‘Appealing to Their Alt Right Racist Base’: Internet Outraged Trump DOJ to Sue Colleges for Anti-White ‘Discrimination’

‘Sessions Wasn’t Gonna Let a Little Job Insecurity Stop Him From Getting That Agenda Moving’

The Trump Dept. of Justice will launch an investigation into what its political appointees are suggesting is anti-white discrimination at colleges and universities, and is prepared to sue the schools if it finds it. The New York Times broke the story Tuesday night, leading people on social media to express anger and outrage. Some cited America’s history of slavery, others cited statistics proving there is no demonstrable anti-white discrimination, others ascribed the move to racism from the President and the Attorney General, and still others called it a political move to satisfy their alt-right base.

“The Trump administration is preparing to redirect resources of the Justice Department’s civil rights division toward investigating and suing universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants,” the Times’ Charlie Savage reports.

The DOJ will begin “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions,” an internal document obtained by the Times reads. The phrase, “intentional race-based discrimination,” the Times notes, “cuts to the heart of programs designed to bring more minority students to university campuses.”

Supporters and critics of the project said it was clearly targeting admissions programs that can give members of generally disadvantaged groups, like black and Latino students, an edge over other applicants with comparable or higher test scores.

The project is another sign that the civil rights division is taking on a conservative tilt under President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It follows other changes in Justice Department policy on voting rights, gay rights and police reforms.

Vanita Gupta, former acting head of the Obama-era Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, told MSNBC Tuesday night (video above) the move is “part of a trend of seeing civil rights laws turned on their head, and being used to advance an agenda that they were certainly not created for.”

Gupta noted, as the Times also pointed out, that this project will be executed by political appointees, not career DOJ attorneys who regularly focus on discrimination. 

“It is part of a political agenda that has been quite active in this country for some time,” she told Joy Reid on “The Rachel Maddow Show.” Gupta added that the mere existence of the investigation will “chill” efforts by colleges and universities to ensure a diverse student population.

On Twitter, many expressed outrage.

Many, like Julia Ioffe, a staff writer for The Atlantic, and former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien, noted it was just a year ago candidate Trump specifically asked Black voters what had had to lose by voting for him:

Journalist Jamil Smith:

A policy analyst for the advocacy arm of Demos, a think tank: 

U.S. Senator for California, Kamala Harris, did not specifically mention the Times report but Tuesday night posted these seemingly related tweets:

Well-known attorney Lisa Bloom:

Mitt Romney’s 2012 top campaign strategist:

Civil rights activist Zach Wahls:

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