A NOTE READERS: This piece was originally published on NewsOne July 15, 2026.
Can you believe it? Republicans have finally found a diversity hire they can support!
Just two days after former senator Lindsey Graham died, South Carolina officials decided that the best-qualified person to temporarily fill his vacant seat and represent the entire state was his sister, Darline Graham Nordone.
Now, before folks come for me about precision, I’m not trying to say that Nordone was literally hired through a DEI program. But she is the beneficiary of the kind of identity-conscious, connection-driven selection that racists falsely attribute to Black professionals in just about every labor market. So I’m intentionally inverting the right’s favorite smear and applying it to a politically connected white woman.
Nordone, who has worked as an optician and served on the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, has never held elected office, never served in Congress, and never been entrusted by voters with the task of writing federal law. But this is Trump’s America, where expertise is treated like elitism, loyalty is competence, and the résumé requirement disappears the moment the applicant is white, connected, and useful.
And in a country where white women have long been among the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action, workplace diversity initiatives and expanded access to institutions once reserved for white men, Nordone now offers the latest reminder that opportunity is only called “DEI” when Black folks receive it. Nevertheless, she is now one of 100 people empowered to confirm federal judges, approve Cabinet officials, vote on war, shape the federal budget, and decide policies affecting more than 340 million Americans. Her most important qualification appears to be printed directly in her name.
The appointment was promoted as a tribute to Lindsey Graham, supported by Donald Trump and structured so that none of the Republicans competing for the seat would gain the advantage of incumbency before the special election. In other words, Nordone was not selected because Republican leaders determined that she was the most accomplished person South Carolina could produce. She was selected because she is non-threatening to the party, politically convenient, personally connected, and emotionally symbolic.
If you really think about it, that sounds remarkably like the definition Republicans have spent years pretending DEI means.
For the right wing, “DEI hire” has become a substitute for the racial slurs respectable conservatives know they are no longer supposed to use in public. A Black person does not have to participate in a diversity program to receive the label. We can own the company, found the organization, earn the doctorate, publish the research, win the election, or accumulate decades of experience. The moment we enter a room conservatives believe belongs to white people, they side-eye our credentials.
The accusation is not about how somebody was hired. It is about who conservatives believe looks naturally entitled to authority.
That is why the same people who demand proof of merit from every Black professional can look at Trump’s administration and suddenly lose all interest in résumés. Trump has repeatedly elevated loyalists, television personalities, wealthy donors, relatives, and ideological performers into positions requiring deep expertise. Under his regime, the governing philosophy is not about hiring the most qualified people for the job. The most qualified people who get the job are those who serve his ego, grievances, political project, and financial grift. Just look at all his gaggle of people whose résumés were a mismatch for the power they’ve been given.
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