DEI: The Dems' Concrete Shoes

Democrats think they need a Joe Rogan of their own when what they actually need is a Christopher Rufo.

Today Rufo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and just last week he received a prestigious Bradley Prize from one of the American right's most generous foundations.

But Rufo is no ordinary think-tank scholar — he's the scourge of DEI and the ideological architect of Harvard University's troubles with the Trump administration.

His investigations into plagiarism by prominent academics have rocked higher education, helping to drive Harvard's last president, Claudine Gay, to resign.

What could Democrats possibly gain from someone like Rufo?

Freedom from the cement shoes they've poured for themselves, for a start.

Democrats are captives of the political correctness Rufo specializes in dismantling.

"Diversity, equity, and inclusion" is a losing formula for the party, with disastrous implications for candidate selection and voter appeal.

The Democrats' $20 million "Speaking With American Men" initiative promises to be about as successful in drawing men to the party as Tim Walz was.

After all, just look at what's happening to David Hogg.

The high-school shooting survivor and gun-control activist, who is now a Harvard graduate and the youngest ever vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, may be stripped of his leadership role by the DNC next week following complaints that he and another vice chair, Malcolm Kenyatta, were illegitimately elected.

And what made their election invalid?

They didn't fit the identity-politics criteria specified by the DNC's rules.

If the two male vice chairs are forced out, a new election will select one man and one woman — a strict sex quota.

Kalyn Free, the Native American woman who in February lost the election for DNC vice chair to Hogg, says that race "violated the DNC Charter and discriminated against three women of color candidates."

Hogg says the controversy "sends a horrible message to the public about our inability to run elections."

It certainly does, but that's not all: It also showcases how identity politics counts for more than merit, or popularity with voters, even in the highest reaches of the party.

Kamala Harris was never a plausible pick for Joe Biden's presidential ticket in 2020 based on the popularity she'd demonstrated in the Democratic primaries — because she didn't even make it as far as the first contest.

Nor was her home state, California, any kind of battleground.

Yet the party that put a black man at the top of the ticket in 2008 and 2012, and a woman on top in 2016, had to have diversity in 2020, too, and Harris, as a black woman, added more than her rivals.

It was already clear Biden might only be capable of serving a single term (if that), and Harris might have to take over as president at any time or become the nominee in 2024.

Was she cut out to win a presidential election?

Not based on any evidence she provided running for the nomination in 2020 — and of course, the question was answered definitively in the negative last November.

Identity politics, not electability, was Harris' greatest asset — though, to be sure, the same might be said of Walz.

He did hail from a battleground region (the Midwest), if not a very close state (Minnesota), but Democrats made plain that Walz was on the ticket to be the kind of white man that might get white and male voters to desert Donald Trump.

The gambit failed miserably, with Trump even winning an outright majority with the youngest male cohort, Generation Z.

The Trump-Vance ticket, by contrast with Harris-Walz, didn't try to win any diversity points; its aim was to win the election — and set up a plausible heir to Trump who could win the next one, too.

Liberating themselves from DEI would help Democrats choose better candidates for everything from DNC vice chair to vice president, and president, of the United States.

It would also send a stronger message to men, especially young ones, than tokenism of the Tim Walz variety ever could.

Young men of all racial and economic backgrounds know they're the losers in DEI, not only because they count for less "diversity" than women do but also because the competitive spirit that's characteristically (though not exclusively) male is devalued by the diversity industry.

That industry instead prioritizes an abstract, academic notion of "justice" based on outcomes — and trusts experts exempt from competition themselves to decide what's just and fair.

A Joe Rogan wouldn't get anywhere in the party of DEI, and $20 million won't get that party anywhere with men.

