Hi, this is Richard Fields with this week's Report From the Fields. The establishment commentariat is having a really hard time figuring out how Donald J Trump managed to get elected President. Twice. The second time as a convicted felon with well documented sexual peccadilloes and a record as a businessman that was littered with bankruptcies. And against a black woman that had much less personal baggage. Other than using Willie Brown to gain entry into the halls of power and disposing of him unceremoniously after he was no longer useful, that is.
Let me put forth an explanation that I have not heard elsewhere. Affirmative action. Women and people of color, who have been beneficiaries of affirmative action since the 1960s hated Trump and voted overwhelmingly for Harris. Men, particularly white men, who have been effectively discriminated against by those affirmative action policies for the last 60 years, voted for the candidate who made it clear that he detested the concept of affirmative action and the accompanying Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, DEI, programs.
Trump, ever the transactional politician, immediately rewarded his male base by issuing Executive Orders that seek to root out affirmative action and DEI entirely. Affirmative action and DEI were largely created by executive order in the first place, by JFK in 1961 mandating federal contractors take affirmative action to insure equal employment opportunities without regard to race, creed, color or national origin. LBJ followed up with another Executive Order which prohibited discrimination on those bases. Discrimination based on sex was added shortly after.
From a libertarian perspective, there is no morally defensible reason to defend discrimination on any of those factors. But discrimination based on ability and the willingness to work hard is eminently defensible. The U.S. had a long history of legally discriminating against racial groups and women. Pretty much like every other political jurisdiction in the world at that time. It needed to end. But ending it by changing who was discriminated against, that would be white men, is not morally defensible. And that is the perception that smart hardworking men have been sensing for decades now. They don't like it. That's why they voted overwhelmingly for Trump. And Trump delivered. In the words of his Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, "Promises made, promises kept...President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our Federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired on their skills, not for the color of their skin."
On this issue, it's hard to make a moral argument against Trump. On immigration and tariffs and a myriad of other issues, it's easy. We will be sure to point those out in future issues of "Reports From the Fields". I'm Richard Fields. See you next week.