The Hypocrisy of “DEI” Critics in the Age of Vance and Harris's White Male VP

Proud to introduce our first guest column by brilliant political commentator Kaivan Shroff on MAGA's hypocrisy and obsession with racist "DEI" dog whistles.

By Kaivan Shroff

Over the past decade -- as strides have been made in course-correcting institutional biases against women and people of color -- it is not uncommon to hear loud complaints about so-called “DEI” hires. In a similar vein, last June the Supreme Court prohibited the use of race-conscious “affirmative action” admissions policies for students, the culmination of decades of anti-diversity plotting from the political right. Critics of DEI have argued that positions should be filled based on merit alone, devoid of considerations for race, gender, or background. Yet, these same voices are conspicuously silent about the selection of J.D. Vance as the Republican nominee for Vice President -- and the apparent inevitability that Democrats’ presumptive nominee Kamala Harris will also select a white man from a moderate or conservative region of the country as her running mate. The loud silence from the usual critics of DEI hiring exposes the obvious hypocrisy among these ‘anti-woke’ crusaders. 

As someone who has spent a decade across 4 Ivy league schools — I have heard a lot of problematic talk about “diversity admits and hires”, but I’ve also met a lot of J.D. Vances. One of the biggest misconceptions about “affirmative action” admissions and other diversity efforts is that they are exclusively designed to benefit women and people of color. Rural, conservative, white applicants are also given a boost in these selection processes, but this practice is less scrutinized. In evaluating Vance for admission to Yale Law School — just as with his selection as Republican’s VP nominee — his story of overcoming both systemic and personal obstacles and his rust-belt origins are no doubt what made him stand out. Unlike when President Biden nominated Harvard Law School alumn Ketanji Brown Jackson, nobody’s first reaction to Vance’s selection as nominee was “what was his LSAT score?” Ironically, while Jackson arguably had one of the most extensive resumés to serve on the Supreme Court, Vance (who has served a mere 18 months in the Senate) has one of the skimpiest of any VP nominee in modern history. Moreover, his recent performance on the campaign trail already has Republicans second-guessing his abilities.

Some might argue the explicit nature by which Justice Jackson was selected, with Biden vowing to nominate the first Black woman before selecting her, is the real problem with efforts to expand diversity. Yet, a look at Vice President Harris’s VP selection process exposes this rationale as empty. Within hours of Biden stepping aside and paving the way for Harris to become the Democratic Party nominee -- the speculation began: which white man would Harris pick as a running mate? Over the recent days shortlists have been circulated; they include zero people of color and at most one white woman that nobody thinks will actually be the choice, Gretchen Whitmer. Is the unspoken inevitability that Harris is 99.99% likely to choose a white male running mate to balance out the ticket any different than more transparent commitments to select diverse candidates? Of course not. 

To be clear, there is nothing specifically wrong with Harris — attacked as a “DEI candidate” herself despite being eminently qualified — making a strategic choice of running mate that makes those who don’t identify with her directly feel represented and heard. Similarly, though there are doubts about Vance as a representative of Appalachia, there is nothing wrong with seeking to elevate white working class voices from underserved regions of the country. Still, it should be clear that these VP candidates were selected in large part because they are white, male, and not from the more liberal coasts of the country. Yet, you won’t see any of the usual tweets from anti-DEI crusaders like Bill Ackman and Elon Musk griping about it. 

The key takeaway from the lack of discourse surrounding the identity politics of the VP selection process for both parties pulls the rug out from under those who mask their opposition to elevating women and people of color under the guise of “merit-based” selection. Where are the non-stop editorials in The Wall Street Journal decrying the unfairness of it all? It seems those in positions of power and who shape our public narratives are uninterested in unpacking the reality that the role of Vice President has been reserved for a white man this cycle. It would seem, to them, targeting a range of perspectives and backgrounds based on specific non-performance based characteristics is only wrong when it disadvantages white men.

Kaivan Shroff is a political commentator and attorney. He appears frequently on Fox News, CNN, News Nation, ABC, and Scripps News to discuss breaking news stories and the 2024 election and has been published in various outlets including the Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Huffpost, The Hill, San Francisco Chronicle and more. He also serves as senior advisor to the Institute for Education (a D.C. non-profit), is a 2024 DNC delegate at-large, and worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. Shroff holds a joint degree from Harvard Law School (JD) and the Harvard Kennedy School (MPP), an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA in Political Science from Brown University.