Lately, a new talking point has emerged online: Donald Trump no longer cares about his MAGA base.

The claim goes like this: The president has become too isolated in Washington and too focused on his own bottom line. Rather than looking out for the working-class men and women who elected him, he has descended into the same D.C. swamp he once denounced.

Politicians often sell out their constituents, and corporate pressure on Capitol Hill is enormous. But in Trump’s case, maybe, just maybe, a little hope is warranted.

It’s a crazy argument, and one that collapses on contact with his record.

Trump may not hold as many Rust Belt rallies as he once did. That should not surprise anyone. He’s busy doing the job of president. But fewer rallies do not mean he has forgotten the voters who sent him back to the White House.

Look at his policies.

Start with his fight against fraud. The endless theft of taxpayer money in Democrat-run Minnesota shows how severe the criminal abuse has become. That is why Vice President JD Vance held a meeting with state attorneys general to discuss the issue and press them to act.

The meeting came as the Trump administration declared a “full-scale war on fraud.” White House adviser Stephen Miller has argued that Washington’s fraud problem is so large that eliminating it could effectively balance the federal budget. This is not abstract accounting. Fraud steals from working-class Americans who both pay into federal programs and rely on them.

Trump is also fighting on housing. The president understands that the cost of a new home keeps rising, often because state and local officials stand in the way of reform. They bury builders in red tape, restrict supply, delay construction, and then wonder why young families cannot afford a starter home.

Trump recently pushed back against those NIMBY nabobs with an executive order that cuts through anti-housing regulations at the federal level while pressuring states and municipalities to do the same. The order takes particular aim at “green” building codes, beloved by Democrats, that delay home construction and drive up costs.

Trump is also streamlining the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program, which underwrites loans to help working-class and rural Americans buy or build homes. He has also backed a bill to bar big financial firms from buying up single-family houses and driving prices higher by reducing competition.

Does that sound like a president who has forgotten his base?

Then consider prescription drugs. The global medicine market has become a racket. The United States develops and manufactures life-saving drugs while other wealthy countries impose price controls and pay below-market rates. American patients then get stuck making up the difference.

RELATED: Scott Bessent is the secret weapon for Trump’s economic plan

Ludovic MARIN/AFP/Getty Images

Americans today pay two to three times as much for prescription drugs as people in other developed nations. For seniors living on fixed incomes, that can mean skipped doses, delayed refills, and impossible choices between medicine, groceries, and rent.

Trump is demanding that foreign nations pay their fair share. He recently dispatched U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and health adviser Chris Klomp to press the German ambassador and demand that Europe’s wealthiest country stop underpaying for American medicines.

The president has already struck a deal with the United Kingdom that will require it to pay 25% more for U.S.-developed drugs. That means less cost-shifting onto American patients, and Trump has pledged to take the same fight to other freeloading foreign governments.

Trump is also protecting the working class by defending their right to vote. He recently signed an executive order declaring that voting is reserved for American citizens while cracking down on fraudulent ballots and strengthening mail-in voting safeguards.

Every illegal immigrant who votes cancels out the lawful vote of an American citizen. Election integrity is not a boutique issue. It is the foundation of self-government, and working-class Americans have the most to lose when powerful interests dilute their voice.

From cutting taxes to expanding apprenticeship programs, from growing the job market to presiding over historic blue-collar wage growth, Trump has kept his focus where it belongs. He still believes in striking deals that help the forgotten men and women of this country get ahead.

The media may miss this while obsessing over New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s latest performance. But Trump is still fighting the good fight.

Pessimism in politics is understandable. Politicians often sell out their constituents, and corporate pressure on Capitol Hill is enormous. But in Trump’s case, maybe, just maybe, a little hope is warranted.

​Donald trump, Working class, Maga, Rust belt, White house, Drain the swamp, Affordability, Illegal immigration, War on fraud, Opinion & analysis 

The race for the next California governor began with 61 official candidates looking to replace Democrat Gavin Newsom, with no clear early frontrunner. The top two candidates, regardless of party affiliation, proceed to the general election in November.

Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra (D) and former Fox News host and small-business owner Steve Hilton (R) received the most votes in Tuesday’s primary election and will advance to the general election, according to Decision Desk HQ and RealClearPolitics. As of Tuesday morning, other election aggregators, including the Associated Press and NBC News, have confirmed Becerra’s spot in November’s runoff election, but not yet Hilton’s.

‘Enough with this disastrous system — universal mail-in chaos is killing election integrity and transparency.’

With 83% of the votes counted, Becerra received 2,177,556, Hilton received 1,975,062, and Democratic candidate Tom Steyer received 1,759,328. Hilton held a 2.7-point lead over Steyer as of Tuesday morning.

With many Democrats in the race and the party failing to coalesce behind one candidate, there was early speculation that two Republicans, Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, might be the two candidates to advance to the general election.

However, in the final days leading up to the primary, Becerra began to pull ahead in the polls. An Emerson College poll, which surveyed registered voters from May 27 to 28, reported Becerra with a stronger lead, securing 28% of the vote, followed by Steyer with 22%, Hilton with 21%, and Bianco with 12%.

RELATED: California Democrats’ search for a front-runner: Polls show 26% of voters undecided in fast-approaching gubernatorial race

Xavier Becerra. ETIENNE LAURENT/AFPGetty Images.

Steyer has criticized Becerra, labeling him a “corporate Democrat.”

“For too long, we’ve had a system where corporations buy off politicians to protect their profits,” Steyer said during a campaign rally.

“If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s the story of Xavier Becerra’s campaign.”

RELATED: Democrats narrow field in California’s crowded gubernatorial race to avoid primary disaster

Steve Hilton. Mario Tama/Getty Images.

Hilton’s campaign criticized California for its vote-counting delay, calling it an “ABSOLUTE DISGRACE.”

“California’s election machine is a slow-motion disaster deliberately dragging out vote counts for 35 DAYS while the rest of the world tallies hundreds of millions in hours,” his campaign wrote. “Enough with this disastrous system — universal mail-in chaos is killing election integrity and transparency.”

Hilton stated that he will wait for the AP to call the race before declaring a victory.

“Thank you so much for all your congratulations! We always said we would wait for@AP_RaceCalls before declaring victory so we’re not popping the champagne just yet … but it’s definitely time for a beer!” Hilton said.

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​News, Xavier becerra, Gavin newsom, Steve hilton, Chad bianco, California, Politics 

An attempted beheading in the Kinnaird Avenue area of North Belfast was thwarted late Monday night after a stick-wielding Good Samaritan and other passersby intervened, giving the attacker a good thwacking.

Although he kept his head, the victim — a citizen in his 40s — was taken to the hospital in serious condition with “significant injuries to his face, neck, and back,” according to a police press release.

‘We do not have to live like this.’

The suspected attacker, a Sudanese national in his 30s whom the Police Service of Northern Ireland initially mistook for a Somali, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He remains in police custody.

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said in a statement, “This brutal attack will have sent shock waves through the community, causing real concern. I want to reassure the local community that we are treating this attack with the utmost seriousness.”

Citing the supposed risk of further traumatizing the victim, Henderson implored “members of the public not to share or repost” images or footage of the attack.

Despite the urging by police, remigration activist Tommy Robinson and other transparency-oriented members of the British public have shared the horrific footage, which shows a black male sitting atop a bloodied victim, shouting something in a foreign tongue, then carving into the victim’s throat.

RELATED: British cop involved in Henry Nowak murder case resigns as fury intensifies over damning arrest footage

Tejas Sandhu/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

A burly gentleman armed with a hurling stick can be seen rushing into action and repeatedly hammering the suspect over the head. Another two men rush in to help — one attempting to pull the victim to safety and the other giving a few well-placed kicks to the aggressor’s head.

In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Hilary Benn, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, addressed the Good Samaritans who intervened, stating, “You showed the very best of humanity, and you have the profound gratitude of this entire House.”

Gavin Robinson, a member of the British Parliament for East Belfast who pressed Benn to comment on the matter, claimed that the Sudanese suspect behind the “medieval” attack was in the country on a five-year visa.

