symptoms of why people in the Democratic Party are starting to abandon identity politics and realizing that they need to make life better for people regardless of their background. Let’s elect the best qualified because we can find them pretty easily.
As the education and standards assessor for my jurisdiction I am constantly pressured to lower those standards to accommodate certain people. It is depressing to say the least.
The rank patronizing of nepo babies who believe they’re helping is infuriating. They’re literally saying people are less than others in ability and we should make concessions for that.
The materials one works with don’t care about your identity politics. Either you can work with them adequately or you should go elsewhere.
The Democrats made this bed of identitarian politics. Now they can lie in it.
In addition, Putnam demonstrated that increased diversity resulted in decreased social trust, both horizontal (between ordinary citizens) and vertical (between citizens and institutions). Does that mean that diversity can't have benefits? Of course not. But there is no such thing in this world as an unmitigated good. As Thomas Sowell wrote, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. Maybe the Democrats should grow up and admit that.
Bro, who the fuck are these "progressives" in question? Every article you write cites them as a singular cultural ill plaguing political life while you quote and give examples from milquetoast, centrist, dems who don't even claim to represent progressivism, let alone "The Left".
Like, was it Bernie Sanders who was clamoring for KJP as a "woke DEI" hire? Ro Khanna? Rashida Tlaib? Ilhan Omar? Any and every progressive worth their salt saw and sees through WH Press Sec bullshit like this, and actively called on Biden to step down, and for the national Dems to hold a primary in the wake of an ongoing genocide and Biden's obvious decline, even before 2020. Progressives and the left weren't interested in anointment, the status quo was interested in preserving itself, and KJP and her defenders were front line of that defense.
It is wildly disingenuous, misinformed, and in bad faith to continue conflating "progressives" with your critiques of centrist dems and "moderate" republicans. I can't read a rationale behind it, other than to cede ground to the right because you don't like corporate democrats, (which nobody does, this is obvious) and to insert that you live in Georgia for the 1000th time, on which I congratulate you, I guess lol.
The fact that the Miller family gets airtime and attribution of critique while you don't cite or name a single progressive voice defending KJP in this, or any other, instance says a lot about the validity of this perspective. It is the single most boring take of all time: centrist, corporatist dems are garbage, what a shocker. The best anybody could say for them is at least they're not the Millers.
My question is if what you say is true, what progressives exactly said KJP was unqualified? She was hired into the Biden administration from the movement progressive world, she was a MoveOn alum. She wasn’t some Blue Dog staffer from Kansas! If anything she was a sop to progressives.
There wasn't a need to. She was qualified to be the WH Press Sec in that she was a glorified state propagandist meant to run cover for whichever admin holds power at the time. No press secretary is unique in that regard. You only need to take a look at her book sales to understand this. To the extent that she's been venerated on her book tour, you'll find that its been by the centrist, Biden dems.
Look toward any progressive's stand on Israel, healthcare, and wages. Then compare that with centrist corporatist dems. Where their stances, and more importantly their votes, differ from the official narrative is where you'll find your answer.
Biden and Harris were competent actors, Biden dropped out for the good of the country rather than mental decline, there is no genocide in Gaza, Antizionism=Antisemitism, the ACA just needs a few tweaks around the edges, there was nothing they could do about Roe V. Wade, etc. etc. etc.
Exactly! Name one progressive (those who support M4A, raised minimum age, raising taxes on billionaires) who is actually “elite” enough to influence American politics. Hell, ISRAEL has more influence right now than we do 🤦♂️
I think there is a big difference between recognizing that sometimes there is bias in the hiring process and picking and then settling for someone who isn’t actually good at their job.
It’s useful to analyze whether you are recruiting from a diverse pool and if you are evaluating people fairly. It may be reasonable to put effort into finding quality candidates who don’t look like most of your team.
Progressives protecting KJP from the truth of her competence ultimately has harmed KJP. If she had some self-awareness of the (non) extent of her talents, she would have quietly left at the end of the administration and probably could have gotten some kind of decent job with a non-profit. But she’s high on her own supply - and writing this terrible book and accepting an interview with ISAAC CHOTINER - who terrifies many actually competent people - has likely permanently limited her future career.
DEI is what allowed this particular black, queer woman to rise to WH press secretary. I’m so pleased Trump is tearing down this sickness across multiple industries and campuses. Playing the badge of victim/minority to edge yourself over others makes a mockery of meritocracy. Take a look around your blue communities and see if you see less of those ‘We Believe’ yard signs? BTW, have you seen any recent pics of Obama’s presidential library? I bring up not because the structure looks like a North Korean watchtower, but because it has developed a lot of cement cracks and you guessed it - the contract for that work was DEI chosen.
