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DEI Law professor reviews executive orders, concludes Trump is racist

President Donald Trump’s executive orders against “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” in support of energy independence, and blocking illegal immigration, are only meant to help white people, according to a University of Toledo law professor.

Professor Ben Davis, now retired from the law school, wrote of taking an “analytical approach” to the president’s executive orders.

Davis, who previously worked on “racial and ethnic diversity” efforts for the American Bar Association, reached the conclusion that Trump was promoting racist ideas. He also shared how he watched a Martin Luther King Jr. event last Monday, instead of the inauguration – in a bid to depress the ratings.”

Professor Davis (pictured) wrote for Jurist.org:

What quickly became clear was that this patchwork of orders extended beyond simple categorization. These were not single-minded efforts to support the robber barons, shore up the values of white supremacy, or even lay out a fascist or imperialist vision. Instead, what emerged in both domestic and international contexts was a modern adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem “The White Man’s Burden.”

Davis then reviewed the executive orders to explain how Trump’s agenda “serves wealthy white American men.

Trump’s declaration of an “emergency” at the southern border, while cracking down on illegal immigration from mostly non-European countries is racist. “The message is clear: the immigration priorities target Black and Brown populations, specifically,” Davis concluded.

The president’s decision to target “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and ensure there is no discrimination on the basis of race is also about helping white men, Davis wrote.

He wrote:

Merit gets redefined: a white man’s hiring reflects merit despite qualification gaps (they’re “disruptors”), while others are dismissed as “just DEI hires.” This isn’t the new right — it’s the old far right repackaged, where the wealthy and powerful demand absolute loyalty from their appointees.

When Trump announced some places would be renamed, or their names would be reverted, and he opens up more places to oil exploration, that is “Pure 19th-century manifest destiny thinking.”

He ended by criticizing Treasury nominee Scott Bessent’s opposition to raising the federal minimum wage. “The message is clear: unless you’re wealthy Trump voters – particularly within his three of five white men supporters – you have been misled,” the legal scholar wrote.

“Everyone else who supported Trump faces an even starker reality,” he wrote.

MORE: Trump admin purges DEI from Education Department

IMAGE: University of Toledo College of Law

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