ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, who is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/espn-host-stephen-smith-consider-run-president" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considering</a> a run for the presidency in 2028, said on Sunday that he believes the Democratic Party needs to be &#8220;purged&#8221; of its far-left tendencies before he would associate with it as a candidate.
CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper asked Smith on this Sunday&#8217;s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/04/politics/video/sotu-jake-tapper-interviews-stphen-a-smith-on-potential-presidentila-bid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">episode</a> of &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; whether he would run for the White House as a Democrat.
&#8220;You know what? I&#8217;m an independent. I&#8217;m a registered independent. I would lean — who leans left. I&#8217;m fiscally conservative when it comes to my money. I&#8217;m socially liberal. I&#8217;m liberal when it comes to social issues pretty much across the board. I believe in living and let living,&#8221; Smith said.
&#8220;So I&#8217;m a moderate,&#8221; he went on. &#8220;And I would say, if I had to run, it would be as a Democrat, but I&#8217;m not happy with the Democratic Party. So the Democratic Party, as presently constructed, it would pretty much need to be purged in order for me to assume that I would want to be associated with them and I would garner their support, because I don&#8217;t like the way they have gone about doing a lot of things for a very, very long period of time.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/stephenasmith?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stephenasmith</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jaketapper</a> on potential 2028 bid: “I would say, if I had to run, it would be as a Democrat, but I&#8217;m not happy with the Democratic Party. So the Democratic Party, as presently constructed, it would pretty much need to be purged in order for me to assume that I… <a href="https://t.co/vgYrvfV2cH">pic.twitter.com/vgYrvfV2cH</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/1919041686136561801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Smith added: &#8220;And I think that I don&#8217;t view Donald Trump as winning the election. I view the Democrats as losing the election, as absolutely, positively blowing it with some of their actions. And that&#8217;s why I think that, again, if somebody was to associate me with that, the party, as presently constructed, where it leans so extremely left, or at least has spent the vast majority of time doing that, oh, that is not something that I would vibe with at all. I would definitely be looking to be a game changer in that regard.&#8221;
When pressed by Tapper, Smith said that he would not name anyone he thinks should be &#8220;purged,&#8221; but the media personality did take aim at the &#8220;extreme left&#8221; of the party.
&#8220;We know how they go about operating. We know what we lean towards when it came to open borders. We know that the spending was excessive, even though it&#8217;s excessive on the Republican side as well. I think a $37 trillion budget, when Republicans try to act like it&#8217;s just the Democrats, that&#8217;s not true. But the Democrats certainly shouldn&#8217;t be absolved from blame in that regard,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Certainly, with identity politics, woke culture, cancel culture, I thought that that was something that ravaged our nation psychologically, because you had people literally scared they were going to lose their jobs if they pronounced the wrong pronoun, for crying out loud,&#8221; Smith continued. &#8220;It got that bad.&#8221;
Smith said he believes the focus on &#8220;the individual&#8221; rather than &#8220;actual policies&#8221; is one reason why Trump won a second term.
&#8220;I&#8217;m talking about what they preached and what they talked to the American people about more so than what they&#8217;re doing. The kind of messages that they were disseminating was incredibly uncomfortable to listen to and to hear,&#8221; Smith said.
&#8220;And I thought that it wasn&#8217;t emblematic of what most Americans are thinking about. They&#8217;re trying to pay their mortgages, rent, buy food and groceries, pay gas and deal with the prices, the cost of living. And they want safety in the streets. That&#8217;s primarily what most American citizens are about, trying to live in peace and harmony,&#8221; he added.  &#8220;And that&#8217;s not something that I think either side has promoted along the way. And that&#8217;s why I think the state of the nation is what it is at this particular moment in time.&#8221;

Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A. Smith Refuses To Associate With ‘Extreme Left’ Of Democratic Party

Cancel Culture

Democratic Party

Democrats

Identity Politics

Politics

U.S.

