'The View' host Sunny Hostin calls Trump a 'DEI hire'

Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice who now co-hosts "The View" talk show, called President Trump a "DEI" hire on Tuesday.

While "DEI" normally stands for "diversity, equity and inclusion," Hostin said that when applied to Trump, it actually stands for “didn’t earn it.”

Pointing to Trump’s promise to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s “dream a reality” in his inauguration speech on Monday just hours before revoking DEI programs in the federal government, Hostin called out the president’s “hypocrisy.”

“The irony of it. Martin Luther King not only wanted racial equality, he wanted economic equality, and that is something that people tend to miss,” Hostin said.

She added, “I want to remind people that he said that Black Americans deserved reparations for the injustices they faced. He argued that reparations were a form of justice, in fact, not charity.”

Hostin continued by quoting King’s famous saying, “It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel just to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.”

The second-term president, Hostin said, has only ever been “given everything that he has.”

“You’re talking about a man who didn’t become the president of the United States because of merit. He had no political experience whatsoever. He had no business experience,” the talk show host said.

“He is, if anything, a DEI hire,” Hostin concluded. “A didn’t-earn-it hire.”

DEI programs and policies have been a divisive issue around the nation, particularly since the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling to overturn affirmative action in college admissions.

During the 2024 campaign season, Republicans including Trump vowed to end DEI programs. Many argued such programs are discriminatory.

Since Trump’s election, companies including Walmart, Tractor Supply and McDonald’s have rolled back DEI promises.

On Monday, Trump rescinded an executive order signed by former President Biden that provided agencies with “information, resources and a methodology to assess” DEJ and in the workforce.

Trump’s order, however, asks the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management to terminate “all discriminatory programs” in agencies, according to the incoming White House officials.

The order will also direct the assistant to the president for domestic policy to have monthly meetings with deputy secretaries to assess DEI programs and figure out ways to end them.

Topics

Trump to issue executive orders defining sexes, ending DEI practices in government

President-elect Trump intends to issue executive orders on his first day in office that will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and aim to end DEI practices in the federal government, ...
The Hill - 1d
Trump wants FBI to retain records related to DEI office closing

President-elect Trump said he wants to preserve records from the FBI’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) office after officials announced its closure in December. “We demand that the FBI ...
The Hill - 4d
Zuckerberg Will Host a Party for Trump’s Inauguration

Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta chief executive, is one of several tech leaders expected to play a high-profile role in celebrating the new administration next week.
The New York Times - 6d
As a Felon, Trump Upends How Americans View the Presidency

President-elect Donald J. Trump has worked for years to discredit any and all criminal and civil cases against him as nothing more than politically motivated witch hunts.
The New York Times - Jan. 11
Meta terminates its DEI programs days before Trump inauguration

Meta, fresh off announcement to end factchecking, follows McDonald’s and Walmart in rolling back diversity initiatives. Following a week in which Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta was ...
The Guardian - Jan. 10
Hiring boost indicates Trump will inherit healthy economy

The data may help determine whether the Fed will cut interest rates this month.
ABC News - Jan. 10
Trump hosts Republican governors in Florida and talks anew about Greenland and drones

President-elect Donald Trump hosted 22 of the nation’s 27 Republican governors for dinner at his Florida club, looking to help drive the agenda in conservative-run states after he takes office in ...
ABC News - Jan. 10
Trump to host Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago

President-elect Trump is hosting a slew of Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thursday night, seeking to get state leaders on the same page before he takes office later this month. ...
The Hill - Jan. 9
Stephen A. Smith: Americans 'relate' to Trump's view on Canada

Sports media personality Stephen A. Smith says Americans feel a connection with President-elect Trump's rhetoric on Canada and Greenland. "This kind of language, no matter how frivolous we may ...
The Hill - Jan. 8