By Gram Slattery and Nathan Layne
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald TrumpTrump’s pledge to fight what he calls “anti-white sentiment” in the US is likely to embolden allies seeking to dismantle government and corporate programs designed to combat racism and increase diversity in American life.
Some high-profile supporters of the former president, now the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, say policies protecting people of color in classrooms, workplaces and charities should be repurposed to also protect the rights of white people.
“I think there is a definite anti-white sentiment in this country,” Trump told Time in an interview published Tuesday. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s very difficult to address this. But I think the laws are very unfair right now.”
Trump did not specify any 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 if Trump wins back the White House from the Democrat. Joe Biden in a Nov. 5 election.
One proposal from Trump would reverse Biden’s executive order requiring federal agencies to assess whether underserved communities — including people of color, LGBTQ Americans and rural Americans — have adequate access to their programs.
At campaign rallies, Trump promises to defund schools that teach critical race theory, an academic concept — rarely taught in public schools — that rests on the premise that racial bias is ingrained in American institutions.
One campaign adviser, Lynne Patton, told conservative activist and journalist Laura Loomer in an interview posted Friday that she expected a second Trump White House would deny federal money to schools, businesses or charities that use diversity, equity and introduced inclusion programs. , commonly known as DEI.
Rights advocates are attacking what they see as efforts to deny equal footing to communities of color. They say the programs Trump wants to dismantle exist to undo centuries of documented inequality.
“There has always been the potential to stoke this kind of fear and frustration among many white people whenever an effort to level the playing field for non-white people has been successful in any way,” said Tricia Rose, director from the Center for the Study of Race. and Ethnicity in America at Brown University.
One Trump ally, Gene Hamilton, told Reuters that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division should ensure that corporate programs designed to boost workplace diversity are not themselves discriminatory.
The department could draw its authority, he said, in part from Section VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The law, passed at a time when Black Americans were aggressively campaigning for civil rights, bans hiring or compensation decisions based on “race, color, religion, sex or national origin.”
Hamilton, who served at the Justice Department under Trump, says the law should also protect white people. For example, a recruitment program designed to increase the number of people of color in the workplace should not exclude other applicants.
Such a focus would be a dramatic departure from the Civil Rights Division’s historic role in protecting marginalized groups.
In recent years, it has led to investigations into police departments for alleged racism against Black Americans and companies sued for discriminating against immigrants.
“Programs and policies … that deny Americans benefits or employment solely because of their race or gender or the like are contrary to the central principle that has held the country together,” said Hamilton, who laid out his views in a policy book published by a consortium of Trump-friendly think tanks known as Project 2025.
A POLICY BLUEPRINT FOR A SECOND TRUMP TERM
While the Trump campaign has distanced itself from the project, the consortium has laid out a policy blueprint for a potential Trump administration. Many of the former president’s allies are involved.
In practice, official race-based complaints about anti-white discrimination in the workplace 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 U.S. workforce.
Yet a majority of self-identified Trump voters believe white Americans face discrimination. About 53% of self-identified Trump voters who responded to a March Reuters/Ipsos poll said they believed white people in the U.S. are discriminated against because of the color of their skin, compared with 14% of self-identified Biden voters.
A Project 2025 chapter co-authored by conservative economist and Trump adviser Stephen Moore argues that the Treasury Department should try to fire employees who willingly 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.
Asked about Time magazine’s comments and the steps Trump would take to address anti-white bias, his campaign said in a statement that Black and Hispanic Americans were more interested in immigration, crime and wallet issues than issues of race.
About 85% of Black Americans said in a 2021 Gallup poll that they were dissatisfied with the way Black people are treated in America.
“In his second term, President Trump will uplift all Americans, regardless of race or religion,” said Patton, the campaign adviser.
Asked about the Time interview, Biden’s campaign said Trump’s policies would make life harder for communities of color.
“Trump is making clear that if he wins in November, he will turn his racist record into official public policy, cutting programs that provide economic opportunities to communities of color,” said campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz.
According to legal scholars, some of the more radical proposals may be difficult – but not impossible – to implement in practice.
For example, while the protections of the Civil Rights Act apply to white people, the Justice Department often lacks the 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 of this would be situations where a company contracts with the government, she said.
Patrice Willoughby, a senior vice president at the NAACP, said the civil rights organization would be prepared to organize boycotts of certain companies that agreed to attacks on stock programs.
“If necessary, we will not hesitate to use our economic power,” she said.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington and Nathan Layne in Waukesha, Wis.; additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin, Kat Stafford and Howard Goller)
