Former Trump Aide Called Out As 'Racist' For Calling Kamala Harris A 'DEI Hire'

A former White House aide from the presidential administration of Republican Donald Trump got called out for his racism in real time on right-wing media outlet Newsmax.

John Ullyot began with a MAGA conspiracy theory about former Democratic President Barack Obama.

Trump's former aide said of the Democratic Party:

"Really it's a monarchy and there's one man at the top, and that's Barack Obama. And Barack Obama, with his henchmen, his aides, have been running the show under President Biden."

Speaking of the 2024 election and the Democratic presidential candidate, Ullyot continued:

"And now you've got a situation where it's really up to him who it's gonna be."

"But bottom line here is that it's gonna go to Kamala, if anybody, because she was a DEI hire."

But host Sarah Williamson—an Australian reporter who emigrated to the United States to work for Newsmax—called Ullyot out for his racism and misogyny. She was joined by columnist Ellis Henican.

You can see the moment here:

After calling Vice President Kamala Harris a DEI hire, Ullyot added:

"She was hired because President Biden said when he was a candidate that he wanted to hire a woman to be his number two."

"And then after the BLM riots, then he got a lot of pressure to have a Black woman from a lot of Black women's groups, and he did that."

DEI stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

It is the right-wing's new favorite dog whistle for their White supremacist, Christian nationalist base. It's part of their Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which claims White Christians in the United States are being deliberately replaced by Jews and ethnic minorities.

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They fear they may some day be treated the same way the White, Christian majority historically treated religious and ethnic minorities through government-sanctioned efforts like Indigenous genocides, slavery, internment, denial of voting rights, and segregation.

Such fears are central to the Heritage Foundation-authored Project 2025 embraced by the Republican Party, as well as the MAGA slogan "Make America Great Again." Both embrace language about taking their country back, but stop short of saying who they want to take it back from.

The concept of a woman or person of color being the most qualified—or qualified at all—doesn't fit into their narrative. Therefore, they must all be DEI hires, stealing a job from a White, Christian man.

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However, Newsmax’s Williamson responded:

"OK, the DEI thing I strongly disagree with here, but this is not my place to have the disagreement with you.”

Panel member Ellis Henican added:

"Yeah. You shouldn’t talk, John, you shouldn’t talk like that."

"It makes you sound like a racist. Don’t talk like that."

Ullyot dug even deeper by replying:

"Look, it’s the [Democratic] party that embraces DEI. Those are the guys that put identity above qualifications."

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In recent days New York Post columnist Charles Gasparino and Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy were also called out for their racism after both referred to Vice President Harris as a DEI hire.

@RichieTorres/X

Vice President Harris has not yet responded to the latest round of racism and misogyny aimed at her.