Woke Culture

It&#8217;s no secret that, as Americans, we mostly focus on domestic politics in our own country. Unlike, say, Canadians, we don&#8217;t obsess over the daily comings-and-goings of other nations. It&#8217;s virtually impossible to find a single American who can name a Canadian Supreme Court justice or member of parliament, for example. I know I certainly can’t. By contrast, Canadians can tell you all about Clarence Thomas and Matt Gaetz and so on. This is a well-established phenomenon and it makes sense, because the United States is a lot more important than any other country.
But even with that in mind, every once in a while, something happens in the parliament of a foreign country that&#8217;s hard for us to ignore here in America. Maybe a lawmaker in Taiwan steals a bill and <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1cugp94/a_member_of_taiwans_parliament_stole_a_bill_and/">runs</a> away with it, in order to prevent it from being passed into law. That&#8217;s something that happened, and was hilarious. Or maybe a member of parliament in India <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-26167129">pepper-sprays</a> his colleagues when they don&#8217;t vote the right way. Or maybe Italy&#8217;s parliament descends into a bench-clearing brawl, which requires one politician to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hpf9HnxIAo">leave</a> the chamber in a wheelchair. These are all well-documented incidents that may not always have a lot of direct relevance to us, but more often than not, at the very least, they&#8217;re entertaining to watch. It&#8217;s a whole genre on YouTube, actually.
The viral moment that just took place in the parliament of New Zealand, on the other hand, does have relevance for Americans. It&#8217;s one of the more important political stories of the year, even though it&#8217;s taking place thousands of miles from our borders. In case you missed it, several politicians in New Zealand just broke out in a primal, stone-age war dance called the &#8220;Haka,&#8221; to protest a piece of legislation that&#8217;s working its way through parliament. They won&#8217;t stop doing the chant, and eventually parliament has to be shut down. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 New Zealand Parliament" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qmUIOIlU-yQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This dance is very dangerous because it may cause everyone in the vicinity to die of secondhand embarrassment. It’s hard to watch this video and not have the same reaction that the speaker of parliament has. It&#8217;s painful to sit through. Thankfully a few people have dubbed the audio in various ways. There&#8217;s one remix that turns it into a jazzy little piano number from 1925. It actually works surprisingly well. 
Because it&#8217;s a Friday we might as well play it. Plus, it shows you another angle, so we can justify it that way. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="009 Hello my baby" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5-68PVfotiM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It’s a lot less cringe when you dub in some real music, instead of the prehistoric grunting. Now, it&#8217;s a little hard to see in all the pandemonium, but they&#8217;re getting in the face of a politician named David Seymour, who introduced a bill they don&#8217;t like. The people doing the screeching identify as &#8220;Maori,&#8221; meaning they see themselves as the allegedly indigenous people of New Zealand. They&#8217;re chanting like barbarians and making gun gestures at David Seymour while saying something that apparently translates to &#8220;evil.&#8221; 
Before I get into the specifics about this vote and what it&#8217;s about, it needs to be reiterated that this whole &#8220;Haka&#8221; thing is silly and embarrassing. Maybe you&#8217;re not supposed to say that, but it&#8217;s obviously true. Everyone who sees it knows that and feels the same way. Yes, we&#8217;re supposed to pretend we find it somehow powerful and cool because it&#8217;s part of a non-white culture. We&#8217;re not allowed to have any negative opinions about anything that a non-white culture does. Even if it’s lame and stupid as hell, and we all know it.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1487-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
But the truth is, these people are embarrassing themselves. Always and everywhere, in every context, the &#8220;Haka&#8221; is cringeworthy to an immeasurable, painful degree. Here for example was the &#8220;Haka&#8221; that New Zealand&#8217;s basketball team performed at a tournament in 2014, just before getting blown out by double-digits by Team USA. Just look at the reactions during this:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Basketball Haka" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4omwD_5sXb8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There&#8217;s nothing like a fearsome war chant before a basketball game where everyone looks at you like you&#8217;re crazy. And then you get completely destroyed. Honestly, it just doesn&#8217;t work. You can&#8217;t do a fearsome war dance on behalf of a conquered people, and then get conquered some more. It&#8217;s just sad at this point. The Maori have been doing this dance for centuries and just getting beaten every time, in every context, in every type of battle they’ve ever been in. I think it might be time to hang it up and call it a day. 
In any event, back to the viral clip everyone&#8217;s talking about. The so-called &#8220;indigenous&#8221; people had a meltdown in parliament over a bill. What you may not have seen is what preceded that moment. David Seymour laid out some rational and calm arguments in favor of his legislation. And then the so-called &#8220;Maori&#8221; politicians launched into a volley of personal attacks. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Treaty Principles Bill" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-vj4yCvi5CY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Already, this is how you know these people have no argument. They&#8217;re only capable of shouting &#8220;shame&#8221; and resorting to personal attacks, to the point that they repeatedly get thrown out of parliament. Meanwhile David Seymour is sitting there calmly, saying he wants equality.
Admittedly, I&#8217;m not an expert on the finer details of New Zealand politics. So I went looking through some New Zealand outlets to try to get as complete a picture as I could.
It turns out that the concept of &#8220;equal protection under the law&#8221; is actually extremely controversial in New Zealand.
Here&#8217;s the background. Hundreds of years ago, around the late 13th century, Polynesian settlers arrived by canoe in New Zealand. They became the &#8220;Maori&#8221; people. Depending on who you ask, they were either the first to arrive, or they massacred everyone else who was there. In any event, before long, the Maori wiped out a different tribe called the Moriori, who were pacifists living in the Chatham Islands in the east. They got enslaved and beheaded and cannibalized by the Maori, because apparently that&#8217;s what civilized cultures do.
And to be clear, this kind of thing wasn&#8217;t out of character for the Maori. The Maori routinely enslaved and brutalized their enemies. The moment they acquired muskets from European traders, they fought a series of battles among themselves called &#8220;the Musket Wars,&#8221; which led to tens of thousands of deaths and even more slavery. These are wars that, of course, the Maori now blame the British for. They also bartered with severed heads, which they called &#8220;Toi moko.&#8221; They would cut people&#8217;s heads off, tattoo them, and then use them for trading. This is what Maori culture was all about. Cutting heads off and cannibalizing each other. 
Eventually the British came in and provided some stability with something called the Treaty of Waitangi. The idea was that New Zealand would become a British colony, but that the Maori would have their rights protected. They could keep their land and so on, to the extent that was possible. Then in 1975, New Zealand recognized this treaty in law for the first time. But there was still a big gray area as to what exactly this treaty required. It established tribunals and led to a lot of &#8220;rulemaking&#8221; by judges, but parliament mostly stayed out of it.
With this new bill, David Seymour is trying to change that. He&#8217;s proposing concrete legislation that will clarify that everyone in New Zealand — whether they&#8217;re &#8220;Maori&#8221; or not — is entitled to the full protection of the law. He also wants to make it clear that New Zealand is self-governing. The Maori are not a nation within a nation. Here&#8217;s how one New Zealand station describes the proposed clarifications:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 Specific Principles" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iw2sYrbrma4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
These are clarifications that, if you want to live in a modern civilization — instead of a backwards, third-world tribal hellhole — seem pretty reasonable. But it does mark a change from what&#8217;s happening at the moment.
Right now, New Zealand explicitly <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23518642/new-zealand-reparations-maori-settlements">provides</a> reparations to people who identify as Maori. In addition to affirmative action, they just announced a quote &#8220;financial redress of $30 million plus interest&#8221; to Maori tribes, along with a fund of more than a million dollars to assist with &#8220;cultural revitalization.&#8221; New Zealand politicians also regularly give lengthy apologies to the tribes, like this one. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 Crown Apologized" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pWxGRVv508I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This kind of thing has been going on for decades in New Zealand. They fly the Maori flag, they apologize to them, they pay them millions of dollars. And in the end it&#8217;s not enough. The demands keep coming. As a result, now their news reports are barely comprehensible, because they&#8217;re all speaking a foreign language. 
Here for example is how that New Zealand television station explains what the Maori are so upset about:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="007 Autonomy" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nCqr4BSF2uM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Yes, one of the main criticisms of the bill is — whatever that is. They have to translate it so that people in New Zealand can understand what&#8217;s even going on. So it turns out that the Maori want the ability to remain autonomous from New Zealand, which in a democracy seems pretty questionable. The opposition wants to put that up for a democratic vote, and of course the Maori are refusing. They don&#8217;t care what the people of New Zealand think about what should happen in New Zealand.
But the people of New Zealand should care. And we should care as well. What&#8217;s happening over there is a case study that we should pay attention to. New Zealand has bent over backwards apologizing for the alleged evils of &#8220;colonization.&#8221; They&#8217;ve paid out reparations and flown the Maori flag and everything. They&#8217;ve centered their whole society around &#8220;land acknowledgments&#8221; and so on. And now there are pagan chants breaking out in the middle of parliament. The Maori are explicitly campaigning against autonomy and equal rights. They&#8217;re threatening politicians who don&#8217;t agree with them. This is the sort of &#8220;enrichment&#8221; that western societies can expect when they start apologizing for their own existence.
And as Douglas Murray has pointed out, none of this makes any sense given the Maori&#8217;s history. If we&#8217;re going to play the game of generational guilt, they should be apologizing to all the people their ancestors have enslaved. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="008 Douglas Murray" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SlSZnYtrb9E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So the Maoris were a violent, brutal people. They practiced cannibalism and many other forms of horrific brutality. But just because they made it to New Zealand a few hundred years before Europeans, we are supposed to see it as some great tragedy that the Europeans took over. In fact we&#8217;re supposed to blame Europeans for engaging in violent conquest over people who themselves engaged in even more violent conquest.
Keep this absurd, debasing spectacle in mind whenever you hear about &#8220;reparations&#8221; in this country, or about how oppressed some &#8220;indigenous&#8221; group allegedly is. Even if you give these people what they want, for decades, they will always want more. No matter how much you apologize to them and pay them millions of dollars, it doesn&#8217;t matter. The moment you suggest withdrawing some of their privileges, they will revolt. They will descend into primal chants on the floor of parliament. They will turn your entire government into an international laughing stock.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a></h3>
That is why the only approach to dealing with people like this — the one that New Zealand should have adopted a long time ago — is to deny them any special privileges in the first place. As the saying goes, &#8220;When you&#8217;re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.&#8221; At this point, now that stone-age war chants have broken out in parliament, it&#8217;s probably too late for New Zealand to correct their mistake. And that should be a pretty big clue to everyone in this country that — unless we also want to return to the stone age — we should take a very different approach.
We should affirm the greatness of western civilization. We should take pride in our heritage and our culture. We should reject false narratives about our history. That&#8217;s how you neutralize the grievance mongers and the guilt-merchants so that they have no power. They can do their stone-age chants in the shower. The rest of us will be doing what New Zealand is apparently now incapable of: We&#8217;ll be living in a functioning, self-governing democracy. 
And if there&#8217;s one lesson from these bizarre and embarrassing clips out of New Zealand, it&#8217;s that no one should ever take that for granted.