“Having abused the privilege of our nation, the perpetrator living in the U.K. under a five-year visa needs to be convicted and deported on the first flight out on a one-way ticket,” said Robinson.

While Benn refused to divulge whether the suspected attacker first entered Northern Ireland illegally, he said that “any foreign national who abuses the hospitality of this country to commit crimes should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them.”

Rupert Lowe, a British lawmaker who serves as leader of Restore Britain, demanded on Tuesday that Prime Minister Keir Starmer — who characterized the attempted beheading as “sickening” — provide “full details of this savage’s nationality, immigration status, and religion,” stressing that the “British people need to know the full truth.”

“I have had enough. The British people have had enough. We do not have to live like this,” wrote Lowe. “There is another way. Death penalty, mass deportations, end mass immigration.”

While British conservative politician Matt Vickers, the MP of Stockton West, did not advocate for the death penalty, he was among those who similarly demanded that the government release the relevant facts “to avoid speculation and prevent an information vacuum, which the independent reviewer of terror legislation has warned about.”

“If there have been failings on our borders, this is yet another reminder that we do need stronger borders and this is why we believe it is time to leave the [European Convention on Human Rights,]” added Vickers.

While some politicians want answers, others have expressed concern that this latest apparent instance of imported violence might be used by the right in criticism of Britain’s failed migration policies.

Colum Eastwood, an Irish politician who served as the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, stated, for instance, “The horrific scenes in North Belfast should not be used by English, right wing politicians to further their own ends.”

The Green Party stated, “There are those who will seek to use this to further their aims, to create division, marginalise vulnerable communities, and undo the steps we have made toward a more cohesive society. We must not let them.”

Mass protests are expected to rock Belfast on Tuesday evening.

Lowe cautioned protesters in advance: “Patriots — if you are protesting tonight, in Belfast or elsewhere, do NOT give Starmer what he wants. Stay calm. Keep your heads. Do NOT attack the police. The state will show you no mercy. The dangerous ‘far-right’ will be blamed, and your life will be ruined forever. It will be that brutal. However angry you are feeling now, it is not worth it. Protest — but do it loudly, do it peacefully.”

Tommy Robinson, who has advertised the protests, said in a statement, “Stop dumping these third world savages into our communities!”

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​Belfast, Sudanese, Migration, Britain, United kingdom, Migrant, Murder, Leftism, Borders, Starmer, Rupert lowe, Remigration, Deportation, Politics 

Social media influencer couple Jesse and Ashley Ridgway had been sharing their excitement about becoming first-time parents with their audience when one day they announced “a very difficult decision”: They were choosing to “terminate the pregnancy” because prenatal testing showed the baby had Down syndrome.

In the announcement, Jesse wrote, “Down syndrome isn’t a ‘blessing,’ it is objectively s**tty from a health perspective,” and listed various medical challenges associated with the condition.

He concluded his announcement by thanking his audience for being “understanding” about their decision.

But the majority of responses the couple received were the opposite of understanding.

The Ridgways’ announcement sparked a furious response from pro-life and disability advocates, as well as parents of children with Down syndrome, many of whom called the couple’s decision “evil” and accused them of being “murderers.”

While Glenn Beck was heartbroken by the Ridgways’ decision, he is plagued by a fear that goes deeper than one couple’s decision to abort their child: What happens when society begins measuring human worth by intelligence, independence, health, or convenience?

Citing LDS premortal life doctrine, Glenn speculates that the valiant angels in heaven who “fought on the front lines and cast Satan out” and thus needed less mortal testing were perhaps sent to Earth as people with Down syndrome.

“Have you ever met a Down syndrome kid? … Their default is love; their default is kindness,” he says, recalling his years working with Special Olympians.

“As a father of a daughter with cerebral palsy who has taught me more than anyone I know, she is my hero. The way she deals with things, her spiritual connections, the way she’s disciplined herself, the things she’s overcome. She’s my hero,” he continues.