Former President Barack Obama was a massive, massive cheerleader of DEI.
Go check out Executive Orders 13583 (2011) and 13672 (2014) for two prominent DEI decrees Obama put in place during his tenure that continued on under Biden.
Except Trump is promoting his own sort of DEI by employing idiots like Hegseth, Patel, Bongino, etc. I agree that merit should stand above all else, but don’t kid yourself into thinking that this administration knows what it is doing either. Two things can be true at the same time.
Stephen Collins on CNN wrote that Trump has been the most effective president since FDR, in terms of enacting policy and historical impact. If those individuals are incompetent, it's certainly not affecting the scale and speed of Trump's reforms.
This administration is rolling back DEI. This administration signaled to universities (starting with Harvard) that if they did not roll back DEI inside their 4 walls then the government would take ownership of patents that universities were leasing out to foreign entities, which filled the coffers of universities endowments. But these patents were funded initially by government $, and there’s a law that says the patent must benefit domestic USA first, or government can take. Threatening the $ flow this way got Harvard (all all other similar universities) attention really quick to drop DEI. That is behind the scenes, what it took to let meritocracy start to reign again in higher education. That is an administration showing it knows exactly what it is doing. There is now a LOT to unwind. We had years of DEI madness that really accelerated under Obama. We have a SCOTUS Justice who refused to admit ‘what is a women’ during her hearing, and who appears to be anointed at the altar of DEI.
How about competent Asians? Why is your go-to comparison white vs. black? There are vast number of US citizens who are also Latino, who are quite competent. Or many other shades of brown who are, too.
Because the current administration is overwhelmingly and deliberately staffed with incompetent people, and the incompetent people they hired are disproportionately white? I'm not being theoretical here, there's nothing meritocratic about staffing top jobs with inexperienced talking heads because they're the President's favorite pundits.
I think we are ships passing in the night? Your comment is focused on DEI in government. A narrow moat which changes every 4 years. My comments are about DEI at society writ large, of which KJP was a visible, public example that rose up, within government.
That it's doing the same filibustering that Zaid pointed out KJP would do when pressed on things, to repeat "I'm a black woman," this comment is just repeating "Trump is stopping DEI" instead of engaging.
BTW, Trump is gonna be the best friend DEI and Wokeism/PC/whatever dumb imagined problem conservatives fear ever had. If you don’t like it now, you’re REALLY not going to like it when backlash to Trump causes its resurgence. Look at how Immigration is hitting all time highs in favorability!
My theory is that support for legal immigration rose among Republicans and independents because they concluded that immigration law (meaning border controls and deportations) would actually be enforced. Polling has consistently demonstrated that the public draws a hard line between legal and illegal immigration, supporting the former and opposing the latter.
How else to explain why Trump's base, in his first term, demonstrated markedly warmer sentiments towards immigration?
Tell us again how much you dislike the ideas of Martin Luther King Jr. & Cesar Chavez?
The former espoused treating each as an individual, and not based on pigment tone or curl of one’s hair. The latter was a big proponent of sealing the border, so as not to depress wages of existing, domestic workers.
Every major city in America has streets and boulevards named in their honor. And it’s about time we authentically honored them as well by following policies that promote their ideals.
Who’s disliking anything those people did? I’m just pointing out the fallacy of praising Trump for emphasizing merit while ignoring the fact that he appointed drunks and podcasters with little experience to key government functions.
KJP is the perfect example of the fact that 'diversity hires,' where people are hired for their identity, not their resume of accomplishments, are a thing in the real world, and that they're bad.
Americans are supposed to feel pride and respect for the White House spokesperson who stands up every day, takes questions, and gives as good as she gets. One might disagree about the politics, but the professional competence is still worthy of respect. Very few people honestly felt this way about KJP.
Clearly, if Democrats want to be taken seriously then they need to rigorously interview job candidates and not accept any who are not experts in their field.
Now that I've gone hard at KJP it's only fair to observe the Karoline Leavitt has broken new ground as a diversity hire for whiteness. I would rate her as beneath KJP in terms of professional competence, but this is a point that could be debated.
I’ve seen several interviews on her book tour … she spoke of her race and sexual orientation in each one I saw. And that she felt that Biden and she, as a black queer woman, were thrown under the bus. They both should’ve been protected in her view. Him for his years of experience and her for her identity.
I do think Biden was thrown under the bus in the sense that a man with mental impairment was used by others who then ran the show. The country was thrown under the bus as our elected president was not running the show.
