Rufo has become a darling of the right, but many critics argue that his work is deeply flawed and misleading, often misrepresenting the contents of diversity training programs and academic scholarship.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Deeply flawed and misleading. That’s becoming the tagline of this country.

#Monterey
#MorningWalk
#TheDaily
#Rufo
#AcademicFreedom
#WhiteSupremacy (2/2)

As I alluded above, I haven't really spent a lot of time talking about Trump's objectively unhinged tariff policies for two primary reasons; first, I'm actually pretty busy writing about the overt Gestapo shit the regime is doing, and second a corporate media complex that is far less interested in properly examining all that Gestapo shit, is singularly obsessed with covering the economic damage caused by Der Führer's tariff regime - likely because this portion of the fascist agenda negatively impacts the type of rich maggots who own and invest in corporate media companies. Unfortunately, these tariffs are also bankrupting a huge portion of the American labor class, and politically speaking this carnage is probably the first time we've seen any of the awful shit Trump is doing actually produce fractures in the cult-like unity of the fascist coalition that brought Trump back to power. Billionaire broligarchs and deluded MAGA rubes who thought massive tariffs and mass deportations would somehow make them rich too, are both, in their own way, offering some degree of pushback against Trump's tariff policies precisely *because* now the fascism is hitting them where it counts (as far as they're concerned) - in the wallet.

In the grand scheme of things, does that actually mean anything? To be honest with you, I'm not sure. The fact is these people are still very much ideologically united around an authoritarian Christian Nationalist agenda, and as long as the Trump regime keeps handing them dopamine hits by "owning the libs" and actively trolling the targets of the regime's cruelty and assault on civil rights, I don't see the coalition breaking any time soon. That having been said, the billionaire broligarchs paid to put Trump into power because they believed it would be profitable for them, and even labor class MAGA rubes have to put food on the table or save for retirement; the material pressure the Trump regime is putting on their own support network is not totally irrelevant, I'm just not sure any of these people are capable of logically connecting their enthusiastic support for white nationalism and the cult of Trump, with the carnage the regime's policies are inflicting on their bottom lines. Only time will tell whether "doing white supremacy" matters more to them than making money, or if the perceived gains (for white nationalists) of Trump's fascist policies will outweigh the measurable financial impact of the regime's economic policies on their lives.

To examine what some of this fascist on fascist (rhetorical) violence looks like, let's flip over to this 15 minute video summary by Mike Figueredo of the Humanist Report; if nothing else, the schadenfreude is delicious.

The Humanist Report: Trump’s Biggest Boosters CRY About Tariffs Costing Them MILLIONS: “Kamala Come Back”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bfEk0Xvw9I

"Pro-Trump influencers like Dave Portnoy, Adin Ross, DJ Akademics and Ben Shapiro are now complaining about Trump’s tariffs despite using their massive platforms to boost him before the election. They even joked about wanting Kamala Harris to “come back.” Furthermore, tech CEOs who endorsed Trump—or donated to his inauguration fund—have lost a combined $1.8 trillion in market value due to Trump’s tariffs. Additionally, GameStop’s CEO, Ryan Cohen, promoted Trump endlessly on Twitter before the election, but half-seriously stated that he’s turning into a Democrat due to Trump’s tariffs. But oligarchs and executives aren’t the only ones mad about tariffs; gamers are outraged that pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 have been postponed due to Trump’s tariffs, and some of Trump’s own supporters are horrified after losing thousands of dollars from their retirement funds because of the tariff-induced stock market plunge. In this video we’ll talk about these reactions to Trump’s tariffs."

While a lot of the stories in this thread focus on the cowardice of institutional actors in either submitting to, or even assisting the fascist Trump regime in installing a Christian Nationalist dictatorship, when the history of this political moment is written, it will be noted that it was actually big companies in the US private sector that embraced the regime's white nationalist policy platforms first and in doing so, helped legitimate Trump's quest to rule as King of America. Unlike institutional actors in higher education, lawyers targeted for revenge by Der Führer, or bodies controlled by the (openly fascist) US government through funding, large corporations in the private sector required little if any incentive to adopt Trump's authoritarian "anti-DEI" policies; indeed, companies like Walmart, Paramount, and even Victoria's Secret practically fell all over themselves to align with the regime's agenda, essentially obeying in advance, before the administration had to apply any pressure at all.

Why would they do that? As this short essay in The Guardian lays bare, the truth is that they never really wanted to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion even before the rise of Trump - which is why the programs they installed after the twin motivating factors of the George Floyd protests against police violence, and the COVID pandemic, were never really designed to achieve those objectives in the first place.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/06/diversity-equity-business-trump-history

American corporations didn’t want to diversify, anyway

"Within days of taking office, Donald Trump signed an executive order that would eliminate Johnson’s civil rights order. The order directed the office of federal contract compliance to stop “promoting diversity” and holding contractors responsible for “affirmative action”. To Smith, the administration’s early actions amount to “a blatant effort in order to not only uphold the white power structure, but to remove any government responsibility to uphold the rights of individuals of color, specifically Black people”. It is the fruit of a conservative movement that has been trying to reverse course ever since the government began taking seriously efforts to protect the rights of Americans regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.

In 2020, hundreds of private companies pledged to change their culture – to use their power and influence and, most importantly, money, to re-shape American society toward more just ends. Now, the three largest employers in the nation – Walmart, Amazon, and the federal government – have all rolled those policies back. Dozens of other corporations have turned back the clock on even pretending to care about equality in the workplace as well.

To businesses’ credit, they had a difficult task ahead of them in 2020. “They’re faced with putting a policy in place quickly that’s responsive and doesn’t sound like lip service to frustrated people,” Dawkins said. But in doing so, they made an admission: they had not been taking diversity seriously before – and the capitulation to the administration’s demands since has betrayed that truth. And they made clear their efforts were always lip service."

Look, I don't think it's really news that much of the American private sector's DEI initiatives were motivated more by *appearing* to oppose white supremacy and enforced social hierarchies in an increasingly Christian Nationalist political environment, than actually opposing those problems. This was pointed out long before Trump's second term, and obviously their actions since the regime was installed have demonstrated that critics were right to question the commitment of American corporations that directly profit from a white supremacist order that marks out certain groups of people for brutal exploitation. In that context then, it's important to understand that we are in fact not "all in this together" and a corporate sector that gladly donated to Trump's election campaigns must be understood as *active* partners in the installation of a Christian Nationalist dictatorship in America. The fact that they did so because they think it'll improve their bottom line is largely irrelevant; fascist collaboration is still fascist collaboration, regardless of the motives that inspire it.