While there have been many challenges that have come with raising a child with a disability, the hardest one, Glenn says, has been “seeing your child left out of things, seeing your child not understood.”

“But through all the pain that our children face and all the pain that we face, it is so worth it,” he says. “But you have to realize that life is not about you.”

But that’s the problem with abortion advocates, Glenn argues. They do have a self-centered perspective of life, believing life is about only them — their freedom, ambitions, and desires. Even those who claim that abortion benefits would-be disadvantaged children are merely masking their egocentrism, Glenn says.

He warns that when we make a practice of eliminating the weak, we “become more and more like an animal and less and less like a human being.”

To hear more of Glenn’s powerful monologue, watch the video above.

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​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Abortion 

We’re hearing a lot of noise right now about the federal gas tax.

Some believe President Trump already eliminated it. Others are convinced an executive order is about to slash prices at the pump.

Americans are asking why drivers in some states consistently pay dramatically more than drivers elsewhere.

The reality is more complicated.

Piece of the puzzle

Even if Congress suspended the federal gas tax tomorrow, fuel prices would remain far higher than many drivers expect. That’s because the federal tax has become one of the smaller pieces of a much larger pricing puzzle.

And that’s the part of the debate most headlines miss.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has announced plans to introduce legislation suspending the federal gas tax, which today adds 18.4 cents per gallon to gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon to diesel fuel. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has argued that the tax has largely outlived its original purpose, since the interstate highway system it helped fund is mostly complete.

The proposals immediately sparked headlines suggesting relief could be coming for drivers.

Even if Congress approved a suspension tomorrow, however, the savings would likely be smaller than many consumers expect. Most estimates suggest drivers might see roughly 15 cents per gallon in actual savings.

That’s real money, particularly for families with long commutes and businesses that rely on transportation. But it wouldn’t suddenly make fuel inexpensive again.

Because federal taxes are only part of the equation.

California scheming

The bigger story is what many states continue adding on top.

California remains the clearest example. While the national average for regular gasoline recently hovered around $4.17 per gallon, California drivers were paying nearly $6 per gallon on average, with some regions approaching $7. Diesel prices climbed even higher.

That gap isn’t an accident.

California drivers face some of the highest fuel taxes and regulatory costs in the country. State excise taxes, special fuel-blend requirements, low-carbon fuel programs, cap-and-trade costs, environmental fees, and refinery regulations all contribute to higher prices.

Those costs become permanent parts of the system, and consumers pay them every time they fill up.

RELATED: Cheap Chinese cars: Trojan horse built to undermine US security?

Jade Gao/Bettmann/Getty Images

Policy pain

That’s why Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.) introduced the Gas Tax Reduction Act, which would reduce certain federal transportation funding to states imposing gasoline taxes above 50 cents per gallon.

Whether the bill advances or not, it highlights a reality many drivers already recognize: Policy choices can have a significant impact on fuel prices.

Drivers are often told that fuel prices are primarily the result of global events or market conditions. What receives far less attention is the role government policy plays in determining the final price consumers see at the pump.

Taxes, refinery capacity, fuel mandates, and transportation policy all play a role in determining what consumers ultimately pay at the pump.

Most consumers don’t follow every detail of energy policy, but they understand what happens when they fill up their vehicles. Higher fuel costs ripple through nearly every part of the economy.

Higher diesel prices increase shipping costs. Grocery prices rise. Contractors, delivery companies, farmers, and small businesses all face higher operating expenses that eventually get passed on to consumers.

Road rage

The gas-tax debate is resonating because many Americans are beginning to connect fuel prices to broader policy decisions. They’re asking why drivers in some states consistently pay dramatically more than drivers elsewhere. They’re questioning why taxes and fees continue rising while road quality often fails to improve at the same pace.

Those are reasonable questions.

The federal gas tax was originally created to help build and maintain the interstate highway system. Today, many motorists feel they are paying more while receiving less in return. Roads remain in poor condition in many areas despite billions collected annually from drivers.

At the same time, governments are already looking for new sources of transportation revenue.

