Barack Obama Believes Businesses And Universities Are Being Tested By The Trump Administration — Here’s His Advice
Barack Obama urges businesses and universities to take a stand against President Donald Trump.
During an interview on the podcast “WTF with Marc Maron,” the former president shared his opinion on the current political landscape. There has been a growing movement towards retracting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments, which has been a gesture emboldened under the Trump administration’s leadership. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the administration requested that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) be approved to cancel grants tied to DEI efforts in July. This followed after Florida A&M University (FAMU) lost $16.3 million for a grant that reportedly produced 60% of the nation’s Ph.D. graduates in pharmaceutical sciences, which resulted from one of Trump’s executive orders.
Several companies, such as Target, Meta, Walmart, McDonald’s, and more, have also been motivated to dismantle their DEI commitments. Burberry recently slashed its head of diversity role, reportedly due to restructuring efforts, according to a separate story released by AFROTECH™.
In the podcast, Obama acknowledges the “discomfort” of today’s landscape but urges businesses, schools, and law firms to take a stand.
“If you’re a university president, say, ‘Well, you know what, this will hurt if we lose some grant money from the federal government. But that’s what endowments are for. Let’s see if we can ride this out because what we’re not going to do is compromise our basic academic independence,’” Obama suggested on the podcast. “If you’re a business and you say, ‘You know what, we think it’s important because of what this country is to hire people from different backgrounds, and we’re not going to be bullied into saying that we can only hire people or promote people based on some criteria that’s been cooked up by Steve Miller [deputy chief of staff for policy for the Trump administration].’ We all have this capacity, I think to take a stand and ultimately, this goes back to something I said earlier about convictions. If convictions don’t cost anything, then they’re really just kind of fashion.”
He later added, “We’re being tested right now… That includes young people, right? Understand there are consequences to the choices that we’re making. If you decide not to vote, that’s a consequence… There’s some clarity that’s coming about right now that I wish, you know, it’d be great if we weren’t tested this way, but we probably need to be shaken out of our complacency anyway.”