What the Democrats need is the medicine Christopher Rufo prescribes: an end to DEI, a renewed sense of patriotism and pride in American history, and above all a return to competition and merit.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• 05/27/25: DEI: The Dems' Concrete Shoes
• 05/20/25: China's Power Is a Virus
• 05/13/25: How this GOP Governor's Miracle Became a Curse
• 04/15/25: Is UnitedHealthcare CEO's murderer the Left's Donald Trump?
• 04/01/25: Lawfare Isn't Beaten -- In France or America
• 03/25/25: Will Trump Turn Nationalism Against America?
• 03/18/25: The Dems' Civil War
• 03/11/25: Can Donald Trump Win a Trade War?
• 03/04/25: Europe's Decline Was a Choice
• 02/25/25: How Trump Makes Europe Stronger
• 02/20/25: Tax-payers funding a sham of democracy
• 02/11/25: What Kind of a Populist Is Elon Musk?
• 02/03/25: Can Trump Win Trade Wars Before They Start?
• 01/21/25: Trump Inaugurates a New Era
• 01/14/25: Dems Aren't Democracy's Party
• 01/07/25: Donald Trump's Worldwide Election
• 12/31/24: Harmless self-deception?
• 12/17/24: Communism thriving, including HERE
• 12/10/24: Birthright Citizenship Is a Breach in the Border
• 12/03/24: Identity Politics, Not Biden, Cost Dems the Election
• 11/19/24: Why Dems Are Losing Tomorrow's Elections Today
• 11/12/24: Dems Are at a Dead End, Unless They Learn From Trump
• 10/29/24: Harris Targets Married Women
• 10/22/24: Vibes Turn Bad for Kamala Harris
• 10/15/24: Why Veterans Are Voting for Trump
• 10/08/24: How Donald Trump Can Win the Popular Vote
• 10/01/24: Iran Targets America's Elections -- and Trump
• 09/24/24: Trump's Would-Be Assassin's Explanation
• 09/17/24: When Character Assassination Becomes the Real Thing
• 09/10/24: Kamala Harris Runs Like a Republican -- and Misleads
• 09/04/24: Where Trump Is Moderate -- While Kam Is Maximalist
• 08/27/24: Donald Trump Is Reagan's Heir
• 08/20/24: Will Voters Settle for Joe Biden's Wing(wo)man?
• 08/13/24: Trump Has to Run Like It's 2016 Again
• 08/07/24: Is Trump Running Against Harris -- or Donald Trump?
• 07/30/24: Kamala Harris' 'Mean Girls' Election
• 07/23/24: Kamala Harris Is the Opponent Donald Trump Wants
• 07/16/24: Ready for Biden's Counterattack?
• 07/09/24: Biden Faces Richard Nixon's Choice
• 07/02/24: Should Biden Drop Out -- or Resign?
• 06/18/24: Separate Sexual Identity and State
• 06/18/24: Nigel Farage Makes the Trump Moment Permanent
• 06/04/24: State that's long eluded GOP turns toward Trump
• 05/21/24: Trump's Sun Belt Hopes and Rust Belt Needs
• 05/14/24: What Trump Sees in Doug Burgum
• 05/07/24: The Vietnam Era Never Ended for Biden's Party
• 05/06/24: Nationalists of the World, Unite?
• 04/25/24: Foreign Policy Splits
• 04/16/24: How pro-lifers stand to lose everything gained in overturning Roe
• 04/02/24: PBS Misremembers William F. Buckley Jr.
• 04/02/24: Who Wants to Be House Speaker?
• 03/26/24: Trump Hunts for a VP Close to Home
• 03/19/24: Princess Kate and Democracy's Discontents
• 03/12/24: Can Biden Buy the Voters?
• 03/05/24: Veepstakes Give Trump an Edge
• 02/20/24: Do Americans Trust Either Party?
• 02/13/24: Vladimir Putin -- A Passive Aggressor
• 01/23/24: Will 'Lawfare' Take Trump Off the Ballot?
• 01/16/24: Will Africa Save America?
• 01/09/24:'The Sopranos' at 25: A new world tragedy
• 01/02/24: Trump, Biden and a Fight for the Heart
• 12/12/23: What Happened to Ron DeSantis?
• 12/12/23: Biden Looks Doomed -- But Is He?
• 12/05/23: A Test for Trump and His Rivals
• 11/21/23: When Inequality Is Fatal for Men
• 11/14/23: Nevermind, The Battle's Over
• 11/07/23: War in the Dem Party -- and at the Opera
• 10/24/23: Israel's Lesson for 2024: A Lib Crackup
• 10/17/23: Libs' Dilemma: Immigration or Israel?
• 10/10/23: Why Bidenflation Defines Bidenomics
• 10/03/23: Will Gavin Newsom Copy Trump?
• 09/26/23: Biden's a Loser -- but Dems Can't Ditch Him
• 09/19/23: Do Sex Scandals Matter?
• 09/12/23: Cornel West Spells Doom for Biden
• 09/05/23: What Trump Does for Democracy
• 08/2/23: Ramaswamy: A Trump Versus Trump?
• 08/22/23: Take 'Rich Men North of Richmond' Seriously
• 08/16/23: How America Kills Its Own
• 08/08/23: The Biden Pardon That Can Spare America
• 08/01/23: Harding, a consevative for the ages
• 07/25/23: Demography Destiny, for Us and China
• 07/18/23: The Frontrunner Who Looks Like a Loser Is Biden
• 07/11/23: Britain's Bad Example for American Conservatives
• 07/05/23: Could We Still Win a Revolutionary War?
• 06/27/23: Civilizations Clash -- in Ukraine and at Home
• 06/20/23: China Comes for the Caribbean
• 06/13/23: Fertility, Family and Bio-Socialism
• 06/06/23: From American Dream to Orwell's Nightmare
• 05/23/23: Ukraine war is an existential struggle --- for the West
• 05/23/23: Learn the Right Midterm Lessons -- or Lose in 2024
• 05/16/23: Feinstein Today Is Biden Tomorrow
• 05/09/23: Trump, DeSantis and Political Courtship
• 05/02/23: RFK Jr.'s Threat to Biden
• 04/25/23: Biden's Lost Generation
• 04/25/23: Who's In Charge of Clarence Thomas?
• 04/11/23: Beyond AI, Our Cyborg Future
• 04/04/23: 2024: 3 Leaders, 1 Way to Win
• 03/28/23: Climate Science Makes a Bad Religion
• 03/21/23: All the Conspiracy That's Fit to Print