
Donald Trump assembled one of the least diverse Cabinets in modern history, but he is now boasting about how "politically correct" it is.

Donald Trump's Cabinet, like much of his White House, is extremely white and extremely male. But at a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Trump bragged about how "politically correct" it is — presumably, an odd euphemism for diversity.

"I think we have an extraordinary group of people around this table. This is a tremendous amount of talent," Trump said. "And I wouldn't say I was necessarily looking to be politically correct, although I ended up being politically correct, because that was the right thing to do."

Can anybody make sense out of Trump's nonsensical rant about "being politically correct" here? pic.twitter.com/9ZGPiZbJtI — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 16, 2017


It is not entirely clear what Trump means by describing his Cabinet as "politically correct." But it is worth noting that of the 24 Cabinet or Cabinet-level officials, 18 of them are white men. Trump's boast suggests that he views the few members of his Cabinet who are not white men — Ben Carson, for example, and Nikki Haley — as "politically correct" hires.

Among the "extraordinary group" group is Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whom Trump has challenged to an IQ competition to prove he is not, as Tillerson said, a "fucking moron." Presumably, Tillerson is among those with "a tremendous amount of talent."

Throughout his campaign, Trump dismissed political correctness as something that is destructive to the country.

"I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct," Trump said during a debate on Fox News in 2015. "I've been challenged by so many people and I don't, frankly, have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time, either."

Apparently, Trump has found the time to include a small number of "politically correct" advisers. As he rather shockingly admitted in September, "I have plenty of time on my hands."

The fact of Trump's supposedly diverse Cabinet has had no effect on his policies, however. His attorney general has launched an investigation into Harvard's affirmative action practices. His secretary of education has been undoing protections for sexual assault victims on campus and has fought to allow rapists to interrogate their victims.

Meanwhile, Trump himself has defended statues commemorating racism and slavery and called white supremacists "very fine people." And the anti-immigrant policies he is fighting for, to punish Latinos and people from predominantly Muslim countries, are the very definition of racist and bigoted.

Trump's mostly white, mostly male Cabinet hardly shows how politically correct he is. And his own words and agenda prove that he is not.