As electric vehicles and hybrids become more common, many states are experimenting with replacement taxes, including EV registration fees, mileage-based taxes, and road-usage charges. Officials understand that gasoline-tax revenue eventually declines when fewer people buy fuel.

Transportation taxes aren’t disappearing. They’re evolving.

Political theater

Which brings us back to the current debate.

The real issue isn’t whether Congress temporarily suspends the federal gas tax and saves drivers a few cents per gallon.

The bigger question is how much of today’s fuel pricing structure is driven by decades of taxes, regulations, mandates, and policy decisions layered onto the cost of energy.

That’s the part many headlines overlook.

Americans don’t need more political theater. They need honest conversations about energy policy, infrastructure spending, refinery capacity, and the real factors driving transportation costs.

Because drivers don’t care about talking points when they’re standing at the pump.

They care about affordability.

And right now, many Americans feel they’re paying more every year while getting fewer answers about where all that money is going.

​Electric vehicles, Fuel prices, High gas prices, Gas prices, Federal gas tax, California, Gavin newsom, Lifestyle, Mike lee, Josh hawley 

An actor who has long been rumored as the next James Bond has finally put his cards on the table.

During an interview in GQ, Idris Elba stopped talking about how hates interviews long enough to discuss the future of the iconic franchise.

‘In realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that.’

The 53-year-old Brit began by addressing the more than a decade of speculation that he would take over the role from Daniel Craig — making him the first-ever black 007.

“It was never legit. It was always just a rumor,” Elba told the outlet.

License to chill

The London-born Elba, whose mother and father hail from Ghana and Sierra Leone, respectively, said that fans simply took the rumor and ran with it.

“I’ve always felt that it’s not a realistic thing,” Elba continued. “James Bond was written how he was written for a reason. But I was complimented by it.”

Elba suggested that for many fans, Bond’s white, Anglo-Saxon ancestry is part of what makes him Bond.

“[S]ome markets just don’t go for that,” he said. “Bond is big all over the world. And [audiences] won’t [all] go for a black male, an African male, playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period.”

While Elba — whose full legal name is Idrissa Akuna Elba — said he was not opposed to other attempts to revamp Bond to appeal to modern audiences, he said he would draw the line at anything “woke.”

RELATED: Iconic actress tells ‘James Bond’ star to his face: ‘James Bond has to be a guy’

Mike Marsland/Getty Images/Omega

Shaken, not stirred

“Bond is so unrealistic, so a hint of reality is good, but let’s not try and make it woke,” Elba told the magazine. “I think you’ve got to be pure to what it is: escapism. Don’t try and answer the world’s taste. Just be Bond.”

Elba is far from the only A-lister to come to Bond’s defense. Last year, while doing press for “The Thursday Murder Club” with former Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren shut down his musing that it was time for a woman to take on the role. “I’m such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy. You can’t have a woman. It just doesn’t work,” said Mirren.

Brosnan, who played the spy in four films from 1995 to 2002, had previously suggested the recasting in September 2019. “Get out of the way, guys, and put a woman up there,” Brosnan said at the time.

RELATED: Top 5 women who fought back when coming face-to-face with crooks

Keith Hamshere/Getty Images

Agents of change

Much of the impetus to change Bond’s sex or ethnicity seems to come from the white males who have played him.

In 2008, just two years into his tenure as Bond, Daniel Craig opined that the next actor to play the spy should be black.

“If we can have a black U.S. president, we can have a black James Bond,” Craig said after Barack Obama’s election, per the Daily Mail.

Craig, who went on to play Bond for another 13 years, presumably meant when he was finished with the role.

The most recent actor to portray James Bond was Irishman Patrick Gibson, who portrayed and voiced the video game character of Bond in 007 First Light (2026).

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​News, James bond, 007, Idris elba, Woke, Movies, Entertainment 

A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed near the coast of Oman while patrolling regional waters on Monday as the war in Iran has now crested the 100-day mark.

According to U.S. Central Command, the two pilots were rescued at 7:33 p.m. ET — within approximately two hours of the crash — and are in “stable condition.” CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Timothy Hawkins said that a U.S. Navy surface drone “found and rescued the crew from the water.”

