May 6, 2025

“Gretchen, Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen” or, Why DJT Trying to Make DEI-Related Discrimination a Thing is Never Going to Happen.

By Laura Trachtman
The  Trump administration has claimed to have taken steps to “reverse the role of DEI in hiring.” Specifically, President Trump published an Executive Order related to DEI, and his administration has issued a fact sheet concerning the same. Is it my understanding that the Trump administration feels that DEI hiring is discriminatory towards a certain demographic of the population, that is, cisgendered, heterosexual, Protestant, white men (“CHPWM”), based on the theory that DEI promotes otherwise unqualified individuals to take positions that CHPWM would otherwise have occupied.  

There are two main problems with the Trump administration’s position. The first is the position that DEI hires are unqualified for their positions and are only hired because of their membership in a protected class, and the second is the position that new policies were needed to correct the first problem.  We’ll tackle these one at a time.

First, to assume that only CHPWM are qualified for roles, and everyone else is unqualified, is an intolerant and ignorant assumption.  And yet, this is the assumption that the Trump administration relies upon to promulgate these policies.   Personally, I find the Trump administration’s position to be incredibly offensive, idiotic, prejudiced, and just plain wrong.  I worry that this will have long-standing effects on the American population, which I will not get into here due to time restraints.  But, with a Republican majority in Congress, I fear that we are stuck with these policies – for now.  

Second, legally speaking, DEI-related discrimination doesn’t exist, just like reverse racism doesn’t exist. In other words, there’s not one type of discrimination protection for white people and another for people of color: it’s all covered under the same law. 

Regardless, the Trump administration provided guidance for employees who feel that they have been discriminated against due to DEI policies; some examples can be found here and here. The long and the short of these publications is that an employer (and others, but for our purposes, we’ll stick with employers) cannot discriminate against an employee based on a protected characteristic, which includes race.  While the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission correctly summarized that in its publications, this is nothing new. Since the passage of Title VII in 1964, it has been illegal to discriminate based on race – any race. Many individuals operate under the mistaken belief that it is only illegal to discriminate against someone if they are not white. This is wrong.  

Title VII states: “It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer – (1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

What does this mean? It means that you can’t discriminate against someone based on their race, no matter what that race is. 

Why do people think that you can only discriminate based on race if someone is a person of color? This question requires a much longer answer than I have time or space for here, but suffice it to say, people of color are generally treated less favorably than white people in the United States and thus find themselves needing the protection of the law more frequently.

Why the attack on DEI if discrimination based on any race is prohibited? My own theory is that white people are starting to feel that their position as the “preeminent” race in America is threatened. The unique privilege that white Americans have enjoyed for centuries is starting to erode as American employers have finally begun to realize that encouraging diversity, equity, and inclusion in hiring makes a stronger workplace and is better for business.  The upshot is that Americans of all races are starting to reach some level of equality; the downshot is that white Americans are feeling insecure and need reassurance that they’re still #1. That’s where President Trump steps in. 

By declaring DEI policies discriminatory, President Trump sought to assuage the worries of white Americans regarding their crumbling status in American society. The problem is that it has always been illegal to discriminate based on protected characteristics under Title VII. And while President Trump has claimed that this a big victory for [gestures vaguely], the fact remains that he has made absolutely no changes to the law, and he’s shamming everyone who believes that President Trump has provided any additional protections to white Americans whatsoever. 

Special thank you to the creators and writers of Mean Girls for the phrase “Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen.”