New Zealand’s Parliament Sits

This Is What Happens When Identity Politics Takes Control

Colonialism

Matt Walsh

New Zealand

Opinion

Parliament

Daily Wire Editor Emeritus <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ben-shapiro">Ben Shapiro</a> joined <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/brian-williams">Brian Williams</a> for his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/2024-election">election night</a> coverage on Amazon Prime Live to discuss early results and what they meant.
“I think that what you’re seeing is a breakdown of much of the identity politics that the Democratic Party has relied upon for voter turnout for several election cycles at this point. They were counting on a very heavy break in the Hispanic vote in favor of Kamala Harris. That doesn’t seem to be materializing,” Shapiro said.
“The shift in the Hispanic community toward President Trump – toward Republicans more broadly – is quite real,” he continued, mentioning that some of the exit polls indicate that Trump could capture 45% of the Hispanic vote. He said black male voters are also showing up for Trump.
The Daily Wire co-founder mentioned that the Republican nominee appeals to these demographics because he doesn’t pander to them like the Democrats do.
“I think that has something to do with, no matter what else you think of President Trump, he tends to make the same appeal to pretty much everybody. He really doesn’t try to break people down by ethnic group in sort of the same way the Democrats traditionally have, making a separate campaign for White Dudes for Harris.”
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
“The identity politics era may be coming to a close – we can all hope that’s the case,” Shapiro added.
Williams and Shapiro also discussed Florida’s “huge movement to the Right” since coming under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis despite it being a bellwether state less than a decade ago. Shapiro said he was not surprised when his home state was called for Trump.
The pair also discussed whether October 7 factored into early voting results, with Shapiro saying it was too soon to tell with so many states up in the air.
Williams was a former news anchor on NBC before joining the journalists at MSNBC as the host of their political news show, “The 11th Hour.” He announced in October that he’d be hosting election night coverage on Amazon.

Ben Shapiro/Backstage

Ben Shapiro Tells Brian Williams: ‘The Identity Politics Era May Be Coming To A Close’

Ben Shapiro Tells Brian Williams: 'The Identity Politics Era May Be Coming To A Close'

