By Gram Slattery and Nathan Layne
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – donald trumpTrump’s promise to fight what he calls “anti-white sentiment” in the United States will likely embolden allies seeking to dismantle government and corporate programs created to combat racism and boost diversity in American life.
Some high-profile supporters of the former president, now a Republican presidential candidate in 2024, say policies to protect people of color in classrooms, workplaces and charities should be repurposed to protect white rights as well. .
“I think there is definitely anti-white sentiment in this country,” Trump told Time in an interview published Tuesday. “Frankly, I don’t think it’s a very difficult thing to address. But I think the laws are very unfair right now.”
Trump did not specify examples of anti-white bias or policy prescriptions in the interview.
But Trump’s campaign website lays out several plans, and some of his allies are making detailed recommendations should Trump win back the White House from Democrats. Joe Biden in the November 5 elections.
A Trump proposal would reverse Biden’s executive order requiring federal agencies to evaluate whether underserved communities — including people of color, LGBTQ Americans and rural Americans — can adequately access their programs.
At campaign rallies, Trump promises to defund schools that teach critical race theory, an academic concept — rarely taught in public schools — that is based on the premise that racial bias is embedded in American institutions. .
A campaign adviser, Lynne Patton, told conservative activist and journalist Laura Loomer in an interview published Friday that she expected a second Trump White House to deny federal money to any school, business or charity that implemented hiring practices under programs of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. , widely known as DEI.
Rights advocates attack what they see as any effort to deny communities of color a level playing field. They say the programs Trump wants to dismantle exist to reverse centuries of documented inequalities.
“There has always been the ability to foster this kind of anxiety and frustration among many whites whenever an effort to level the playing field for non-whites has been successful in some way,” said Tricia Rose, director of the Center for the Study of the Race. and Ethnicity in America at Brown University.
A Trump ally, Gene Hamilton, told Reuters that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division must ensure that corporate programs aimed at boosting diversity in the workplace are not themselves discriminatory.
The department could derive its authority, he said, in part from Section VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Passed during a time when African Americans were aggressively campaigning for civil rights, the law prohibits hiring or compensation decisions based on “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
Hamilton, who worked at the Justice Department during Trump’s presidency, says the law should also protect white people. For example, a hiring program aimed at increasing the number of people of color in the workplace should not exclude other applicants.
Such an approach would dramatically move away from the Civil Rights Division’s historic role of protecting marginalized groups.
In recent years, he has led investigations into police departments for alleged racism against African Americans and sued companies for discriminating against immigrants.
“Programs and policies… that deny benefits or employment to Americans solely because of their race or their sex or anything like that violate that central principle that has held the country together,” said Hamilton, who outlined his views in a policy book published by a consortium of pro-Trump think tanks known as Project 2025.
A DRAFT POLICY FOR A SECOND TRUMP TERM
While the Trump campaign has distanced itself from the project, the consortium has drafted a policy plan for a potential Trump administration. Many of the former president’s allies are involved.
In practice, official complaints of anti-white workplace discrimination based on race appear to be rare.
For example, only a fraction of race-based claims before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an independent government agency, are filed by white people, who make up the majority of the American workforce.
Still, a majority of self-identified Trump voters believe white Americans face discrimination. About 53% of Trump-identifying voters who responded to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in March said they believed white people in the United States are discriminated against because of the color of their skin, compared with 14% of voters who identify as Biden.
A chapter in Project 2025, co-written by conservative economist and Trump adviser Stephen Moore, argues that the Treasury Department should seek to fire employees who voluntarily participate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.
The chapter does not specify which programs it considers a form of DEI, but the term often suggests a desire to increase diversity and make people of color more comfortable in the workplace.
When asked about Time magazine’s comments and steps Trump would take to address anti-white bias, his campaign said in a statement that black and Hispanic Americans were most interested in immigration, crime and economic issues than racial issues.
About 85% of Black Americans said in a 2021 Gallup poll that they were dissatisfied with the way Black people are treated in the United States.
“In his second term, President Trump will uplift all Americans regardless of race or religion,” said Patton, the campaign adviser.
When asked about the Time interview, the Biden campaign said Trump’s policies would make life more difficult for communities of color.
“Trump is making it clear that if he wins in November, he will make his racist record official government policy, destroying programs that provide economic opportunity to communities of color,” said Kevin Muñoz, a campaign spokesman.
In practice, some of the more radical proposals can be difficult – although not impossible – to implement, according to legal experts.
For example, while the protections of the Civil Rights Act apply to whites, the Department of Justice often lacks authority to sue private employers under Title VII.
However, there are several situations in which the Justice Department could become involved, said Susan Carle, a professor at American University. An example could include situations where a company contracts with the government, she said.
Patrice Willoughby, senior vice president of the NAACP, said the civil rights organization would be willing to organize boycotts of certain companies that accept attacks on equity programs.
“When necessary we will not hesitate to use our economic power,” he said.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington and Nathan Layne in Waukesha, Wisconsin; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin, Kat Stafford and Howard Goller)