Call it the Catch-2025.
President-elect Donald Trump's Republican loyalists were called out Wednesday by a frustrated Democrat over a paradox concealed within their promised purge of federal government professionals.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) told the Oversight Committee she was confused by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance's bill to dismantle Diversity, Equity and Inclusion protections on the grounds it burdened the federal government with unqualified workers.
Her problem? Trump's chosen appointees.
"If this is really about making sure that we have qualified individuals inside the federal government," she asked, "Why is the president-elect choosing absolutely unqualified Cabinet secretaries to be at the head of every single agency?"
Stansbury, a former federal employee with the Office of Management and Budget, issued a damning rebuttal to Vance's Dismantle DEI Act of 2024 which was brought to a mark-up without a hearing, as is usual.
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The New Mexico Democrat noted the bill would amend the Civil Rights Act and the federal code as well as require a list be drawn up of federal workers and contractors no longer eligible for such employment.
She called the requirement "blacklisting" and likened the bill to policies pushed by the notorious Sen. Joe McCarthy, the notorious perpetrator of America's 1950s "Red Scare."
"Welcome to the new House Committee on Un-American Affairs and the new McCarthyism," she said. "We have arrived here today with this bill."
The bill has the support of the Heritage Foundation — the conservative think tank behind the notorious Project 2025 policy plan — which issued a letter of support, Stansbury noted.
She quoted the Heritage Foundation as saying DEI served only to "stoke segregation, division, and create a victim-oppressor narrative."
Stansbury ignored repeated calls to yield her time as she detailed problems she had with Trump Cabinet picks such as Linda McMahon, former Rep. Matt Gaetz and Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth.
"We've got now a World Wide Wrestling Executive who's gonna run education," said Stansbury ."We've got a Fox News commentator who's gonna run the military for us!"
Stansbury then turned the tables on her Republican colleagues and issued a stern rebuke about who was qualified to lead — and who was not.
"You're talking about putting into place leadership in these federal agencies who are absolutely unqualified, who are dangerous," she said. "This is modern McCarthyism. They are preparing for a purge."
She concluded with the promise, "We're going to fight it every step of the way."
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