CNN Panelists Push Back Against Analyst Lamenting Trump’s Ban On DEI
CNN panelists Scott Jennings and Arthur Aidala, a New York trial attorney, fired back at an analyst claiming that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) got her ahead during a Wednesday evening segment. President Donald…
CNN panelists Scott Jennings and Arthur Aidala, a New York trial attorney, fired back at an analyst claiming that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) got her ahead during a Wednesday evening segment.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term to end “radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing” in the federal government, prompting DEI branches within agencies to dissolve. While lamenting Trump’s opposition to DEI, former White House staffer Ashley Allison, who worked under former President Barack Obama, argued that it is a “flawed premise” to believe that employees who are hired because of their physical attributes are not qualified for their job.
“I just want to say that the premise that DEI exists and therefore the people that got the opportunity perhaps because of DEI is a flawed premise. And I think that is what’s so frustrating around the argument around DEI. I know in this country historically and even today there are injustices in this country based on race, based on gender, based on ideology,” Allison said, prompting CNN host Abby Phillip to add that personal connections also lead people to be hired for top positions.
“It happens every day all over the planet! On Planet Earth, it is human nature!” Aidala said.
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Phillip further claimed that people have often not been hired because of their merit and suggested that DEI is providing historically marginalized groups with more opportunities. Jennings stated that the term “equity” is about achieving a certain outcome rather than granting people more opportunities.
“Is that what equity means? Giving opportunity or guaranteeing outcome?” Jennings said, leading to pushback from his fellow panelists. “Because that’s what equity means. There’s a difference between equality and equity … I think they define as trying to guarantee outcomes and they’re trying to punish people they don’t like politically. Wrong race, wrong gender.”