Comic D.L. Hughley tore into a former Trump official who called Vice President Kamala Harris a “DEI hire” who has advanced because she is “colored.”
Ex-Trump White House adviser Sebastian Gorka referred to VP Harris as “colored” during a cable news interview Tuesday while he derided her as a “DEI hire.”
“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) has become a popular political bogeyman among conservatives in what critics see as a code word for racial resentment, and “DEI hire” has become a theme of attacks on Harris — the first Black VP.
On Wednesday night’s edition of CNN’s Laura Coates Live, Coates played Gorka’s comments for Hughley, then asked for his reaction.
Hughley lambasted Gorka and other “mediocre white men,” took a shot at Trump, and gave a lengthy defense of the VP’s qualifications:
COATES: No, I said more than overt dog whistles, I’m saying, in terms of thinking about it. And there are also moments when people are using race and having those discussions to criticize the vice president of the United States. And I want to get your take on something that she has recently been facing, well, been facing for quite some time, but especially now that she’s being named as possibly someone to top a ticket. Listen to what the former Trump official, Sebastian Gorka, had the nerve to say about her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN GORKA: She’s a DEI-hire, right? She’s a woman. She’s colored. Therefore, she’s got to be good. And at least her brain doesn’t literally freeze in mid-sentence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: Now, I don’t know if you can see who’s on that screen, but one of them, on the right, I believe, is Matt Whitaker, who is the former acting attorney general of the United States, with that smile on his face. What do you make of these attacks?
HUGHLEY: It’s an interesting thing. Seventeen senators gone on to become president. She was one of them. She’s one of those of vice presidents. Very few people. She has been an attorney general of the largest, most populous, most wealthy state in the country. So, there is this notion. More — more — America has been more damaged by GCI than DEI. The greedy, corrupt, incompetent white men have caused more damage to the United States of America than diversity, equity, inclusion.
Who caused Boeing? Who caused the mortgage crisis? Who caused our reaction and our lack of reaction to COVID? It wasn’t — because what people do is blame the things they can’t control. Kamala Harris is more than qualified to accept the presidency of the United States of America, which is interesting because her chance to be president wasn’t fealty. It wasn’t much like Donald Trump’s — whoever his select will be. It is her — it is her professionalism and her, actually, ability to run the country.
And another point is, if Joe Biden, as a lot of people worry, can’t complete his term, who’s better qualified than to complete his term than Vice President Harris? So, you have a twofer. You have both the power of the incumbency and somebody who’s more than willing, capable, and able to run the presidency should he cede or should he not be able to complete his thing.
So what men do, what mediocre white men do, is blame things. They have no excuse for their failures. The reason that Donald Trump did not get a second term is because he so mishandled COVID that he was fired by the American people. And only their ability to hold their nose and keep running keeps him in the office.
To attack a woman — we can attack her policies, we can attack the things that you do, but her competence is above — is above the pale. We don’t even have that conversation. I guarantee you this, you have never seen a more accomplished and competent and ready vice president. And you know what, I’ll tell you what, I’d rather have a vice president who’s ready to step in than one that somebody tried to hang.
COATES: D.L. Hughley, I knew I wanted to talk to you tonight. Thank you so much.
Watch above via CNN’s Laura Coates Live.
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