After Monday’s congressional confrontation with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN) referred to her as a “DEI horror story.” Cheatle was a rank-and-file agent and served on Joe Biden’s protective detail during the Obama-Biden administration. In 2019, Cheatle resigned and became the senior director of global security for PepsiCo. When Joe Biden became president, the Bidens asked her to return to the Secret Service where she became the first woman to serve as assistant director of the Protective Services Division.
President Biden honored Cheatle in 2021 with the Presidential Rank Award and named her director of the Secret Service. While she had a twenty-five-year career and received many awards, Most members of Congress were dismayed at her testimony regarding the numerous security breaches surrounding the near assassination of former President Trump. Her seeming lack of facts or unwillingness to share them was disappointing and far below what is expected of someone in her position.
During the Obama Administration, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) became the administration’s intention to make government agencies look more like the American population. The goal was set to have agencies employ a minimum of 30% women by 2030. Cheatle is on record with NBC News as saying they needed to “attract diverse candidates and give opportunities to everybody in the workforce, particularly women.”
In 2024, while protecting VP Harris, one female agent attacked her superior officer and other agents on the detail. During the investigation of this incident, a petition was circulating among agents, highlighting security vulnerabilities arising from their training process.
DEI has been around for years in government, but it really became an Obama directive to all agencies. Claims have been made it has helped improve and not hurt the agencies’ objectives. Those criticizing the plan are accused of being misogynistic.
Within the CIA, the thirty-percent goal has become a real rub for the career agents as proponents want more female field agents. A career and now retired CIA analyst, John Gentry recently published Neutering the CIA where he describes how CIA Director Gina Haspel’s (May 2018-January 2021) primary goal was a continuation of the Obama era edict of the 30% mark, by 2030. Gentry details how the agency has fragmented domestically into camps over this policy and lost some of its effectiveness in foreign mission.
Employment and promotions in government and the military should be based on merit and capability and not DEI goals.
Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, promised his vice president would be a woman. If you think his choice of Kamala Harris as vice president was the ultimate DEI disaster, you would be wrong. Polls have had her likeability in the high twenty percentile and many question her qualifications to assume the presidency. She is none the less well-groomed by the kingmakers of the progressives and a venerable candidate.
In that grooming process, she has served as San Francisco’s District Attorney, elected California’s Attorney General, and Senator, before being selected and elected vice president. Some make fun of her inappropriate laughs, but her smile is pleasant and smiles are enough to collect votes from some. She was the perfect choice for Joe Biden – a female of Asian and African ethnicity and well trained politically.
While you may think her sex and ethnicity are DEI qualifications, do not make the mistake in thinking she cannot win the presidency. Opponents on the right feel she is a last resort for the Democrats, citing among other things her early withdrawal as a candidate from the 2019 presidential primary, before winning a delegate. Her early withdrawal was planned so she would remain a bit of an enigma to the voters. Get her out of the race early so voters would not investigate her extreme left political positions and voting record and bring her back in as Biden’s VP choice.
The progressive machine, locally, nationally and internationally groom candidates from early in their careers. They love unknowns like Barack Obama, who voted “Present” many times when he served in the Illinois Senate, before being elected to the US Senate, where he rose quickly to be elected president.
Emerge New Mexico is an affiliate organization “dedicated to increasing the number of Democratic women and non-binary leaders in public office.” They recruit, train and support those who want to run for public office. In the 2022 General Election, they had a 97%-win rate in New Mexico. Emerge is currently in 27 states and has trained 4000 women and non-binary candidates.
As far as righteous lies go, how about “Joe is fine, inflation is transitory and the border is secure.” Kamala said all these things, but so did the entire Democrat Party machine and most of the news media. Righteous lies instill confidence in true believers, because they perceive the source as being “righteous.” Human nature wants to believe and so we believe without proof and when confronted with proof, like Biden’s debate performance, the stalwart Democrat voices continued to say it was just “a bad night” and “his diminished mental capacity is right-wing propaganda.” Government insiders (the ones who are really running the country) know it is important to present a strong image of our president to foreign powers. But foreign powers know better.
Lying for the greater good and to protect our image is considered righteous in the minds of some, until the truth is known. Then the believers lose faith in their righteous voices, in this case, Democrat Party spokespersons, and the news media, thus our government collectively takes a hit.
We will have more righteous lies to believe about Kamala’s record while a senator, AG and DA. Check her out. Do some research and her climb to power. While a senator, she had the most liberal voting record in the Senate, even further left of socialist Senator Bernie Sanders.
Images are often more important than qualifications. John Kennedy appeared on tv better than Richard Nixon. He was younger, better looking, but far from having Nixon’s experience in politics. His handlers hid his many romantic dalliances, his Addison’s disease and his overall poor health. It was the righteous thing to do and he won the presidency.
The Democrat machine and their media cohorts have already started remaking her image and erasing her record. She will be made into a most attractive candidate. A prosecutor against a convicted felon. This race is going to be a real test of truth verses image.
Mr. Trump is up against a formidable female candidate. He is known for his insulting remarks against his opponents. If he does this to Vice President Harris, will women turn on him? At this point, it appears the election is his to lose. The image he projects will likely decide the winner.