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<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en" dir="ltr"><head><meta charSet="utf-8"/><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"/><link rel="icon" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/favicon-3888b0e329526a975703e3059a02b92d.ico"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-default-b504d70343a9438df64c32ce339c7ebc.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="76x76" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-76x76-d5accc11b8265af76495fbfa9d38dd3b.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="120x120" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-120x120-419ba228184c040a691628d3dd82c206.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-152x152-aafde20dd981a38fcd549b29b2b3b785.png"/><meta name="application-name" content="theatlantic"/><meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#FFFFFF"/><meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-default-b504d70343a9438df64c32ce339c7ebc.png"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="The Atlantic"/><meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/><meta property="fb:admins" content="577048155,17301937"/><meta property="fb:app_id" content="100770816677686"/><meta property="fb:pages" content="29259828486,1468531833474495,1061579677251147,457711054591520,370457103090695,1631141167169115,148681772342453,1510507419185410,128344747344340,128377530562508,236061986423933"/><meta name="p:domain_verify" content="68e1a0361a557708fefc992f3309ed70"/><meta name="twitter:site" content="@theatlantic"/><meta name="twitter:domain" content="theatlantic.com"/><script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","name":"The Atlantic","url":"https://www.theatlantic.com","inLanguage":"en-US","issn":"1072-7825","potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://www.theatlantic.com/search/?q={q}","query-input":"required name=q"}}</script><script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.theatlantic.com/#publisher","name":"The Atlantic","url":"https://www.theatlantic.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","unitCode":"E37","value":224},"height":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","unitCode":"E37","value":224},"url":"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/files/atlantic-logo--224x224.png"},"sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/TheAtlantic","https://twitter.com/theatlantic"]}</script><style id="_vis_opt_path_hide">#paywall,#nonMeteredNudge,#gate {opacity:0;}</style><title>The Real ‘DEI’ Candidates - The Atlantic</title><meta name="description" content="Kamala Harris’s evisceration of Donald Trump at the debate revealed who in this race is actually unqualified for power."/><meta property="krux:title" content="The Real ‘DEI’ Candidates - The Atlantic"/><meta property="krux:description" content="Kamala Harris’s evisceration of Donald Trump at the debate revealed who in this race is actually unqualified for power."/><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/09/real-dei-candidates/679880/"/><link rel="image_src" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/yExK7xyVP8w4YzCj8abGOGo9P2c=/0x84:3950x2141/1200x625/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg"/><meta name="author" content="Adam Serwer"/><link rel="ia:markup_url" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/facebook-instant/article/679880/"/><meta property="article:publisher" content="https://www.facebook.com/TheAtlantic/"/><meta property="article:opinion" content="false"/><meta property="article:content_tier" content="metered"/><meta property="article:tag" content="ideas"/><meta property="article:section" content="Ideas"/><meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-09-14T11:00:00Z"/><meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-09-14T13:35:34Z"/><meta name="robots" content="index, follow, max-image-preview:large"/><meta property="og:title" content="The Real ‘DEI’ Candidates"/><meta property="og:description" content="Kamala Harris’s evisceration of Donald Trump at the debate revealed who in this race is actually unqualified for power."/><meta property="og:url" content="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/09/real-dei-candidates/679880/"/><meta property="og:type" content="article"/><meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/yExK7xyVP8w4YzCj8abGOGo9P2c=/0x84:3950x2141/1200x625/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg"/><meta property="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/><meta name="FacebookShareMessage" content=""Conservatives have taken to referring to DEI as 'didn't earn it.' But to the extent that the candidates are running on unearned advantages related to personal biography, this better describes Trump and Vance than it does Harris," @AdamSerwer writes:"/><meta name="TwitterShareMessage" content=""Conservatives have taken to referring to DEI as 'didn't earn it.' But to the extent that the candidates are running on unearned advantages related to personal biography, this better describes Trump and Vance than it does Harris," @AdamSerwer writes:"/><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="The Atlantic" href="/feed/all/"/><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Best of The Atlantic" href="/feed/best-of/"/><meta name="referrer" content="unsafe-url"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-status-bar-style" content="black"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="The Atlantic"/><meta name="keywords" itemID="#keywords"/><meta name="news_keywords"/><meta name="sailthru.title" content="The Real ‘DEI’ Candidates"/><meta name="sailthru.description" content="Kamala Harris’s evisceration of Donald Trump at the debate revealed who in this race is actually unqualified for power."