WA AG: Trump is misleading the country on diversity, equity, inclusion

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown accused President Donald Trump on Friday of misleading the country through his executive orders and recent statements attacking diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs.

Trump, in the wake of a midair plane-helicopter collision Wednesday night that killed 67 people, blamed, variously, the helicopter pilot, air traffic control, former President Joe Biden and federal diversity and inclusion efforts.

“His baseless and offensive claims that these initiatives somehow contributed to the tragic plane crash this week are an insult to those who are grieving, and the individuals serving in the military and air traffic control,” Brown, and 11 other state attorneys general, said in a prepared statement Friday.

Trump’s comments brought immediate pushback from Democrats and others who accused the president of inserting his political agenda into a tragedy and insinuating that hiring people from diverse backgrounds diminishes standards on the job.

“As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,” former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom Trump also blamed, wrote on social media.

Brown and the other attorneys general, all of whom are Democrats, also criticized Trump’s executive orders, which attempt to rid the federal government of diversity initiatives, as “unnecessary and disingenuous.”

“These orders have nothing to do with combatting discrimination,” Brown and his colleagues wrote. “The administration is targeting lawful policies and programs that are beneficial to all Americans. These policies and programs are not only consistent with state and federal anti-discrimination laws, they foster environments where everyone has an opportunity to succeed.”

DEI programs date to the Civil Rights Movement, part of efforts to boost populations that have historically been discriminated against. They can involve training, recruiting, networking and hiring.

Trump’s executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs have caused federal agencies to scramble.

The Defense Intelligence Agency, within the Defense Department, said this week it was pausing observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance and other cultural or historical annual events in response to Trump’s executive order banning diversity programs, The Associated Press reported.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention terms such as “transgender,” “immigrant,” “L.G.B.T.” and “pregnant people” were removed from the website, The New York Times reported.

Brown and his colleagues said DEI programs “simply ensure that there are fair opportunities for everyone.”

“We strongly oppose the President’s attempts to weaponize decades-old policies, which have been supported by Democratic and Republican administrations alike, to combat historical inequities faced by underrepresented communities and the ongoing, insidious discrimination that still exists in our country,” they wrote.

Brown won an early victory against the Trump administration last week when a federal judge in Seattle paused Trump’s executive order attempting to rescind birthright citizenship — the idea, prescribed in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, that everyone born in the United States is an American citizen.

The judge, in response to Brown’s lawsuit, called Trump’s order “blatantly unconstitutional.”