This column was originally published on Sheila Kennedy’s blog.
By Sheila Kennedy
January 24, 2025
There is no longer any way to pretend that the MAGA movement is not all about racism. The only difference between Trump and a Grand Dragon is that the white sheet has been exchanged for a red hat. (KKK members at least understood that they should hide their faces; MAGA’s racists are “out and proud.”)
Spineless fellow-travelers in the GOP can no longer pretend that clear signs of bigotry are being “misinterpreted”– that Nazi salutes are just signs of exuberance. Trump has removed any ambiguity those quislings might hide behind.
Trump’s Executive orders attacked diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, ordered the Justice Department to stop civil rights prosecutions already in progress and to cease any investigations of racist discrimination currently underway. As part of that purge of diversity programs, he ordered federal workers to report colleagues who keep such programs alive and threatened those who don’t comply. In a related order, Trump revoked a 60-year-old rule banning discrimination at federal contractors.
Even his assault on the Department of Education is motivated by the fact that it investigates civil rights complaints at K-12 schools and higher education institutions.
Robert Hubbell has noted a particularly heartless coda to Trump’s effort to make bigotry great again:
Trump expanded “DEI” to include an “A” (for “accessibility”)—apparently indicating an attempt to root out efforts to expand the representation of disabled individuals protected by the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). See Mother Jones, Trump Shuts Down Diversity Programs Across Government.
The New York Times has reported that Trump’s Justice Department has not only halted new civil rights investigations, but has also signaled that it might back out of agreements with local police departments to address misconduct–sending a clear message that police officers accused of unnecessary violence against minority citizens are unlikely to face any penalties.
Hubbell also reported the contents of chilling internal memos:
Internal memos at federal agencies announced the immediate abolition of “DEIA” in ominous language that suggested a police state. The memos said,
The Department [AGENCY” NAME] is taking steps to close all agency DEIA
offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President
Trump’s executive orders titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government
DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive
Orders and Actions.
These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and
resulted in shameful discrimination.
We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs
by using coded or imprecise language. If you are aware of a change in any
contract description or personnel position description since November 5,
2024, to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar
ideologies, please report all facts and circumstances to [omitted email
address] within 10 days.
There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this
information. However, failure to report this information within 10 days may
result in adverse consequences.
Worse, the email threatens federal employees with punishment if they fail to “snitch” on other federal workers who fail to comply with vague, retrospective regulations designed to sniff out alleged “underground efforts” to promote diversity. The analog to Nazi Germany is direct. No similes or metaphors are needed. The memo is a complete one-to-one mapping onto the tactics of Hitler’s SS.
Republican assaults on the very concept of fairness and non-discrimination aren’t
limited to the federal government. Here in deep-Red Indiana (former headquarters of
the KKK), a bill working its way through the General Assembly would ban diversity, equity and inclusion in state agencies, educational institutions and any organization that receives money from the state.
Under SB 235, DEI’s definition includes social justice, systemic oppression and antiracism. And it bans taking positions on those issues. It also limits training related to race, sex, color, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. And it bans “influencing the composition” of employees related to race, sex, color or ethnicity.
Give the GOP credit for “coming out.” MAGA has always been racist and White Christian Nationalist to the core– an effort to reclaim social and legal dominance for straight White Christian males. Pundits who attribute Trump’s (slim) electoral victory to Democratic messaging or Biden policies simply refuse to see the GOP elephant in the room: Kamala Harris was defeated by the deeply-rooted racism and misogyny of far too many American voters.
There is no longer any intellectually honest way to avoid recognizing and naming what really motivates these people. And no way for those of us who don’t share those hatreds to escape the clear moral imperative to resist, speak truth to power, and call MAGA what it so obviously is.
We are either on the side of Episcopal Bishop Budde or the Red Hats. There is no middle ground.
Sheila Suess Kennedy is Emerita Professor of Law and Public Policy at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. As an attorney, she practiced real estate, administrative and business law in Indianapolis before becoming corporation counsel for the City of Indianapolis in 1977. In 1980, she was the Republican candidate for Indiana’s then 1th Congressional District and in 1992, she became executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana. She joined the faculty of the School of Public and Environment al Affairs in 1998.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.