“The View” co-host Sara Haines visibly upset Sunny Hostin Thursday as she argued that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs have “not accomplished things.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to end “radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing” in the federal government and scrap all affirmative action in federal contracting. Haines said DEI is “great in theory,” but the programs that have been implemented “have been a bureaucracy of money suck,” prompting a debate between herself and Hostin.
“One of the criticisms against DEI is — diversity, equity and inclusion, all great in theory. But the DEI programs have not accomplished things. They’ve been a bureaucracy of money suck that have not gotten anywhere,” Haines said. “When you say people are threatened, what do you think the removal of DEI is going to do to those people?”
“I can tell you that because the removal of DEI actually at this point in time … but they also stopped this thing, these ridiculous executive orders, what they are doing is also eliminating the protections for discrimination in awarding government contracts. And to be clear, that is going to hurt women, that is going to hurt business,” Hostin said.
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Haines cited previous statements made by the University of Michigan’s Black Student Union, who alleged that DEI initiatives were ineffective because they did “not sufficiently allow for Black students’ input to influence the development of University programs,” according to The Michigan Daily. The university launched an $85 million investment in October 2016 aimed at increasing the enrollment of black students, though many students considered the program to be a failure.
“It’s not just a criticism of diversity, it’s a criticism of the programs being effective,” Haines said.
“But they’re very effective,” Hostin argued.
“That’s not what I’m reading,” Haines shot back. “But the point here is that I would also say this all started in colleges and the turning over of affirmative action, I would ask that they immediately address legacy admissions as well. Because if we’re talking about equal opportunity, we need to get rid of legacy.”
Trump’s order directs every government agency to have a list of DEI offices, employees and contracts by Thursday and to have a plan to reduce the number of employees working in those offices by Friday. Brendan Carr, who Trump selected as Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair, said he would be removing DEI from the agency’s strategic plan and budget.
The president’s move revokes former President Joe Biden’s initiative in 2021 “to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” in the federal workforce. Some major companies, including Walmart and top airline manufacturer Boeing, have scaled back on their DEI programs after receiving backlash from consumers and the public.
After Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, dozens of investment advisers warned America’s biggest corporations in November that their DEI programs would become a liability once the then-president-elect reentered office, the Daily Caller News Foundation first reported.
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