Is DEI to blame for deadly Texas floods?

Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk is in hot water after suggesting that the Austin fire chief was a DEI hire whose decisions may have led to more deaths during the incident — but after investigating his claims, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales believes he might be right.

“The Democrats are not lifting a finger to remember the well over 100 people that have died in Texas Hill Country. What you are not being told by the media anywhere is that the death toll likely would not have been as high if it wasn’t for DEI,” Kirk said on “The Charlie Kirk Show.”

“This Texas tragedy is just the latest example. It’s not just incompetence. This is DEI working to undermine meritocratic institutions, and more people likely died than otherwise would have because of DEI,” he added.

“Anytime Charlie is in trouble, usually you can pretty much know that something that he has said has been taken out of context,” Gonzales says on “Come and Take It,” noting that it was “obviously a very bold statement.”

While Kirk is being called “racist” by the left-wing media, Gonzales says it’s because they’re taking what he said at face value rather than investigating it.

“This particular fire chief has gone on record saying that he has diversity goals. Not like put-fires-out-in-record-time goals. Diversity goals. Are you kidding me?” Gonzales says.

Not only does the Austin fire chief have “diversity goals,” but he was himself celebrated as a diversity hire when a news outlet reported in 2020, “The City of Austin made history when it hired its first African American fire chief a little over a year ago.”

“I don’t try to dwell on me being the first African American fire chief, because that’s not important. What’s important is that I’m not the last African American fire chief,” Chief Joel Baker was reported saying in the same article.

“I don’t know sir, I think what’s important is that you guys save as many lives as possible and put out as many fires as possible. That’s a good start. I think what’s important is emergency response time. I think what’s important is making sure that you guys have the supplies that you need to put fires out and help people,” Gonzales says.

The article also reported that Baker boasted that one of his goals “is really to increase the diversity at Austin Fire Department,” including African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and people in the LGBTQ community in order to inspire the youth to become firefighters, as well.

“Those are his goals. And I do think that that is relevant to the conversation about what happened in the Texas Hill Country, especially in light of what just happened with the Austin Firefighters Association,” she adds.

The Austin Fire Department had deployment orders on July 2, and the Austin Firefighters Association president Bob Nicks claims they had boat crews ready to go help — before the flooding even began.

However, they were told by the Austin chief to stand down.

“It is absolutely outrageous that the Austin Fire Chief, Joel G. Baker, would not allow highly trained firefighters from Austin to respond to Kerrville. Because of this egregious dereliction of duty, LIVES WERE VERY LIKELY LOST BECAUSE OF CHIEF BAKER’S DECISION,” the Austin Firefighter’s Association wrote in a Facebook post.

“That is not something that this firefighter’s association just decides to just flippantly make the decision to go write something like that on Facebook,” Gonzales says, adding, “These are men who are trained to save people, and these men are pissed that they weren’t allowed to do that.”

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