There’s arguably no better example of modern white supremacy in America than the success of anti-DEI propaganda. (Also see anti-critical race theory, anti-Black history and pro-Great Replacement Theory propaganda.) White America has thoroughly convinced itself that merit is the reason white men have overwhelmingly dominated every major industry in the nation for all of its history as opposed to patriarchy and systemic racism. Meanwhile, clearly underqualified white men are invisible in that world, which is why none of them seem to notice how often white men are able to fail upwards.

Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host who has been nominated to serve as the incoming Trump administration’s secretary of national defense, gave the type of performance during his recent Senate confirmation hearing that would have all of MAGA America calling him a “DEI nominee” if he were a Black man or a woman and especially a Black woman.

While testing Hegseth to see if he had the “breadth and depth of knowledge” needed to lead international negotiations or do literally anything in the way of protecting the U.S. from foreign threats, Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth asked him if he could name one nation included in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), say how many countries are included in the organization, and describe what type of agreement the U.S. had with the countries. Predictably, Hegseth was the proverbial deer caught in headlights in response to Duckworth’s line of questioning, revealing that he knows nothing of the office he seeks.

He knew other things that were completely irrelevant though.

From NBC News:

Hegseth responded at the heated Senate confirmation hearing that he couldn’t tell Duckworth the exact number of ASEAN nations, but that “I know we have allies in South Korea and Japan, and in AUKUS with Australia,” referring to a pact among the U.S., Australia and Britain.

“None of those three countries are in ASEAN,” responded Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois. “I suggest you do a little homework.”

ASEAN is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. An 11th country, East Timor, is set to join soon.

Established in 1967, its goal is to promote regional economic and security cooperation, leveraging a combined population of more than 650 million people with a GDP of more than $3 trillion.

Duckworth’s question came after Hegseth had noted the strategic importance of the Indo-Pacific, a region where China’s influence has been rapidly growing and Beijing has become increasingly assertive in pressing territorial claims.

Now, look, if someone were to ask me a single question about my intimate knowledge of ASEAN and I also would have looked at them like they asked me to explain quantum physics in fluent Klingon — but I have not been nominated to head the office of secretary of national defense. 

More to the point, if Lloyd Austin — the 4-star general who currently serves as the 28th national defense secretary after serving as the 12th commander of U.S. Central Command and the 33rd vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army — had answered Duckworth’s questions the way Hegseth did, white conservatives would be all up and down the internet calling him a “DEI hire” just because he’s a Black man. And that’s not speculation, it’s based on very recent history.

No one has really provided tangible evidence that the response to the wildfires in Southern California has truly been mismanaged, but that hasn’t stopped MAGAts in right-wing media and on social media from suggesting that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is an incompetent “DET hire” (white people’s new N-word). When a major bridge in Baltimore collapsed last year Republicans immediately tied the tragedy to DEI simply because Maryland’s port commissioner is a Black woman and Baltimore’s mayor, Brandon Scott, is a Black man. No such attacks were ever leveled at the leaders of Tennessee during its multiple wildfire disasters, Florida during its many hurricane disasters, or any other Republican-led states that overcame natural disasters so long as white male officials were leading those states. (Even if they were white male Democrats, they wouldn’t be instantly connected to DEI.)

Hell, when Barack Obama first ran for president, the leading narrative of Republicans (who were trying their hardest to pretend they were not racist) was that Obama was underqualified with only four years in the U.S. Senate and eight years in the Illinois state Senate under his belt. Immediately after Obama’s two terms, the same Republicans and white conservatives gleefully elected a white male president who had not a day’s experience in governing, lawmaking or judiciary work. Yet, during the most recent presidential campaign, Trump supporters repeatedly called VP Kamala Harris a “DEI candidate” who is woefully underqualified for the office of commander-in-chief despite her eight years as San Francisco’s 27th district attorney, eight years as California’s 32nd attorney general, four years as a U.S. senator and four years as vice president of the United States.

These are examples of racist “DEI” narratives as they relate to the world of politics, but it can easily be applied to white conservatives’ attitudes in the corporate world and the general workforce as well. If the person in a position of power or influence who is perceivably underqualified is Black or a woman (and especially a Black woman) it’s DEI. If the perceivably underqualified person is a white man, well — that’s just America. 

SEE ALSO:

White Conservatives Falsely Tie California Wildfires To ‘DEI’ And Blame Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass

‘DEI Hire’: Racists Target FBI Agent Alethea Duncan, A Black Woman, After New Orleans Car Attack