The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the ensuing financial panic was a great example of the old cliche: a crisis doesn’t build character; it reveals it. For those old enough to have worked in government in 2009, last weekend felt eerily familiar. Maybe it’s an isolated incident — maybe it’s not. Panic and fear are spreading like a contagion throughout the financial system.

This was a serious moment that required a serious response. Unfortunately,, one of the two political parties in our two-party system is a terribly unserious and unfunny joke. Instead of offering up a policy response to deregulate banks like SVB, leading Republicans started yelling about something called “woke capitalism” and blaming the bank failure on diversity.

James Comer, the Chairman of the Government Oversight Committee, claimed that SVB was “one of the most woke banks.”

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

"They were one of the most woke banks" -- James Comer on SVB Bank

2:59 PM ∙ Mar 12, 2023

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In an interview with conspiracy theorist Maria Bartiromo, Ron DeSantis claimed that the bank was too concerned with diversity efforts to focus on its “core business.”

And, of course, Donald Trump Jr. weighed in with an on-brand tweet dripping with racist idiocy.

Donald Trump Jr. @DonaldJTrumpJr

SVB is what happens when you push a leftist/woke ideology and have that take precedent over common sense business practices. This won’t be the last failure of this nature so long as people are rewarded for pushing this bs.

The_Real_Fly @The_Real_Fly

Head of Financial Risk at SVB Jay Ersapah might’ve been busy with more important projects at the bank, such as LGBTQ issues, rather than assessing risk $SIVB https://t.co/LTYWph50Uc

2:18 PM ∙ Mar 12, 2023

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Now, you may be asking yourself two questions: first, how do diversity initiatives lead to a bank completely mismanaging its investment portfolio and failing to anticipate a widely anticipated increase in interest rates? And second, why did the Republicans choose to argue this bizarre “woke capitalism” thing instead of the more simple and obvious issue of the Biden Administration “bailing out” Big Tech’s bank of choice?

The first question answers itself. The second question comes down to two things that basically explain the Republican Party: race and money.

Racist MAGA Brain Worms

The collective Republican brain has been so pickled by the 24-7 racist agitprop of Fox News and the MAGA media that everything is viewed through the prism of race. Just like everything looks like a nail to a hammer, everything is about race to a bigot...