I think she is definitely trying to defend herself, but not really believing what she is saying. This is why she is not making sense. My husband would feel sorry for her because it had to have been a tough spot to be in … that is true. But she is not helping herself with this book tour. I think better to be quiet while seeking another line of work
KJP is the perfect example of the fact that 'diversity hires,' where people are hired for their identity, not their resume of accomplishments, are a thing in the real world, and that they're bad.
Americans are supposed to feel pride and respect for the White House spokesperson who stands up every day, takes questions, and gives as good as she gets. One might disagree about the politics, but the professional competence is still worthy of respect. Very few people honestly felt this way about KJP.
Clearly, if Democrats want to be taken seriously then they need to rigorously interview job candidates and not accept any who are not experts in their field.
Now that I've gone hard at KJP it's only fair to observe the Karoline Leavitt has broken new ground as a diversity hire for whiteness. I would rate her as beneath KJP in terms of professional competence, but this is a point that could be debated.
A terrible communicator who spent her life in communications!!! She wasn’t plucked out of nowhere to become press secretary. They have been rewarding mediocrity, and worse, for a very long time.
I enjoy Zaid’s perspective but usually have some quibbles. Not here, I’m full onboard and think he has the correct read on the failures here. Fair and accurate
What a Woke, DEI disaster. Biden picked Kamala because she was 1) Female; 2) Black.
He picked Jean-Pierre, because she is 1) Female; 2) Black; 3) Lesbian. Prioritize black females, and black female lesbians over every other type of government officials and the Biden disaster is what you end up with!
While I agree that having some diversity of thought in teams is good, I will add two additional points.
If a team is supposed to accomplish a goal there has to be one person to decide which path they should take after an airing of the issues they are facing.
The second is that diversity among a team is acceptable, but there has to be a minimum competence before diversity is even considered.
The other problem with diversity is that it's open-ended; it doesn't focus upon anything. It could be diversity of intelligence, diversity of education, diversity of social status. Ad infinitum.
Apocryphal maybe but Phil Jackson’s is supposed to have said there is no I in team. Jordan replied “there is in Win”. You always want the best
Always fun that the American people get to choose between this and letting poor people starve
The other big problem with the Democrats is that too many try to be these party loyalists and are unable to honestly reflect what went wrong. I think Karine clearly falls into this kind of pathetic inability to see that the world really has changed. Her clueless avoidance of simple yes or no answers and her immediate flaunting of her sexuality and race are symptoms of why people in the Democratic Party are starting to abandon identity politics and realizing that they need to make life better for people regardless of their background. Let’s elect the best qualified because we can find them pretty easily.
Spot on.
As the education and standards assessor for my jurisdiction I am constantly pressured to lower those standards to accommodate certain people. It is depressing to say the least.
The rank patronizing of nepo babies who believe they’re helping is infuriating. They’re literally saying people are less than others in ability and we should make concessions for that.
The materials one works with don’t care about your identity politics. Either you can work with them adequately or you should go elsewhere.
The Democrats made this bed of identitarian politics. Now they can lie in it.
In addition, Putnam demonstrated that increased diversity resulted in decreased social trust, both horizontal (between ordinary citizens) and vertical (between citizens and institutions). Does that mean that diversity can't have benefits? Of course not. But there is no such thing in this world as an unmitigated good. As Thomas Sowell wrote, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. Maybe the Democrats should grow up and admit that.
Bro, who the fuck are these "progressives" in question? Every article you write cites them as a singular cultural ill plaguing political life while you quote and give examples from milquetoast, centrist, dems who don't even claim to represent progressivism, let alone "The Left".
Like, was it Bernie Sanders who was clamoring for KJP as a "woke DEI" hire? Ro Khanna? Rashida Tlaib? Ilhan Omar? Any and every progressive worth their salt saw and sees through WH Press Sec bullshit like this, and actively called on Biden to step down, and for the national Dems to hold a primary in the wake of an ongoing genocide and Biden's obvious decline, even before 2020. Progressives and the left weren't interested in anointment, the status quo was interested in preserving itself, and KJP and her defenders were front line of that defense.
It is wildly disingenuous, misinformed, and in bad faith to continue conflating "progressives" with your critiques of centrist dems and "moderate" republicans. I can't read a rationale behind it, other than to cede ground to the right because you don't like corporate democrats, (which nobody does, this is obvious) and to insert that you live in Georgia for the 1000th time, on which I congratulate you, I guess lol.
The fact that the Miller family gets airtime and attribution of critique while you don't cite or name a single progressive voice defending KJP in this, or any other, instance says a lot about the validity of this perspective. It is the single most boring take of all time: centrist, corporatist dems are garbage, what a shocker. The best anybody could say for them is at least they're not the Millers.