/><meta name="sailthru.tags" content="ideas,author-adam-serwer"/><meta name="sailthru.date" 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Listen to more stories on the Noa app.</p></div><section class="ArticleBody_root__2gF81" data-event-module="article body" data-flatplan-body="true"><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Before Tuesday’s debate, Donald Trump and his supporters insisted that Kamala Harris was a lightweight who was barely able to speak coherently. Trump <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/09/us/politics/trump-harris-campaign-social-media.html">has called Harris</a> “dumb as a rock,” “low-IQ,” “unable to put two sentences together,” and “unable to put two sentences together without a teleprompter.” Republicans <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/long-history-ugly-right-wing-media-attacks-against-vp-kamala-harris">have said that Harris was</a> chosen “because of her ethnic background,” that she’s a “DEI hire” who “gets more favorable treatment because of her race and gender.”</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">After all that, <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-voter-panel-says-harris-won-debate">focus groups</a>, <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/11/politics/election-poll-trump-harris-debate/index.html">public polling</a>, <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/us/politics/trump-debate-performance.html">Trump’s advisers</a>, and the conservative-media figures who <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/09/trump-blames-everybody-but-himself/679797/">maintain his cult of personality</a> all concluded that the Republican lost the debate, despite his protestations otherwise, and his refusal to try again confirms this. “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”<b> </b><a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113126153368079486">Trump posted</a>. “You want to know who won? Find out who refuses to” debate again, Mike Collins, a Republican representative from Georgia, <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://x.com/repmikecollins/status/1833705308624924863?s=61&t=Ab4JqnFuof5dzAT3TeQ3eA">posted on X</a>. I guess we know!</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Conservatives have fixated on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in recent years as, in their view, a kind of reverse discrimination against white people, white men in particular, that elevates people to jobs they are unqualified to do. Inadvertently, their reactions to Harris, and her subsequent thrashing of Trump, illustrate why diversity outreach is important and necessary in a world where people still face discriminatory assumptions because of their race and gender.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Many conservatives have focused on DEI not because of their moral and sometimes practical objections to diversity efforts—which can be meritorious; not every diversity initiative is good or appropriate—but because it allows them to express underlying assumptions about the inherent inferiority of Black people and women implicitly, without sounding like they are making those assumptions themselves. This way they can argue that it is not that they think Black people and women are inferior; it is that diversity initiatives inherently elevate people who are unqualified. For example, when Harris announced that she and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, would do the traditional postconvention interview with both of them (as <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.ktbs.com/news/national_politics/trump-and-vance-to-appear-for-first-joint-sit-down-interview-with-fox-news-next/article_da6cf6cb-afd6-5623-a285-8c2472bbc121.html">Trump and his running mate, J. D. Vance, did</a>), conservatives suggested that she must be <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-host-says-tim-walz-did-joint-interview-make-kamala-harris-appear-more-eloquent-her">incapable of being interviewed alone</a>.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">After Harris’s performance on Tuesday, conservatives tried to reconcile the difference between their perception of her as an idiot and the reality of what they saw onstage. <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/harris-debate-conspiracies-trump-b2610929.html">Conspiracy theories abounded</a>—Trump insisted that she’d had the questions beforehand, while conservatives on social media speculated that she had speakers in her earrings that were telling her what to say. I don’t want to overstate the importance of debating—being a good debater says very little about whether you would be a good president—but the right’s assumptions about Harris’s intellectual capacity were clearly invalidated by her performance.