Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) highlighted the unbridled hypocrisy of President-elect Donald Trump’s “good old boy system” for choosing his administration officials in light of Republicans’ persistent grievances about so-called “DEI hires.”
“I mean, we are just in unchartered territory. But if anybody is surprised, then I say you haven’t been paying attention,” Crockett said on CNN Wednesday, after Trump announced he was nominating former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general.
“Because the reality is that we have someone that is not qualified, morally or otherwise, to be president of the United States. So why would his appointments be qualified?”
“These are people that have railed against diversity, equity, inclusion, trying to say that diverse candidates are somehow not qualified,” she continued.
Democracy In The Balance
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“But the reality is that what they want to do is more of this,” she added. “Is put people that are not qualified in and say, ‘Well, you know what? Because he’s my homeboy, he is qualified.’ That’s not enough. That is what the ‘good old boy system’ has always been about, and it’s why we have not ever reached our maximum potential.”
Conservatives have used the term “DEI hire” — referring to diversity, equity and inclusion programs — as a racist dog whistle to disparage qualified candidates as undeserving of their accomplishments. Republicans used the term to attack Kamala Harris, the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to become vice president.
Trump has tapped a crew of loyalist cronies to fill his administration so far, many lacking the appropriate experience for their roles. He’s picked Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host, for secretary of defense, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who has no formal intelligence experience, as director of national intelligence, prompting alarm from defense and national security experts.