Former President Donald Trump’s close allies are drawing up plans to rehaul the Justice Department to focus on what they considered to be the real problem of racism in America: “anti-white racism.”
That’s according to a new Axios report, which details how longtime Trump aides and allies are angling to use the Justice Department to attack and dismantle public and private programs that attempt to redress structural and historical racial discrimination. Former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who would likely play a pivotal role in the White House if Trump were to win office again, is already overseeing some of these efforts.
Trumpism is increasingly organized around the reactionary principle that white Americans are not just overlooked, but are victims because of their race.
The legal efforts — which look surprisingly potent — are bad enough. But in some ways they’re even more disconcerting on a politico-cultural level. Trumpism is increasingly organized around the reactionary principle that white Americans are not just overlooked, but are victims because of their race. This is a path to unraveling multicultural democracy.
During the Biden administration, the Justice Department has, among other things, directed public schools to comply with civil rights laws when disciplining students since statistics show Black, Latino and Native students face disproportionately harsh punishments relative to their White and Asian counterparts. A future Trump administration would likely invert the focus of the department to focus on what it sees as examples of policies that disfavor the white majority. Axios reports, “Targets would range from decades-old policies aimed at giving minorities economic opportunities, to more recent programs that began in response to the pandemic and the killing of George Floyd.”
After he left the Trump White House, Miller created America First Legal, which he frames as a MAGA version of the American Civil Liberties Union. We might think of that as a preview of how a future Trump Justice Department would approach the issue of racial discrimination. Miller’s outfit has filed over a hundred lawsuits claiming that, among other things, “woke corporations,” among which he includes Disney, Nike and Hershey, discriminate against white men. The group successfully sued to block a pandemic-era Small Business Administration pandemic relief program to prioritize restaurants owned by women, veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged people. It has filed complaints about a rule in the NFL mandating that teams interview minority candidates for top positions, such as head coach and general manager.
Another key player in formulating Trump’s 2024 vision, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, has called for an end to “affirmative discrimination” in its policy handbook. and recommends that a future conservative administration “reorganize and refocus the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to serve as the vanguard for this return to lawfulness.” Project 2025 is well-positioned to have tremendous influence over how Trump governs if he wins again.
Trump allies' desire to focus on what they consider discrimination against white people comes as the legal and corporate climates appear to be changing in favor of those who oppose diversity and inclusion efforts. Last year the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious college admissions, which in turn appears to have nudged corporations to scrap race-conscious hiring practices and programs. Moreover, the private sector has shed DEI-focused executives in recent years after the post-2020 George Floyd wave of widespread attention to racial inequity ebbed.
The prospect of Trump’s turning the Justice Department into an engine of white grievance is alarming. Not only is he likely to dismantle modest initiatives that account for historical discrimination in making hiring decisions or determining eligibility for federal funds, but he’d likely also abdicate the role of ensuring that states uphold voting rights.
Trump has long milked conservative white “racial resentment” to fuel his political cause. But an intensifying focus on “anti-white racism” allows Trump to frame white Americans as under siege from minorities and the “woke mob” — and argues that the government’s job is to step in to protect them. It’s a powerful tool for consolidating the support of a white nationalist movement and institutionalizing anew the domination of those who are already disadvantaged in our society.