</p><p id="injected-recirculation-link-0" class="ArticleRelatedContentLink_root__VYc9V" data-view-action="view link - injected link - item 1" data-event-element="injected link" data-event-position="1"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/birtherism-kamala-harris-race-trump/679334/">Adam Serwer: What Trump’s Kamala Harris smear reveals</a></p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Now, it would be simpler for conservatives who claimed Harris was an imbecile to admit that maybe the current vice president and former senator, attorney general, and district attorney is just smarter than they were giving her credit for. But that would require abandoning the assumptions about Black people and women that drove them to make their initial assessment. They cannot do that, because doing so would illustrate why diversity efforts are necessary in the first place: that plainly competent people are often wrongly assumed to be stupid because they are not white men, and denied opportunities as a result.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Indeed, former President Barack Obama faced <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/racist-sexist-attacks-kamala-harris/679232/">almost identical criticisms</a> from the right, despite the ease with which he can extemporaneously <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us-politics/obama-dominates-the-room-at-healthcare-summit-idUSTRE61O6H4/">discuss complex policy matters</a>. The best statistical evidence shows that <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/28/18241973/workplace-discrimination-cpi-investigation-eeoc">racial discrimination in employment remains pervasive</a>, in part because of the pervasiveness and power of these assumptions, which not even Black people in the most elite professions can escape. If people like Harris and Obama are constantly facing a barrage of insults about their intelligence, what do you think things are like for regular people who have to face these assumptions every time they apply for a job?</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Nothing is inherently racist about arguing that a Black person is incompetent; what is racist is assuming that <i>because</i> he or she is Black. Harris ran a weak Democratic primary campaign in 2020, and doubts about her strength as a candidate were totally rational. But those were not the criticisms that conservatives offered. Rather, their objections were far more extreme—debasing her political and intellectual talent—objections that were all conditioned by prejudiced assumptions about the capabilities of Black people and women.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Conservatives have taken to referring to <i>DEI</i> as “didn’t earn it.” But to the extent that the candidates are running on unearned advantages related to personal biography, this better describes Trump and Vance than it does Harris, who worked her way up from local to state to federal office over the course of decades.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Trump was born a multimillionaire who drove one business after another into the ground, and his reputation as a brilliant businessman is largely due to him playing one on television. His term as president was mired by incompetence and corruption despite being relatively uneventful, and when faced with a real crisis—the coronavirus pandemic—he proceeded to bungle it in a catastrophic fashion that led to needless deaths and economic calamity. Vance has spent very little time in elected office, an office he won mostly on the success of his memoir and a Trump primary endorsement in a red state. He appears to have been selected as the vice-presidential nominee on the basis of his willingness to debase himself on Trump’s behalf. Neither of them has a compelling record of public service.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">That’s the irony—the actual “didn’t earn it” candidates are the two white guys running on the Republican ticket.</p><div class="ArticleBody_divider__GpNxD" id="article-end"></div></section><div data-event-module="footer"><div class="ArticleWell_root__fueCa"><div data-event-module="author footer" class="ArticleFooter_authorFooter__5NsdY"><div class="SectionHeading_root__3GnqT"><h3 class="SectionHeading_heading__iNkek">About the Author</h3></div><div><div class="ArticleBio_root__ua8zj"><address id="article-writer-0" class="ArticleBio_author__6pDyl" data-event-element="author" data-event-position="1" data-flatplan-bio="true"><div class="ArticleBio_content__O0ZVF"><a class="ArticleBio_headshotContainer__Am2nR" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/adam-serwer/" data-event-element="image"><img alt="" loading="lazy" class="Image_root__XxsOp Image_lazy__hYWHV ArticleBio_headshot__6Aykd" src="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/GXjB-ahRihgZqDotmIL_4wgy2gs=/341x0:1706x1365/120x120/media/None/FullSizeRender-4/original.jpg" width="60" height="60"/></a><div class="ArticleBio_bioSection__Hef4P"><div data-flatplan-bio="true"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/adam-serwer/" class="author-link" data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/adam-serwer/" data-action="click author - name" >Adam Serwer</a> is a staff writer at <em>The Atlantic</em>.