Angela Poe Russell: The unlikely scapegoat in the Donald Trump assassination attempt

I try to get multiple perspectives on events and issues. So, after the deadly shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania for former President Donald Trump, I turned to many news sources – cable, network and print.

While there were slight variations — most talked about toning down the rhetoric. That gave me hope.

But minutes later in an interview, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, said that DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) was to blame for this tragedy.

He pointed out the head of the Secret Service is a woman and discounted her experience.

“Somebody really dropped the ball. You’ve got … a DEI initiative person who heads up our Secret Service,” Burchett said. “She worked at Pepsi before this. I know she was a former Secret Service agent. But still, this is what happens when you don’t put the best players in.”

Setting the record straight, Kimberly Cheatle was a senior director in global security at Pepsi and prior to this she spent almost 30 years with the Secret Service in various capacities. Somehow, that wasn’t enough. It had to be her gender and DEI.

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Donald Trump rally aftermath: No one said, “See, we should have not hired men.”

When you look at the biggest corporate failures in our country from retailers like Kmart and Bed Bath & Beyond to companies in the financial sector like Enron and Signature Bank, they were all led by men. But no one assumes they weren’t the best person for the job.

And no one questioned their credentials. No one said, “See, we should have not hired men.”

They were business people who made mistakes.

But, clearly, something went wrong in the security at that campaign rally. And that must — and will — be investigated.

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But I can tell you that the investigation shouldn’t start with someone’s gender.

When someone says,” They should have hired the best person for the job.” that line assumes the person hired didn’t meet the qualifications. And look, if we’re all being honest, people less qualified get promotions all the time – through politics, nepotism, you name it – and they come in all genders and colors.

So blaming DEI just feels like someone hoping to score political points on the back of a tragedy.

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Angela Poe Russell is a local media personality and a fill-in host on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of her stories here.