‘I call all the shots.’

The rescue operation was led by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the 82nd Airborne Division and aided by U.S. Air Force and Navy units, including U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59.

After attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals in New York City, President Donald Trump confirmed to reporters that “the pilots are fine” and said that nobody was injured in the crash. He would not specify what prompted the crash.

CENTCOM noted that an investigation into the cause of the crash is underway.

The Apache is hardly the first American aircraft lost during the conflict with Iran.

RELATED: Trump boxes Netanyahu’s ears over Lebanon offensive, calls him ‘f**king crazy’: Report

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

According to a May 13 report from the Congressional Research Service, 42 fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft, including drones, have reportedly been lost or damaged during Operation Epic Fury. The lost or damaged aircraft include:

three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter aircraft shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait early in the conflict and the F-15E shot down during combat operations over Iran;one F-35A Lightning II fighter aircraft damaged by Iranian ground fire;one A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft, which crashed after sustaining enemy fire over Iran; andseven KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft, five of which were damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia during an Iranian missile and drone attack, and two of which were involved in an accident over friendly airspace.

The aircrew of all of the lost or damaged aircrew mentioned above survived with the exception of the six service members killed in the March 12 Stratotanker crash.

In his remarks to the press on Monday evening, Trump said that a deal to end the war is imminent.

Late last month, negotiators representing the U.S. and Iran appeared poised to advance the cause of peace between their respective nations, extend the fragile ceasefire that first went into effect in April, and open the Strait of Hormuz again to trade.

The peace talks quickly began to unravel, however, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s June 1 announcement that Israel was going to ramp up attacks in Lebanon and conduct a new round of strikes in Beirut.

Iranian officials subsequently indicated that Tehran was backing out of the talks, citing Israel’s offensive in Lebanon.

Trump responded to the apparent sabotage of his deal by boxing Netanyahu’s ears, calling him “f**king crazy” and insisting upon greater restraint. The American president managed to salvage the talks in part by securing a tentative truce between Israel and Lebanon.

This truce would not, however, hold.

Late last week, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem characterized the ceasefire plan agreed by Israel and Lebanon as a “roadmap to annihilate part of the Lebanese people” and said that “as long as the occupation exists, the resistance will continue.”

On Sunday, Israel attacked Beirut — an attack that Netanyahu’s office said was “in response to Hezbollah’s firing at Israeli territory.” Iran responded by firing missiles at Israel. Israel, in turn, attacked “military and economic targets throughout Iran,” Netanyahu said.

As things were cooling off, Trump told reporters on Monday that Iran and Israel are “going to just leave each other alone for another week or something. It’s been going on for a long time — you could say about 3,000 years if you really want, but certainly it’s been going on for 47 years.”

“We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape, or form nuclear weapons, et cetera, and the strait will open up right away,” said Trump. “It’ll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days.”

Earlier in the day, Trump noted that the negotiations were proceeding, “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”

When asked by the Financial Times (U.K.) over the weekend whether Netanyahu would ultimately have to accept a deal with Iran, Trump said, “He won’t have a choice.”

The president emphasized, “I call the shots. I call all the shots. [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots.”

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​Iran, Us air force, War, Operation epic fury, Donald trump, Benjamin netanyahu, Tehran, Conflict, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Politics 

The Department of Justice has now launched an investigation into Arizona State University over its “diversity, equity, and inclusion” practices. The probe will examine whether ASU has subjected students to illegal discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin through its DEI policies in admissions, recruitment, scholarships, tutoring, and educational support.

That news did not surprise me.

Universities constantly speak the language of ‘inclusion,’ but they do not want disagreement. They want compliance.

For years, many of us who work inside higher education have watched American universities become captive to a worldview that divides human beings into permanent categories of oppressor and oppressed. These ideologies present themselves as enlightened and compassionate, but underneath the slogans is something much uglier.

They claim to fight racism, in effect, by being racist.

That is not rhetorical excess. It is the actual logic of these programs. If you are told that your moral standing is shaped by your race, if students are sorted into categories of guilt and grievance based on ancestry, if “equity” means treating people differently because of their race, then the old evil has simply been repackaged in new academic language.