</div><div class="ArticleBio_moreStories__LKpwT"><p class="ArticleBio_contentHeading__cmbmT">More Stories</p><a class="ArticleBio_storyLink__xuRiU" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-promises-popularity/680730/" data-event-element="more stories" data-event-position="1"><p>The Trump-Trumpist Divide</p></a><a class="ArticleBio_storyLink__xuRiU" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/11/trump-election-self-determination-constitution/680554/" data-event-element="more stories" data-event-position="2"><p>There Is No Constitutional Mandate for Fascism</p></a></div></div></div></address></div></div></div></div><div></div></div><gpt-ad class="GptAd_root__pAvcS ArticleInjector_root__I7x9v s-native s-native--standard s-native--streamline" format="injector" sizes-at-0="mobile-wide,native,house" targeting-pos="injector-most-popular" sizes-at-976="desktop-wide,native,house"></gpt-ad><div class="ArticleInjector_clsAvoider__dqIAm"></div></article><div></div></main><div></div><div></div></div></div><script id="__NEXT_DATA__" type="application/json">{"props":{"isLoggedIn":false,"hasPaywallAccess":false,"hasAdFree":false,"pageProps":{"id":"BlogArticle:679880","isTnfCompatible":true,"layout":"standard","hasMeter":true,"url":"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/09/real-dei-candidates/679880/","dateModified":"2024-09-14T13:35:34Z","__typename":"BlogArticle","notFound":false,"urqlState":{"2021745665":{"data":"{\"breakingNews\":null}"},"2087642167":{"data":"{\"article\":{\"__typename\":\"BlogArticle\",\"id\":\"BlogArticle:679880\",\"authors\":[{\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/author/adam-serwer/\",\"displayName\":\"Adam Serwer\",\"__typename\":\"Author\",\"id\":\"Author:1820\",\"biography\":{\"default\":\"\u003ca href=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/author/adam-serwer/\\\" class=\\\"author-link\\\" data-label=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/author/adam-serwer/\\\" data-action=\\\"click author - name\\\" \u003eAdam Serwer\u003c/a\u003e is a staff writer at \u003cem\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c/em\u003e.\",\"__typename\":\"Biography\"},\"headshot\":{\"width\":120,\"height\":120,\"srcSet\":\"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/GXjB-ahRihgZqDotmIL_4wgy2gs=/341x0:1706x1365/120x120/media/None/FullSizeRender-4/original.jpg, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/tYcIg63X4mKdc0b1GEwTvptv7kA=/341x0:1706x1365/240x240/media/None/FullSizeRender-4/original.jpg 2x\",\"url\":\"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/GXjB-ahRihgZqDotmIL_4wgy2gs=/341x0:1706x1365/120x120/media/None/FullSizeRender-4/original.jpg\",\"__typename\":\"BasicImage\"},\"river\":{\"edges\":[{\"cursor\":\"MjAyNC0xMS0yMiAwNjozMDowMHw2ODA3MzA=\",\"node\":{\"id\":\"BlogArticle:680730\",\"title\":\"The Trump-Trumpist Divide\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-promises-popularity/680730/\",\"__typename\":\"BlogArticle\"},\"__typename\":\"PromoEdge\"},{\"cursor\":\"MjAyNC0xMS0wNiAxMToxODoyNHw2ODA1NTQ=\",\"node\":{\"id\":\"BlogArticle:680554\",\"title\":\"There Is No Constitutional Mandate for Fascism\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/11/trump-election-self-determination-constitution/680554/\",\"__typename\":\"BlogArticle\"},\"__typename\":\"PromoEdge\"},{\"cursor\":\"MjAyNC0xMS0wNCAxMjo1MTo0Nnw2ODA0OTg=\",\"node\":{\"id\":\"BlogArticle:680498\",\"title\":\"Trump’s Followers Are Living in a Dark Fantasy\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-campaign-cruelty/680498/\",\"__typename\":\"BlogArticle\"},\"__typename\":\"PromoEdge\"}],\"__typename\":\"RiverConnection\"},\"slug\":\"adam-serwer\",\"socialMedia\":[{\"platform\":\"TWITTER\",\"url\":\"https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer\",\"__typename\":\"SocialMedia\"},{\"platform\":\"EMAIL\",\"url\":\"adam@theatlantic.com\",\"__typename\":\"SocialMedia\"}]}],\"authorContext\":\"\",\"categories\":[],\"content\":[{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Before Tuesday’s debate, Donald Trump and his supporters insisted that Kamala Harris was a lightweight who was barely able to speak coherently. Trump \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/09/us/politics/trump-harris-campaign-social-media.html\\\"\u003ehas called Harris\u003c/a\u003e “dumb as a rock,” “low-IQ,” “unable to put two sentences together,” and “unable to put two sentences together without a teleprompter.” Republicans \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/long-history-ugly-right-wing-media-attacks-against-vp-kamala-harris\\\"\u003ehave said that Harris was\u003c/a\u003e chosen “because of her ethnic background,” that she’s a “DEI hire” who “gets more favorable treatment because of her race and gender.”\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"After all that, \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-voter-panel-says-harris-won-debate\\\"\u003efocus groups\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/11/politics/election-poll-trump-harris-debate/index.html\\\"\u003epublic polling\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/us/politics/trump-debate-performance.html\\\"\u003eTrump’s advisers\u003c/a\u003e, and the conservative-media figures who \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/09/trump-blames-everybody-but-himself/679797/\\\"\u003emaintain his cult of personality\u003c/a\u003e all concluded that the Republican lost the debate, despite his protestations otherwise, and his refusal to try again confirms this. “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”\u003cb\u003e \u003c/b\u003e\u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113126153368079486\\\"\u003eTrump posted\u003c/a\u003e. “You want to know who won? Find out who refuses to” debate again, Mike Collins, a Republican representative from Georgia, \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://x.com/repmikecollins/status/1833705308624924863?s=61\u0026amp;t=Ab4JqnFuof5dzAT3TeQ3eA\\\"\u003eposted on X\u003c/a\u003e. I guess we know!