2024 Election

Ben Shapiro

Brian Williams

Donald Trump

Kamala Harris

The Wisconsin State Bar Association will amend its language for first-year law student clerk internship requirements after it was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lawsuit-filed-against-wisconsin-state-bar-over-discriminatory-diversity-internship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued last year</a> by a conservative group that said the bar was discriminating against students based on race and sexual identity. 
The state bar association reached a partial settlement on Thursday with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a conservative legal group, that had sued the bar in December over its internship programs and definition of diversity which included race as a factor.
“Defeating unconstitutional DEI programs has become WILL’s area of expertise, and we are not stopping here,” WILL Associate Counsel Skylar Croy said in a <a href="https://wislawjournal.com/2024/04/04/state-bar-of-wisconsin-reaches-settlement-in-diversity-lawsuit/">statement</a>. “While we are pleased with this victory, we know the fight is far from over. In fact, this is only the beginning of a movement, and our lawsuit will provide a roadmap for future victories in all 50 states.&#8221;
According to the <a href="https://will-law.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PARTIAL-SETTLEMENT-AGREEMENT-AND-RELEASE-FINAL-fully-executed.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">settlement</a>, the bar will make clear that its “diversity clerkship program” is open to all first-year law students at either Marquette University Law School or the University of Wisconsin Law School. The bar will also no longer include a requirement for that clerkship to go to students with “backgrounds that have been historically excluded from the legal field​​ who are in good standing.” 
WILL sued the bar on behalf of attorney Daniel Suhr, who celebrated the settlement. “Premier internship opportunities should be available to students based on merit — not race,” he <a href="https://wislawjournal.com/2024/04/04/state-bar-of-wisconsin-reaches-settlement-in-diversity-lawsuit/">said</a>. “I am proud to partner with WILL to set a strong precedent for the next generation of law students.”
Additionally, the bar will adopt a new definition of “diversity&#8221; saying: “‘Diversity’ means including people with differing characteristics, beliefs, experiences, interests, and viewpoints. Diversity promotes an environment in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their differences and without regard to stereotypes, and helps to ensure a better understanding and consideration of the needs and viewpoints of others with whom we interact.”
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The bar&#8217;s previous definition of diversity included race, ethnicity, and sexual identity among other factors. The settlement agreement adds that &#8220;Defendants expressly deny all Allegations relating to the Diversity Clerkship Program in the Lawsuit.”
“The settlement clarifies the definition of ‘diversity’ but makes no changes to the program,” <a href="https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2024/04/05/wisconsin-diversity-lawsuit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Larry J. Martin, the bar association executive director. “The Diversity Clerkship Program, which has been creating opportunities for Wisconsin-based law students for three decades, will continue to exist and to operate in its current form.&#8221;
Despite the settlement, WILL is still challenging the dues collection process for the Wisconsin State Bar Association.

Flag of the US State of Wisconsin

Wisconsin State Bar Must Keep ‘Diversity’ Internship Open To All After Lawsuit From Conservative Group

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Racial Discrimination

Wisconsin

Former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bill-clinton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill Clinton</a> had a harsh — and definitely Not Suitable For Work (NSFW) — assessment of his wife&#8217;s failed 2016 presidential campaign, saying, according to a new book from author Ryan Grim, that her campaign &#8220;could not sell p***y on a troop train.&#8221;
According to Grim&#8217;s book, &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Squad-AOC-Hope-Political-Revolution/dp/1250869072?tag=nypost-20&amp;asc_refurl=https://nypost.com/2023/12/12/news/bill-clinton-hillarys-2016-campaign-could-not-sell-p-y-on-a-troop-train-book/&amp;asc_source=web" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" data-ga-event="{&quot;category&quot;:&quot;affiliate ecommerce click&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:&quot;amazon&quot;,&quot;label&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Squad-AOC-Hope-Political-Revolution/dp/1250869072?tag=nypost-20&amp;asc_refurl=https://nypost.com/2023/12/12/news/bill-clinton-hillarys-2016-campaign-could-not-sell-p-y-on-a-troop-train-book/&amp;asc_source=web&quot;}" data-ga4-event="{&quot;event_name&quot;:&quot;ux_engagement&quot;,&quot;source_unit&quot;:&quot;amazon&quot;,&quot;source_position&quot;:77}">The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution</a>,&#8221; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton&#8217;s mistake was in leaning too hard on identity politics — which he argued was an attempt to damage her main primary opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by claiming that he was &#8220;sexist,&#8221; among other things.
&#8220;To the extent that the campaign tactic moved the needle at all, it likely pushed moderate voters paying only marginal attention to the campaign towards Sanders, who spoke like a normal person while Clinton began ascending into what her ally James Carville would later call, &#8216;faculty lounge speak,'&#8221; Grim wrote.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democratic-strategist-james-carville-wokeness-is-a-problem-for-democrats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carville</a>, a longtime Democratic strategist, later raised his concern on that point several times, arguing that the average American voter was likely to be turned off by people using language that they didn&#8217;t understand.
&#8220;They come up with a word like &#8216;Latinx&#8217; that no one else uses. Or they use a phrase like &#8216;communities of color.&#8217; I don’t know anyone who speaks like that. I don’t know anyone who lives in a ‘community of color.’ I know lots of white and black and brown people and they all live in … neighborhoods,&#8221; Carville explained in 2021. &#8220;This is not how people talk. This is not how voters talk. And doing it anyway is a signal that you’re talking one language and the people you want to vote for you are speaking another language.&#8221;
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But Bill Clinton put his beef in much starker terms, according to Grim&#8217;s book.
&#8220;Former President Bill Clinton, surveying the landscape and the ham-handed efforts at identity politics was bereft, lamenting to a longtime friend in the fall of 2016 that Hillary’s campaign &#8216;could not sell p***y on a troop train,'&#8221; he wrote.

Clinton Global Initiative September 2023 Meeting – Day 1

Bill Clinton Delivers NSFW Assessment Of Hillary’s Failed Presidential Bid, Says New Book

Bill Clinton Delivers NSFW Assessment Of Hillary's Failed Presidential Bid, Says New Book

