President Donald Trump made some of his most blatant statements yet, espousing a white victimhood mentality that has fueled his political movement. Comments in a recent interview match the policies of his administration, which has promoted the interests of white people while undoing programs meant to fight discrimination or promote diversity.
Trump claims the Civil Rights era led to ‘reverse discrimination’
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Trump responded to a question about the impact on white people of the legislation coming out of the Civil Rights era by saying that “a lot of people were very badly treated.” The president elaborated about the overall impact of such policies, saying, “I think it was also, at the same time, it accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people.”
Referencing popular right-wing claims that affirmative action policies discriminated against white people, Trump argued that “people that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job. So it was, it was a reverse discrimination.”
NAACP President Derrick Johnson disputed the president’s characterization, asserting that there’s “no evidence that white men were discriminated against as a result of the civil rights movement, the Civil Rights Act, and efforts to rectify the long history of this country denying access to people based on race in every measurable category.”
While the Trump administration has cracked down on illegal immigration and significantly restricted legal immigration and travel to the United States, Trump has indicated a preference for white immigrants. He recently repeated his first-term characterization of Haiti and African nations as “s**thole countries,” adding that he’d like to see more immigration from countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark. His administration also created a special path for white South Africans to come to the United States by claiming to flee persecution by that country’s majority-Black government. Trump defended his special treatment of white South Africans in the interview with The New York Times, saying, “I want people that love our country” to come to the United States.
Weakening anti-discrimination policies, except for white people
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump and his administration have issued several executive orders and policy guidelines to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the government and to push universities and private companies to do away with their DEI programs as well. Trump has also weakened anti-discrimination policies and desegregation orders. Additionally, the administration has broadly interpreted the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against affirmative action, applying it not only to college admissions but to virtually any race-conscious college programming, while claiming that colleges have discriminated against white and Asian students.
Even as Trump has dismantled the infrastructure designed to protect Black and brown people and other marginalized groups, the administration and its allies have promoted the interests of white people. Vice President JD Vance recently told an audience of the right-wing Turning Point USA’s AmFest 2025 that “you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.” The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, created from the Civil Rights Act of 1965, has refocused its efforts to encourage white people to make claims of discrimination.
“Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex?” EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas asked in a video posted on social media. “You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws.”
Trump has once again articulated the “reverse discrimination” ideology that has guided the administration’s policies. Under the Trump administration, structures and policies put in place to counter centuries of white supremacy and anti-Black discrimination have been dismantled or repurposed to serve the interests of white people.