\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Conservatives have fixated on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in recent years as, in their view, a kind of reverse discrimination against white people, white men in particular, that elevates people to jobs they are unqualified to do. Inadvertently, their reactions to Harris, and her subsequent thrashing of Trump, illustrate why diversity outreach is important and necessary in a world where people still face discriminatory assumptions because of their race and gender.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Many conservatives have focused on DEI not because of their moral and sometimes practical objections to diversity efforts—which can be meritorious; not every diversity initiative is good or appropriate—but because it allows them to express underlying assumptions about the inherent inferiority of Black people and women implicitly, without sounding like they are making those assumptions themselves. This way they can argue that it is not that they think Black people and women are inferior; it is that diversity initiatives inherently elevate people who are unqualified. For example, when Harris announced that she and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, would do the traditional postconvention interview with both of them (as \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.ktbs.com/news/national_politics/trump-and-vance-to-appear-for-first-joint-sit-down-interview-with-fox-news-next/article_da6cf6cb-afd6-5623-a285-8c2472bbc121.html\\\"\u003eTrump and his running mate, J. D. Vance, did\u003c/a\u003e), conservatives suggested that she must be \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-host-says-tim-walz-did-joint-interview-make-kamala-harris-appear-more-eloquent-her\\\"\u003eincapable of being interviewed alone\u003c/a\u003e.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"After Harris’s performance on Tuesday, conservatives tried to reconcile the difference between their perception of her as an idiot and the reality of what they saw onstage. \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/harris-debate-conspiracies-trump-b2610929.html\\\"\u003eConspiracy theories abounded\u003c/a\u003e—Trump insisted that she’d had the questions beforehand, while conservatives on social media speculated that she had speakers in her earrings that were telling her what to say. I don’t want to overstate the importance of debating—being a good debater says very little about whether you would be a good president—but the right’s assumptions about Harris’s intellectual capacity were clearly invalidated by her performance.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleRelatedContentLink\",\"idAttr\":\"injected-recirculation-link-0\",\"innerHtml\":\"\u003ca href=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/birtherism-kamala-harris-race-trump/679334/\\\"\u003eAdam Serwer: What Trump’s Kamala Harris smear reveals\u003c/a\u003e\",\"index\":0},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Now, it would be simpler for conservatives who claimed Harris was an imbecile to admit that maybe the current vice president and former senator, attorney general, and district attorney is just smarter than they were giving her credit for. But that would require abandoning the assumptions about Black people and women that drove them to make their initial assessment. They cannot do that, because doing so would illustrate why diversity efforts are necessary in the first place: that plainly competent people are often wrongly assumed to be stupid because they are not white men, and denied opportunities as a result.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Indeed, former President Barack Obama faced \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/racist-sexist-attacks-kamala-harris/679232/\\\"\u003ealmost identical criticisms\u003c/a\u003e from the right, despite the ease with which he can extemporaneously \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us-politics/obama-dominates-the-room-at-healthcare-summit-idUSTRE61O6H4/\\\"\u003ediscuss complex policy matters\u003c/a\u003e. The best statistical evidence shows that \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/28/18241973/workplace-discrimination-cpi-investigation-eeoc\\\"\u003eracial discrimination in employment remains pervasive\u003c/a\u003e, in part because of the pervasiveness and power of these assumptions, which not even Black people in the most elite professions can escape. If people like Harris and Obama are constantly facing a barrage of insults about their intelligence, what do you think things are like for regular people who have to face these assumptions every time they apply for a job?\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Nothing is inherently racist about arguing that a Black person is incompetent; what is racist is assuming that \u003ci\u003ebecause\u003c/i\u003e he or she is Black. Harris ran a weak Democratic primary campaign in 2020, and doubts about her strength as a candidate were totally rational. But those were not the criticisms that conservatives offered. Rather, their objections were far more extreme—debasing her political and intellectual talent—objections that were all conditioned by prejudiced assumptions about the capabilities of Black people and women.