2016 Election

Bill Clinton

Elections

Hillary Clinton

Former South Carolina Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nikki-haley-china-has-already-infiltrated-america-biden-asleep-at-the-wheel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nikki Haley</a> responded to leftist radio host and TV personality <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charlamagne-tha-god-praises-nikki-haleys-push-for-mental-competency-tests-age-limits-for-elected-officials" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Charlamagne Tha God</a> Wednesday after he pressed the Republican presidential candidate on why she doesn’t “play the identity politics game.”
Charlamagne questioned Haley, an Indian-American who is also the only female candidate in the Republican field, on why she doesn’t go along with the identity politics playbook so often used by Democrats.  
&#8220;Why don&#8217;t you play the identity politics game, though?&#8221; Charlamagne <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG2Gphe-Xws" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> Haley while guest hosting &#8220;The Daily Show.&#8221; &#8220;Because that&#8217;s something Democrats like to do. They always talk about how diverse they are. Why don&#8217;t you get into the identity politics game and play up being Indian more? Because a lot of voters just think you&#8217;re a white woman.&#8221;
Haley responded, arguing that identity politics divides people, while she wants to seek unity. 
&#8220;We were the only Indian family in a small rural southern town in South Carolina. We weren&#8217;t white enough to be white. We weren&#8217;t black enough to be black,&#8221; said Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the UN. &#8220;And I remember when I would get teased on the playground and I would come home, my mom would always say &#8216;Your job is not to show them how you&#8217;re different, your job is to show them how you&#8217;re similar.&#8217; And that lesson on the playground has played out throughout my life, whether it was in the corporate world, whether it was as governor, whether it was as ambassador.&#8221;
&#8220;I think the problem is when you start labeling people, you&#8217;re assuming that they&#8217;re different than you. I don&#8217;t want to just be a woman. I don&#8217;t want to just be Indian,&#8221; she added. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to just be a mom. I don&#8217;t want to just be a Republican. I don&#8217;t want to just be all of those things. I&#8217;m more than that. And I think every person is more than that.&#8221; 
Charlamagne pushed the issue further, claiming there is “sexism in the GOP” and asking Haley if she thinks being a woman hurts her chances at getting the nomination in the Republican Party. 
&#8220;I don&#8217;t worry about being a woman at all,&#8221; she shot back. &#8220;I mean, I wear heels. It&#8217;s not for a fashion statement. It&#8217;s because if I get mad, you know, I&#8217;m ready to kick any time. And I think that people have always respected me because they know I do my homework, they know I fight for what I believe in and I tell the truth. I tell the hard truths whether they want to hear it or not. And I think that&#8217;s where I&#8217;ve always been different.&#8221; 
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Haley has brought up her female status and Indian background during her presidential campaign but <a href="https://share.snipd.com/chapter/d837eea0-2e28-4bb6-ad33-0457e037e936" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> there&#8217;s a difference between falling into identity politics and being &#8220;proud&#8221; to be an Indian-American woman. In the first GOP presidential debate in August, the former South Carolina governor threw herself into a back-and-forth between former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on climate change. 
“This is exactly why Margaret Thatcher said, ‘If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman,’” Haley <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSvQjFfW8-c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quipped</a>.
Haley also came out with a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Want-Something-Done-Leadership/dp/125028497X/ref=asc_df_125028497X/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564776326262&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=802817141780550907&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9013184&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645220311420&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">book</a> last year titled: “If You Want Something Done: Leadership Lessons from Bold Women” Earlier this year, the presidential candidate <a href="https://share.snipd.com/chapter/d837eea0-2e28-4bb6-ad33-0457e037e936" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> independent journalist Bari Weiss that she was not accepting “identity politics” by bringing attention to her female or Indian identity. 
“It’s just loving who you are,” she said. “I love being a woman. I love my heritage. I love how I was raised, and I love how it has made me who I am today. Identity politics is when you divide people based on what you are. I’m not dividing people based on what I am. I’m trying to show people that we are all more similar than we are different.”
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Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley Tells Charlamagne Tha God Why She Refuses To ‘Play The Identity Politics Game’

2024 Primaries

Charlamagne Tha God

Republicans

The following is a transcript excerpt from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s conversation with Douglas Murray on identity politics. You can <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/s4e3-radical-ideology-and-the-nihilistic-void-douglas-murray-the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast">listen to</a> or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/s4e3-radical-ideology-and-the-nihilistic-void-douglas-murray-the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast">watch</a> the full podcast on DailyWire+.
Start time: 17:13
Identity politics coalesces around any group where there is a sufficient number of people with at least one thing in common who do, in fact, feel alienated and resentful about the general culture for valid and invalid reasons. It is a crapshoot, in some sense. It does not matter if there is consistency in category structure across the different categories of identity politics. All that matters is that enough people will coalesce around each term. I think that is reasonable because many, many terms have been generated — like ageism, for example. Although, we have not seen much identity politics emerge around age, but that is probably because it did not coalesce. You can think about it as a Darwinian process, in some sense. There are 100 terms of alienation, and 10 of them generate enough social attention to become viable sociological and political phenomena. And they continue to breed, but that is because they breed whenever there is enough people to garner enough attention.
Now, the problem I have with that — and I have been thinking about this for a long time — is the notion of identity that lurks at the bottom of this. Because I think part of the problem with the identity politics’ grand narrative is that, partly because of its incoherence, it does not offer anything that looks like a real solution. That is partly because its definition of what constitutes identity seems to be almost incomprehensibly shallow, especially for social constructivists. The central idea seems to be that identity is something that you define yourself, and it is a consequence of your lived experience. So no one has any right to state anything about your identity other than you because they do not have access to your own subjective experiences.
I would not want to make the claim that there is nothing in that because there is a domain of subjective experience that is unique — like pain, for example. There is no doubt that it is real and that it is vital and important. But the problem with that seems to me to be that identity is not only a consequence of your subjective experience. In fact, it is not even a label for your subjective experience. Identity seems to me to be a handbag of tools that you employ to make your way in the natural and social world. It is something more pragmatic. It is like the role you might play if you were playing a game with other people. You can pick your role, but it has to be part of the game. That means people have to accept you as a player, and that there are certain functions that you have to undertake when you fulfill that role. That is actually beneficial to you because partly what you want from an identity is a set of guidelines for how it is that you should act in the world.
The problem with a lot of these newer categories — and I think trans is a good example of that — is that even if the category was accepted as valid on the grounds of its proposed validity (which is the felt sense of being a man if you are a woman or being a woman if you are a man), it is not obvious what that buys you. [&#8230;] The fundamental flaw that I see in identity politics is that, even though it is simultaneously predicated on the idea that identity is a social construct and that it is a felt sense, it can’t be both of those. It is, in fact, a social construct with biological root. The fact that it is a social construct means that it is something that is by necessity negotiated with others, not imposed upon them by fiat. And it has to be negotiated with others because otherwise they will not play with you. [&#8230;] We are each a solitude in some sense for multiple reasons, for multiple intersectional reasons for that matter. But that does not mean that communication is impossible or that it should be foregone, unless you want the alternative. And the alternative is conflict, combat: “If I can’t understand you, you’re nothing like me, and there’s no way we can negotiate a way to occupy the same space.” Maybe that is the catastrophe you are after, but it is not an optimal outcome.
To hear the rest of the discussion, continue by listening or watching this episode on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/browse">DailyWire+</a>.
<a href="https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson</a> is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. From 1993 to 1998 he served as assistant and then associate professor of psychology at Harvard. He is the international bestselling author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules For Life, and Beyond Order. You can now<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast"> listen to</a> or<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson"> watch</a> his popular lectures on DailyWire+.