I know this from experience.

The Arizona Supreme Court has now agreed to hear my case against Arizona State University and the Arizona Board of Regents over ASU’s required DEI training. My challenge began because ASU forced employees to take its “inclusive communities” training.

The training, in some cases produced by Starbucks (I kid you not), told employees how to think about race, guilt, power, and identity, and it required assent to predetermined “correct” answers. I could not in good conscience affirm teachings that judged people by skin color, ethnic identity, gender, religion, and geography.

The Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to hear my case goes to the heart of whether state universities can force employees into ideological training that violates state law and basic principles of equal treatment. Arizona law prohibits public schools, including universities, from using curriculum that engages in race blame.

The issue is technical in legal form, but simple in moral substance: When a public university imposes unlawful race-based ideology, does anyone have the right to challenge it?

RELATED: The left doesn’t like it when minorities think for themselves

Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn

That question should never have had to be asked. But that is where our universities are.

The takeover has been so comprehensive that many campuses no longer even recognize dissent as legitimate. Faculty culture is overwhelmingly leftist (97% at ASU identify as left-wing). The ideological imbalance among professors is staggering. Conservatives, Christians, and others who reject the reigning orthodoxy are rarely hired, and when they are hired, they are often isolated or pressured into silence.

Universities constantly speak the language of “inclusion,” but they do not want disagreement. They want compliance.

When someone objects, the mask slips. The same faculty and administrators who preach compassion suddenly become contemptuous when the dissenter is someone outside the progressive fold. The slogans about empathy disappear and the sneering begins.

That is because DEI is not really about inclusion. It is about power.

Its basic framework is the old Marxist oppressor-oppressed dialectic, merely translated into race, gender, and sexuality categories. Students are taught to see the world through this lens from their first days on campus. The university no longer helps students pursue truth. It trains them to become activists for a ready-made ideology.

The ugly irony at the center of it all is that students are charged tens of thousands of dollars in tuition to sit in classrooms where they are instructed by self-appointed champions of the oppressed, many of whom enjoy comfortable salaries and taxpayer support while lecturing others about systems of injustice.

The university administrator or professor who denounces oppression does so while cashing a government-backed paycheck and enforcing ideological conformity inside a vast institutional bureaucracy.

That is not liberation. It is a racket.

The federal investigation into ASU is important not only for Arizona but for the whole country. The era of automatic deference to DEI bureaucracies may be ending.

If government investigators are asking whether ASU’s programs have crossed the line into unlawful discrimination, then other universities should be asking themselves the same question. How many scholarships, support programs, admissions initiatives, and training sessions around the country are doing precisely what civil-rights law was supposed to forbid?

The answer, I suspect, is many.

American universities have largely abandoned the idea that education is the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness. In its place they have installed a therapeutic political religion in which redemption comes through identity confession, public denunciation, and endless activism.

The categories of the system are fixed: Someone must be blamed, someone must be oppressed, and the institution itself must always pose as the righteous mediator.

RELATED: The answer to university decline is hiding in plain sight

Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

The ideology has spread far beyond the office door. It lives in the curriculum, in hiring, in faculty trainings, and in the language administrators use to describe their mission. It is the very institutionalized bigotry that it claims to oppose.

What is needed now is moral reform and clarity.

Public universities should not be in the business of teaching students or employees to judge one another by race. They should not use tax dollars to promote theories that blame individuals for the sins of categories. And they certainly should not punish or marginalize those who object.

The Justice Department’s investigation into ASU and the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to hear my case are both signs that resistance is possible. But much more is needed.

Americans must recover the courage to say plainly what too many in higher education have forgotten: Racism does not become justice when wrapped in the language of equity, and discrimination does not become virtue when blessed by a university bureaucracy.

​Arizona state university, Department of justice, Higher education, Dei, Arizona supreme court, Arizona, Marxism, American universities, State universities, Opinion & analysis, Diversity equity inclusion, Lawsuit, Donald trump, Wokeness