If Republicans are serious about winning, they had better focus on the kitchen table issues people actually care about.
Now that President Joe Biden has dropped out of the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris has become the frontrunner in the bid to become the Democratic Party’s new nominee. Republicans naturally have shifted their focus to the vice president. Yet some media figures and influencers have responded to Harris becoming the Party’s new standard bearer by employing a strategy that is sure to backfire: Casting her as a „DEI hire“, in reference to controversial diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that have become popular in corporate America, the government, and other important American institutions, which prioritize hiring people of color.
This is not a new line of attack against Harris and other nonwhite female politicians; those peddling the DEI trope have long pointed out that Biden only selected Harris because she is a Black woman.
But here’s the point: Regardless of whether the DEI label applies to the vice president, using this tactic isn’t going to help Republicans secure the White House after November. Indeed, it will likely work against their efforts to elect former President Donald Trump.
For starters, the Right has overused the term DEI to the point that it means little outside of conservative politics. Indeed, right-leaning politicians and media figures have used DEI in the same way that many on the Left use the term „racist“, applying it to anyone or anything they don’t like.