JP imagery-5

Identity As A Consequence Of The Lived Experience

Gender Identity

Jordan Peterson

Psychology

Readers Pass

Social Issues

Black Republican <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/missouri" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Missouri</a> state Rep. Justin Hicks was yelled at this week by black Democrat state Rep. Marlene Terry over his opposition to the state government funding <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversity, equity, and inclusion</a> initiatives. 
On Thursday, <a href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB6&amp;year=2023&amp;code=R" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Bill 6</a>, an appropriations bill for Missouri&#8217;s departments of agriculture, natural resources, and conservation, was sent to the state Senate by the Republican-controlled state House by a vote of 105-46. 
The bill <a href="https://house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills231/hlrbillspdf/0006H.03P.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> that the departments cannot spend funds “for staffing, vendors, consultants, or programs associated with ‘Diversity, Equity, Inclusion&#8217; or ‘Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging.’” The bill also blocks funds for initiatives that go toward initiatives that promote preferential treatment based on identity, “the concept that disparities are tied to oppression,” “collective guilty ideologies,” and “intersectional or divisive identity activism.” 
During debate on the bill, Hicks, a Republican elected to represent part of St. Charles County in 2022, was <a href="https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00325/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20200831/-1/8301" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grilled</a> over his opposition to state funds going toward DEI programs by Terry, who has been in office since 2021. 
“You said you were OK with the DEI [measure], and that there is an equal playing field. Did you say that?” she asked Hicks, who said that he does support banning government funds from going towards DEI. 
“What it does is say that we are not in the business in state government of giving preferential treatment to certain groups and individuals. We treat everyone the same because we are all people under the law,” Hicks said. 
Terry then asked how the freshman representative ethnically identified. “I identify as an American,” he replied, which led to applause from some of the lawmakers present. 
After Hicks told Terry that she had been given the same opportunity to be elected to state government as everyone else, Terry said that Hicks was “delusional.”
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“You are delusional if you think that because that’s not how life is going. That’s the reason we need these things implemented in some of these companies,” she said. 
Terry also said that she introduced some “darn good bills,” suggesting that because her bills were advancing that the system was rigged against her. There are currently 111 Republicans in the Missouri state House and 52 Democratic lawmakers. 
“I had to work on my own merit, and pretty much promote the principles that I believe in, which is freedom, equality for all, which I believe that America does. And that’s how I got elected into my position. I didn’t get elected into my position because of the color of my skin or do any race-baiting stuff that it seems like you’re promoting here,” Hicks said when asked how he was elected.

Screen Shot 2023-04-01 at 9.29.42 AM

‘I Am An American’: Black Missouri Republican Rep. Questioned By Black Democrat About Ethnicity After Opposing DEI

Missouri

The following is an excerpt from Adam Carolla’s new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Reminds-Me-Something-Apologies/dp/1637582684/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3ACC1JD1N2RRE&amp;keywords=everything+reminds+me+of+something+adam+carolla&amp;qid=1658175758&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C55&amp;sr=8-1">Everything Reminds Me Of Something: Advice, Answers…But No Apologies</a> (Post Hill Press, July 2022). In his sixth book, the comedian, podcaster, and provocateur does what he does best &#8211; doles out advice and opinions with utter disregard for our politically correct, self-righteous, virtue signaling, woke times.
Q: How do I respond to all the intersectional identity politics at work? It’s not even about being treated equally anymore—if you are in the “wrong” demographic, then you have to admit you’re a racist and that you need to just shut up and let the others tell you what’s up. Except that it’s just too exhausting for them to have to explain it all to you. If you don’t innately get it (which you cannot do, by definition), it’s just more proof of your hopeless racism. This stuff is crazy and absolutely scary. If I didn’t have a wife and daughter to support, I would be less risk-averse about this. ~Bobby, 53, Metairie, Louisiana
I’d say start your own business. As your own boss, you’re not going to force yourself to do antiracism training. It’s weird that identity politics has crept its way into the workplace. This nonsense was formerly relegated to liberal arts colleges. Now it’s gotten into corporate America. Like a virus from a Wuhan lab, it has escaped and mutated and now has variants. We should have locked down the colleges to stop the spread.
Here’s my take on all of this, and it’s less about race and more about employment practices. So much race discussion happening at work means not a lot of work is going on. Guys who work on deep-sea oil rigs aren’t talking about “white fragility.” I worked in carpet cleaning. I didn’t know people’s last names, never mind who they voted for. I couldn’t talk to my coworkers, because the steam cleaner was so loud I couldn’t hear myself talk. Guys work-ing in factories and at logging camps don’t give a f*** about race discussions. They’re trying to avoid getting killed by the machinery they’re operating. They don’t have time to care about the race of the person next to them; they care only about whether that guy secured the safety line so they don’t get crushed.
It’s corporate America’s fault for calling the chick making eight dollars an hour stirring the beans at Taco Bell a “team member.” It implies she has a say. I was a goomper who worked my way up to being a glorified goomper. “Hey, idiot” was how I was greeted most days on the construction site. Now everyone is a “valued associate,” “partner,” or “colleague.” Language like that levels the field and implies an opening for a conversation about your pronouns and gender identity, or about race and microaggressions.
If inmates in a maximum-security prison were referred to as team members, and the warden talked about striving to create an inclusive place where everyone’s voice would be heard, a day wouldn’t go by without a guard being taken hostage.
Worker euphemisms hit peak absurdity last year for me when I noticed a sign outside a Jimmy John’s sub joint.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-412110" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Jimmy-Johns-Rock-Star.png" alt="" width="198" height="254" /></div>
No wonder the Great Resignation is happening. Jimmy John’s is hiring rock stars. Who’d work as a bank teller and be a “team member” when they can go across the street to Jimmy John’s and be a rock star? As far as euphemisms go, this even beats Disneyland’s calling the failed musical theater student in the Pluto costume a cast member. Obviously, Jimmy John’s workers are not literally rock stars. Slash and Dave Grohl aren’t slinging the composite-meat products behind the counter. They’re shredding on their guitars, not shredding iceberg lettuce. But even figuratively, “rock star” doesn’t apply. People in sales or advertising are called rock stars when they close a big account or do something else that’s outstanding. How can someone stand out when they’re assembling sandwiches and will soon be replaced by a robot? It’s all part of the failure of the self-esteem movement. You can’t give someone self-esteem. It has to be earned. We can change the language, but it doesn’t change the job. Calling someone a rock star doesn’t make them one. We can rename herpes “happies,” but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a sexually transmitted disease.
But I think it’s too late. This sh** with race discussions and ridiculous euphemisms for workers is just going to continue. Workplaces will continue to become wokeplaces, and intersectional identity politics will become part of corporate culture. But on the bright side, like those OSHA-mandated signs in the break-room advising workers of their rights and the safety mandates of the building, they’ll become like wallpaper that you don’t even notice. Though I do look forward to seeing a sign next to the one that reads “115 Days without an Accident” declaring “28 Days Since Last Misgendering.”
Adam Carolla is a comedian, podcaster, and a well-known film, television, and documentary producer. He is the author of six books, including his latest <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Reminds-Me-Something-Apologies/dp/1637582684/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3ACC1JD1N2RRE&amp;keywords=everything+reminds+me+of+something+adam+carolla&amp;qid=1658175758&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C55&amp;sr=8-1">Everything Reminds Me Of Something: Advice, Answers…But No Apologies</a> (Post Hill Press, July 2022).
This excerpt is taken from chapter 12 ‘Get a Job and Fight to Keep It.’ 
The views expressed in this excerpt are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Readers Pass – Carolla – Book Excerpt- Everything Reminds Me Of Something16x9