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Conservatives have taken to referring to \u003ci\u003eDEI\u003c/i\u003e as “didn’t earn it.” But to the extent that the candidates are running on unearned advantages related to personal biography, this better describes Trump and Vance than it does Harris, who worked her way up from local to state to federal office over the course of decades.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Trump was born a multimillionaire who drove one business after another into the ground, and his reputation as a brilliant businessman is largely due to him playing one on television. His term as president was mired by incompetence and corruption despite being relatively uneventful, and when faced with a real crisis—the coronavirus pandemic—he proceeded to bungle it in a catastrophic fashion that led to needless deaths and economic calamity. Vance has spent very little time in elected office, an office he won mostly on the success of his memoir and a Trump primary endorsement in a red state. He appears to have been selected as the vice-presidential nominee on the basis of his willingness to debase himself on Trump’s behalf. Neither of them has a compelling record of public service.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"That’s the irony—the actual “didn’t earn it” candidates are the two white guys running on the Republican ticket.\"}],\"editorialProject\":null,\"primaryCategory\":{\"__typename\":\"Channel\",\"displayName\":\"Ideas\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/\",\"slug\":\"ideas\"},\"reviews\":[],\"embeds\":[],\"preview\":null,\"tags\":[],\"layout\":\"standard\",\"secondaryByline\":\"\",\"dek\":\"Kamala Harris’s evisceration of Donald Trump at the debate revealed who in this race is actually unqualified for power.\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/09/real-dei-candidates/679880/\",\"shareText\":\"\\\"Conservatives have taken to referring to DEI as 'didn't earn it.' But to the extent that the candidates are running on unearned advantages related to personal biography, this better describes Trump and Vance than it does Harris,\\\" @AdamSerwer writes:\",\"shareTitle\":\"The Real ‘DEI’ Candidates\",\"title\":\"The Real ‘DEI’ Candidates\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-14T11:00:00Z\",\"editorsNote\":null,\"leadArt\":{\"__typename\":\"LeadArtImage\",\"image\":{\"url\":\"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/YJqwcU-CM8zl7wQuw2nVnc9Q5s0=/0x0:3956x2225/960x540/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":540,\"srcSet\":\"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/fOG3Vmw1livQmBimp1jGrSbQDt8=/0x0:3956x2225/750x422/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 750w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/0l_UBxGZPeABHRRWZiyyJpdUYzI=/0x0:3956x2225/828x466/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 828w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/YJqwcU-CM8zl7wQuw2nVnc9Q5s0=/0x0:3956x2225/960x540/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 960w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/WfOoMfVoS_fZNpIkyAeEA1eqzgo=/0x0:3956x2225/976x549/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 976w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/m_v6N2abtCRuUwwxqkU4cQIL38A=/0x0:3956x2225/1952x1098/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 1952w\",\"reducedMotionSrcSet\":null,\"altText\":\"Donald Trump and J. D. Vance\",\"captionText\":\"\",\"attributionText\":\"Emily Elconin / Bloomberg / Getty\",\"attributionUrl\":\"\",\"__typename\":\"BasicImage\"}},\"audio\":{\"url\":\"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/ATL5224050950.mp3\",\"urlAdfree\":\"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/ATL7942716261.mp3\",\"duration\":391.01,\"vendor\":\"elevenlabs\",\"type\":\"narrated\",\"__typename\":\"Audio\"},\"hasAudioRights\":true,\"narratedAudioImage\":{\"url\":\"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/WE7HGojL3VpwIT54lVRmC5lDm1o=/1142x0:3367x2225/80x80/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg\",\"srcSet\":\"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/WE7HGojL3VpwIT54lVRmC5lDm1o=/1142x0:3367x2225/80x80/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 80w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/2jNezbnJvxhplwBei0C1DwJFT5M=/1142x0:3367x2225/96x96/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 96w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/kez4UvmxSurRjrpFuvxXF9UfnJA=/1142x0:3367x2225/128x128/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 128w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/3jd0GmhuGE76w4Xngfp0Ws1KkrI=/1142x0:3367x2225/160x160/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 160w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/NCHiSPW8Je3X2CxS_YNVNdmChbE=/1142x0:3367x2225/192x192/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 192w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/4dQIHtHs68OvPGbiXfH2wVsJY84=/1142x0:3367x2225/256x256/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 256w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/WQQZOyZawwgU8fjb8_pNr6CP-nU=/1142x0:3367x2225/384x384/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 384w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/dErjuZ471gH9Rkgo3c4lyO_BSKU=/1142x0:3367x2225/512x512/media/img/mt/2024/09/GettyImages_2162212980/original.jpg 512w\",\"width\":80,\"height\":80,\"altText\":\"Donald Trump and J. 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