Vice President JD Vance reportedly told a packed crowd at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025 that one of President Donald Trump’s most significant accomplishments since returning to office has been dismantling federal diversity, equity, and inclusion policies that he said discriminated against white and Asian Americans.
Speaking Sunday in Phoenix, Arizona, Vance argued that DEI programs ran counter to the nation’s founding ideals and to the concept of a merit-based society. He said those policies made an easy target for the second Trump administration, which moved quickly to eliminate them from federal law and practice.
“We don’t treat anybody different because of their race or their sex,” Vance told the audience. “So we have relegated DEI to the dustbin of history, which is exactly where it belongs.” His remarks drew loud applause from the arena.
Vance expanded on that theme, saying the administration’s actions restored a sense of fairness that many Americans felt had been eroded. “In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore,” he said. He added that Asian Americans no longer have to navigate their racial identity when applying to college, emphasizing that individuals should be judged on merit rather than characteristics beyond their control.
“Because we judge people based on who they are, not on ethnicity and things they can’t control,” Vance said. He went on to stress that Americans should not be persecuted based on gender, sexual orientation, or other personal traits. “We don’t persecute you for being male, for being straight, for being gay, for being anything,” he said. “The only thing that we demand is that you be a great American patriot. And if you’re that, you’re very much on our team.”
Those lines were also met with enthusiastic applause from the crowd. Vance’s comments about white men came just days after a viral article reported that some professional fields had “gatekeepers” who openly promised preferential treatment to anyone who was not a white man, a claim that has fueled broader debates over fairness and discrimination.
Beyond DEI, Vance highlighted what he described as a string of major accomplishments achieved by the Trump administration in less than a year. Among them, he pointed to shutting down the southern border, a key promise from Trump’s campaign that has remained central to the administration’s agenda.
Vance urged those in attendance to continue backing what he called the “America First Party,” echoing remarks earlier in the day by Donald Trump Jr., who suggested that the Republican Party as it once existed is no longer the defining force in conservative politics. Vance framed the movement as one rooted in national loyalty, economic populism, and cultural confidence.
The vice president also took aim at prominent Democratic leaders, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris, criticizing their records and contrasting them with what he portrayed as the Trump administration’s focus on results.
Injecting humor into his speech, Vance quipped that Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota had supported a fellow Somali for mayor of “Mogadishu — wait, I mean, Minneapolis,” joking that it was “a little Freudian slip.” The line drew laughter from the crowd.
Vance’s remarks underscored the administration’s message that rolling back DEI policies represents not just a policy change, but a broader cultural shift toward what it views as equal treatment under the law and a renewed emphasis on patriotism over identity politics.
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