CAROLLA: Ridiculous Euphemisms Turn Workplaces Into Wokeplaces

Adam Carolla

Books

excerpt

America has been wrecked on the shoals of identity.
Identity politics has been characterized casually as a form of tribalism: Americans grouping themselves according to biological or sexual characteristics, in opposition to other groups associated by biological or sexual characteristics. And there is certainly truth to the idea that such tribalism has damaged America in extraordinary ways – that tribalism acts as the sort of factionalism the founding fathers feared, tearing Americans from each other and forcing them into polarized units competing against others in a battle over control.
But there is another form of identity politics even more sinister than the sort of tribalism we see so openly today. That is a form of identity politics that focuses less on politics than on identity: the redefinition of identity itself. 
For thousands of years, human beings established their identities by learning how to adapt to the systems in which they lived, gradually changing those systems for the better after determining the flaws within the systems. This is how parents traditionally civilized children – by adapting them to their civilization. 
But as Carl Trueman explains in his masterful book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, the post-Enlightenment era tore away at the core assumption of such notions of identity. Instead of adapting ourselves to the institutions around us and forming our identity within those institutions, human beings in the West began to locate their identity within – to look to their own sense of authenticity as the guide to fulfillment. In this view, identity was not formed in tandem with civilization, but in opposition to it: only by rebelling against the strictures of a surrounding society, by breaking free of convention, could individuals finally achieve fulfillment. 
Futhermore, fulfillment would require not merely an interior sense of identity, but a sense of identity cheered and celebrated by everyone else. After all, human beings still feel the need for acceptance. To reject someone else’s authentic sense of self-identification, therefore, becomes an act of emotional violence.
We have now taken this view to its logical endpoint: total subjectivism, requiring the destruction of any and all conflicting viewpoints, or data. Take, for example, a recent New York Times piece applauding the rise of so-called neopronouns. With the explosion of new subjective identities – and the demand that others endorse those identities – has come a wave of new pronouns. We are no longer talking about biological males demanding that others identify them as “she/her” in contravention of all available objective science. We are now talking about people insisting that others call them kitten/kittenself or vamp/vampself. Now, some might find this to be frivolous nonsense disconnected from any true sense of identity. But as The New York Times blithely notes, “what’s the difference between an aesthetic and an identity anyway?”
This is saying the quiet part out loud. For decades, those who insist that identity is constructed in opposition to society’s rules – rules that must be eliminated in order to achieve human flourishing – have suggested that authentic identity is more than mere aesthetics. But now the Times has given away the show: when you construct identity tabula rasa, seeing all history and science as obstacles to happiness, identity quickly flattens into aesthetics. And we are all expected to agree with your sense of aesthetics. (Unless, as the Times notes, you identify as BLM – in that case, you are encroaching on longstanding areas of sensitivity, and must atone.)
When identity becomes pure aesthetics, society completely atomizes. No free society can be rooted in utter subjectivity &#8211; someone must enforce silence from the top, bar dissenters, and punish those who insist on objective data. And that’s precisely what we are currently seeing from an authoritarian Left – an authoritarian Left that arrived with the promise of fulfillment and authenticity and has instead delivered emptiness and aesthetic pretension, enforced by institutional fiat.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Ben Shapiro 7

