With Vice President Harris emerging as a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination following President Biden’s withdrawal from the race, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has slammed Republicans for attacking her as the “DEI candidate.”
DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion and is used as shorthand for efforts to increase diversity in hiring and other areas.
“Republicans are being total idiots and attacking her as the ‘DEI candidate,'” Scarborough said on “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. “And, quite frankly, 99 percent of Americans don’t even know what those letters stand for. But they know it’s probably racist.”
Democrats quickly backed Harris, who had garnered a huge amount of support and funding after her boss dropped out of the race.
“When I look at the vice president, I’m just looking at someone a generation younger than me. [former President Trump]and I think it will energize a lot of people that Democrats need to win this election,” Scarborough said.
Harris will be the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to be elected president.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) criticized Harris for “hiring DEI.” Mentioned her “Our VP of DEI,” he posted on social platform X on Monday.
“Washington incompetence is at an all-time high. The media propped up this President, lied to the American people for three years, then demoted him to DEI VP,” Burchett said in the post.
DEI programs often aim to promote fairness and equality within organizations and address historical inequities related to racism, homophobia, and sexism. DEI programs have come under attack from the right, with current Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) introducing a bill last month that would ban DEI programs and funding in the federal government.
“The DEI agenda is a destructive ideology that sows hatred and racial division,” Vance said in an earlier statement. “It should have no place in the federal government or anywhere else in society. I am proud to introduce this bill, which will eradicate DEI from the federal bureaucracy by eliminating programs like DEI and stripping funding for DEI policy everywhere.”