My question is if what you say is true, what progressives exactly said KJP was unqualified? She was hired into the Biden administration from the movement progressive world, she was a MoveOn alum. She wasn’t some Blue Dog staffer from Kansas! If anything she was a sop to progressives.
There wasn't a need to. She was qualified to be the WH Press Sec in that she was a glorified state propagandist meant to run cover for whichever admin holds power at the time. No press secretary is unique in that regard. You only need to take a look at her book sales to understand this. To the extent that she's been venerated on her book tour, you'll find that its been by the centrist, Biden dems.
Look toward any progressive's stand on Israel, healthcare, and wages. Then compare that with centrist corporatist dems. Where their stances, and more importantly their votes, differ from the official narrative is where you'll find your answer.
What is the ‘official narrative’?
Biden and Harris were competent actors, Biden dropped out for the good of the country rather than mental decline, there is no genocide in Gaza, Antizionism=Antisemitism, the ACA just needs a few tweaks around the edges, there was nothing they could do about Roe V. Wade, etc. etc. etc.
Exactly! Name one progressive (those who support M4A, raised minimum age, raising taxes on billionaires) who is actually “elite” enough to influence American politics. Hell, ISRAEL has more influence right now than we do 🤦♂️
I think there is a big difference between recognizing that sometimes there is bias in the hiring process and picking and then settling for someone who isn’t actually good at their job.
It’s useful to analyze whether you are recruiting from a diverse pool and if you are evaluating people fairly. It may be reasonable to put effort into finding quality candidates who don’t look like most of your team.
But the bottom line is getting the job done.
Right on target. Thanks for flagging this, @Erica Etelson.
Progressives protecting KJP from the truth of her competence ultimately has harmed KJP. If she had some self-awareness of the (non) extent of her talents, she would have quietly left at the end of the administration and probably could have gotten some kind of decent job with a non-profit. But she’s high on her own supply - and writing this terrible book and accepting an interview with ISAAC CHOTINER - who terrifies many actually competent people - has likely permanently limited her future career.
DEI is what allowed this particular black, queer woman to rise to WH press secretary. I’m so pleased Trump is tearing down this sickness across multiple industries and campuses. Playing the badge of victim/minority to edge yourself over others makes a mockery of meritocracy. Take a look around your blue communities and see if you see less of those ‘We Believe’ yard signs? BTW, have you seen any recent pics of Obama’s presidential library? I bring up not because the structure looks like a North Korean watchtower, but because it has developed a lot of cement cracks and you guessed it - the contract for that work was DEI chosen.
Former President Barack Obama was a massive, massive cheerleader of DEI.
Go check out Executive Orders 13583 (2011) and 13672 (2014) for two prominent DEI decrees Obama put in place during his tenure that continued on under Biden.
Except Trump is promoting his own sort of DEI by employing idiots like Hegseth, Patel, Bongino, etc. I agree that merit should stand above all else, but don’t kid yourself into thinking that this administration knows what it is doing either. Two things can be true at the same time.
How are Hegseth, Patel and Bongino incompetent? As far as I can tell the Trump administration is stramrolling everything in its path.
In that they’re not doing the roles they’re supposed to be doing.
Stephen Collins on CNN wrote that Trump has been the most effective president since FDR, in terms of enacting policy and historical impact. If those individuals are incompetent, it's certainly not affecting the scale and speed of Trump's reforms.
This administration is rolling back DEI. This administration signaled to universities (starting with Harvard) that if they did not roll back DEI inside their 4 walls then the government would take ownership of patents that universities were leasing out to foreign entities, which filled the coffers of universities endowments. But these patents were funded initially by government $, and there’s a law that says the patent must benefit domestic USA first, or government can take. Threatening the $ flow this way got Harvard (all all other similar universities) attention really quick to drop DEI. That is behind the scenes, what it took to let meritocracy start to reign again in higher education. That is an administration showing it knows exactly what it is doing. There is now a LOT to unwind. We had years of DEI madness that really accelerated under Obama. We have a SCOTUS Justice who refused to admit ‘what is a women’ during her hearing, and who appears to be anointed at the altar of DEI.
Hiring incompetent white people isn't rolling back DEI, it's just redirecting it.
I agree that white nepotism hires are just as bad.
How about competent Asians? Why is your go-to comparison white vs. black? There are vast number of US citizens who are also Latino, who are quite competent. Or many other shades of brown who are, too.
Because the current administration is overwhelmingly and deliberately staffed with incompetent people, and the incompetent people they hired are disproportionately white? I'm not being theoretical here, there's nothing meritocratic about staffing top jobs with inexperienced talking heads because they're the President's favorite pundits.