The Fight Over Identity

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has somehow landed herself in hot water with progressives after saying that &#8220;identity&#8221; should be the &#8220;starting step&#8221; when it comes to President Joe Biden&#8217;s Supreme Court pick, but that worldview is another factor he needed to consider when choosing a nominee to ensure the choice is actually progressive. In short, some on the Left thought that AOC&#8217;s comments were evidence that she is racist and sexist against black women, as if she was somehow doubting Biden&#8217;s potential nominee pick would not be sufficiently progressive.
If it sounds as if everybody is confused in this conversation — AOC for saying &#8216;identity&#8217; should be the first consideration and her critics for saying she is racist — the answer is they&#8217;re not confused — their brains are just poisoned by identity politics. The &#8220;debate&#8221; — which is almost insulting to the reader to call it that — highlights once and for all how stupid &#8220;identity politics&#8221; are.
AOC&#8217;s comments came on January 31 during an episode of Yahoo Finance&#8217;s &#8220;Influencers With Andy Serwer.&#8221;
&#8220;Identity is just the starting step when we are discussing a Supreme Court justice. There is no shortage of incredible qualified leading black female candidates to serve on the Supreme Court, but the question is what is going to be that nominee&#8217;s worldview? And what I hope is that what we see is a nominee that is, that is truly rooted in — not just public service but with a protection towards the very rights that frankly have been eroded over the last — not just you know two, three, five years but the last 10 years.&#8221;
&#8220;What their stance on something like Citizens United would be? What their stance would be on expanding the right to vote? I mean these are central questions about our democracy both in the financial capture of our democracy but also the racial injustice capture of an erosion of our democracy as well,&#8221; she continued.
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The Young Turks&#8217; YouTube Show, &#8220;The Damage Report With John Iadarola,&#8221; surmised that this was in part because the initial video that went viral was edited to remove AOC saying there are well-qualified black women for the job.
Regarding her comments about worldview, Iadarola <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6lNPdcteEo">surmised</a> &#8220;If you just focus on that then, you can pretend that AOC doesn&#8217;t care about representation and in fact goes further than that and hates black women — because that is the attacks that&#8217;s coming at her and others who think that representation matters but inside of that rubric you can also have considerations for what they would do as judges.&#8221;
On Twitter, many leftists were puzzled by AOC&#8217;s comments, even accusing &#8220;The Squad&#8221; member of being anti-black and anti-women. Yet, even with AOC&#8217;s statement in full, her comments indicate that she is focused first on race rather than character or qualifications when making SCOTUS selections which is dangerous for a myriad of reasons.
&#8220;Do they think Joe Biden is going to nominate a black female right wing former slave owner. Who does AOC think the nominee is going to be? It’s going to be a left leaning one, that’s a given. Why are people like this? #SupremeCourt&#8221; Jason Elias wrote.
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Do they think Joe Biden is going to nominate a black female right wing former slave owner. Who does AOC think the nominee is going to be? It’s going to be a left leaning one, that’s a given. Why are people like this? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SupremeCourt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SupremeCourt</a> <a href="https://t.co/gMGdTa9j2Z">https://t.co/gMGdTa9j2Z</a>
&mdash; Jason Elias (@Zebop) <a href="https://twitter.com/Zebop/status/1488352720843063302?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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There were also some posts that defended AOC, pointing out that all she was trying to say was that Biden should not pick a nominee who goes against progressive values.
But this is what identity politics does. It puts a person&#8217;s identity — in this case skin color and sex — above any other qualification. It blinds people from being able to critically think. If you even slightly criticize the Left for focusing too much on race or sex, then you are a racist or sexist, in their minds. Meritocracy is dead in that framework. It is replaced by a race-based structure of power and victimization.
AOC is close to admitting that Biden shouldn&#8217;t consider race or sex and instead should focus on progressive bonafides and how they would interpret the Constitution. While conservatives may agree with those standards, they&#8217;re at least standards based not on immutable characteristics.  But she cannot do that because the left would have a full-blown mutiny and she would be canceled.
The good news for conservatives is that so-long as the right stays away from embracing identity politics, the Left will eat their own and normal Americans — of all gender, sexes, creeds, and orientations — who still believe in meritocracy and hard work will come flocking to the GOP. America has seen this already with the recent revolt against Critical Race Theory — which is really what Biden, AOC, and leftist supporters of race-based Supreme Court picks are operating off of.
The views expressed in this piece are the author&#8217;s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Leftists Slam AOC For Wanting Biden To Consider Worldview After Putting ‘Identity’ First In His Supreme Court Pick

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

SCOTUS

This week, Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo — daughter of Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo — announced that she is “demisexual.”
And what does “demisexual” mean, you may ask?
According to “<a href="https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Demisexual">LGBTA Wiki</a>,” which we must assume is an authority on such nonsense, demisexual is “a sexual orientation on the asexual spectrum defined as someone who does not experience sexual attraction until they have formed a deep emotional connection with someone.”
“The connection can be romantic, platonic, or some other form of connection,” the site adds. “Forming an emotional bond with someone does not mean that one is automatically attracted to said person, as it just means there&#8217;s now a possibility for one to feel attraction.”
So being a “demisexual” means that you can only develop some form of emotional connection with someone — whether it be “romantic, platonic, or some other form of connection” — when you have formed an emotional connection…
This is what is known as a tautological statement, a statement that is true in every possible way. It is the LGBTA equivalent of “the brown dog is brown.”
In other words, it’s quite literally meaningless.
But then why is “demisexual” even defined as a sexual orientation, and why does it have its own flag, a strangely diluted and non-aesthetically pleasing rebranding of the South African flag?
Because membership of a minority victim group has become so attractive that demonstrable non-victims have to invent nonsensical categories which allow them admission under the ever-expanding LGBTQ+ banner.
Kennedy-Cuomo, arguably among the most privileged members of our society by nature of her surname alone, seemingly has a deep and narcissistic need to be a victim. But, unfortunately for Kennedy-Cuomo, she’s just a privileged woman who isn’t a member of one of the “real” victim groups. Luckily for her, there’s an app for that.
This absurd story raises two serious questions. First, where does this end? Second, what does it say about society more broadly?
The ending to this selfish desire for self-victimhood is inevitable: every single individual will have their own category. Each person will have their own flag, and these flags will combine under a colossal umbrella of a society of victims, with an ever-increasing application of specificity to one’s unimportant characteristics. The result will be a strange form of individualism, in which our value as individuals is meaningless beyond the meaningless variables we retroactively create to &#8220;describe&#8221; ourselves.
The question “what does it say about society more broadly” is comparatively simple: Our culture is so monumentally successful in terms of fundamental equality and opportunity that even the most privileged among us want to get in on the nationwide grift that is identity politics.
When people are clamoring to be &#8220;victims,&#8221; is a victim really a victim anymore?
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at<a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth"> @ighaworth</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo

OPINION: ‘Demisexual’: Using Meaningless Identities To Get In On The Victimhood Grift

Andrew Cuomo

LGBTQ

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