Dude, don’t bother with this weirdo.
Let's have some examples of that incompetence then.
I think we are ships passing in the night? Your comment is focused on DEI in government. A narrow moat which changes every 4 years. My comments are about DEI at society writ large, of which KJP was a visible, public example that rose up, within government.
I want to believe that this comment is satire.
That it's doing the same filibustering that Zaid pointed out KJP would do when pressed on things, to repeat "I'm a black woman," this comment is just repeating "Trump is stopping DEI" instead of engaging.
It's a piece of art, I tell you.
BTW, Trump is gonna be the best friend DEI and Wokeism/PC/whatever dumb imagined problem conservatives fear ever had. If you don’t like it now, you’re REALLY not going to like it when backlash to Trump causes its resurgence. Look at how Immigration is hitting all time highs in favorability!
Support for legal immigration rose primarily among Republicans during Trump's first term.
It’s rising faster now among everyone. Not sure what your point is.
My theory is that support for legal immigration rose among Republicans and independents because they concluded that immigration law (meaning border controls and deportations) would actually be enforced. Polling has consistently demonstrated that the public draws a hard line between legal and illegal immigration, supporting the former and opposing the latter.
How else to explain why Trump's base, in his first term, demonstrated markedly warmer sentiments towards immigration?
Tell us again how much you dislike the ideas of Martin Luther King Jr. & Cesar Chavez?
The former espoused treating each as an individual, and not based on pigment tone or curl of one’s hair. The latter was a big proponent of sealing the border, so as not to depress wages of existing, domestic workers.
Every major city in America has streets and boulevards named in their honor. And it’s about time we authentically honored them as well by following policies that promote their ideals.
Who’s disliking anything those people did? I’m just pointing out the fallacy of praising Trump for emphasizing merit while ignoring the fact that he appointed drunks and podcasters with little experience to key government functions.
Stop with the red herring.
Who are these drunks and podcasters and what exactly are they doing that screams incompetency to you?
KJP is the perfect example of the fact that 'diversity hires,' where people are hired for their identity, not their resume of accomplishments, are a thing in the real world, and that they're bad.
Americans are supposed to feel pride and respect for the White House spokesperson who stands up every day, takes questions, and gives as good as she gets. One might disagree about the politics, but the professional competence is still worthy of respect. Very few people honestly felt this way about KJP.
Clearly, if Democrats want to be taken seriously then they need to rigorously interview job candidates and not accept any who are not experts in their field.
Now that I've gone hard at KJP it's only fair to observe the Karoline Leavitt has broken new ground as a diversity hire for whiteness. I would rate her as beneath KJP in terms of professional competence, but this is a point that could be debated.
I’ve seen several interviews on her book tour … she spoke of her race and sexual orientation in each one I saw. And that she felt that Biden and she, as a black queer woman, were thrown under the bus. They both should’ve been protected in her view. Him for his years of experience and her for her identity.
I do think Biden was thrown under the bus in the sense that a man with mental impairment was used by others who then ran the show. The country was thrown under the bus as our elected president was not running the show.
I think she is definitely trying to defend herself, but not really believing what she is saying. This is why she is not making sense. My husband would feel sorry for her because it had to have been a tough spot to be in … that is true. But she is not helping herself with this book tour. I think better to be quiet while seeking another line of work
KJP is the perfect example of the fact that 'diversity hires,' where people are hired for their identity, not their resume of accomplishments, are a thing in the real world, and that they're bad.
Americans are supposed to feel pride and respect for the White House spokesperson who stands up every day, takes questions, and gives as good as she gets. One might disagree about the politics, but the professional competence is still worthy of respect. Very few people honestly felt this way about KJP.
Clearly, if Democrats want to be taken seriously then they need to rigorously interview job candidates and not accept any who are not experts in their field.
Now that I've gone hard at KJP it's only fair to observe the Karoline Leavitt has broken new ground as a diversity hire for whiteness. I would rate her as beneath KJP in terms of professional competence, but this is a point that could be debated.
A terrible communicator who spent her life in communications!!! She wasn’t plucked out of nowhere to become press secretary. They have been rewarding mediocrity, and worse, for a very long time.
I enjoy Zaid’s perspective but usually have some quibbles. Not here, I’m full onboard and think he has the correct read on the failures here. Fair and accurate
What a Woke, DEI disaster. Biden picked Kamala because she was 1) Female; 2) Black.
He picked Jean-Pierre, because she is 1) Female; 2) Black; 3) Lesbian. Prioritize black females, and black female lesbians over every other type of government officials and the Biden disaster is what you end up with!