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DOUGLAS MACKINNON: This land is your land. This land is my land. But it’s not a DEI land

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Cite

MacKinnon, D. (2026, October 30). DOUGLAS MACKINNON: This land is your land. This land is my land. But it’s not a DEI land. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/douglas-mackinnon-land-your-land-my-land-not-dei-land

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Fox News · collected 2026-10-30 · by Douglas MacKinnon analysis

Quick Summary

Douglas MacKinnon writes an opinion piece reflecting on his recent travels across the United States, marveling at various modes of transportation and infrastructure. He argues that these achievements were built through meritocracy rather than diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. MacKinnon warns that if Democrats regain control in November, DEI could become a dominant force, potentially compromising safety standards in critical industries like aviation, shipping, and utilities.
Written by AI on 2026-11-02, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Douglas MacKinnon argues in a recent article that meritocracy, not diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives or identity politics, has been crucial for the safety and design of major infrastructure and transportation systems across the United States. He emphasizes this point by referencing his observations during a business trip where he saw various modes of transport and infrastructure such as airplanes, trains, ships, bridges, and skyscrapers in cities like New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. MacKinnon asserts that DEI considerations should not influence the design and construction of these systems, which could impact human safety. He predicts a shift towards integrating identity politics into critical sectors such as aviation, transportation infrastructure, and utility services, despite his belief that this would be detrimental to safety standards.

Written for “This Land Debate” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.65, but every quote it verified points right, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 117074: score contradicts its own evidence · logged 2026-11-02

Story

📰 This Land Debate
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
35
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
14%
5 of 35 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
69/100
Fox News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-02 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Fox News · 6284 article(s) · 11 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 11 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Douglas MacKinnon
2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Nor should they ever, when what is being designed and built will eventually determine the safety of human lives.
🔮 That may now be changing.
Also by Douglas MacKinnon
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

DEI Los Angeles New York City San Francisco the United States

Subjects

DEI ORG · 3× Americans NORP · 2× Black NORP · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Los Angeles GPE · 1× MAGA ORG · 1× New York City GPE · 1× San Francisco ORG · 1× White PERSON · 1× the United States GPE · 1×

Narrative

But if that person is being inserted into the flight deck of a commercial aircraft; the control tower of an airport; the bridge of a military or commercial ship; behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler; into a police force or fire department; or behind the controls of a major utility simply because of "identity politics," then the lives in the hands of those occupations are exposed to much higher risk simply to appease an ideological narrative.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-02
🔮 Nor should they ever, when what is being designed and built will eventually determine the safety of human lives.

Claims (35 extracted, 5 hedged)

Recently, I was on an extended business trip across the United States that ultimately touched upon planes, trains, automobiles, ships, bridges and majestic skyscrapers. asserted
that → touch → planes
Along the way, I honestly paused in awe to marvel at modern jetliners; the engines pulling passenger and freight trains cross-country; driverless taxis; four-football-field-long megacruise ships; the George Washington and the Golden Gate bridges; and 60-story-plus office towers in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. asserted
I → pause → City
As I pondered them all over the course of the trip, I had two immediate thoughts. asserted
I → ponder → thoughts
The first being that, in one way or another, those modes of transportation and that stunning and often historic infrastructure all held human life within and upon them. asserted
modes → hold → them
The second was that all were devised and built via meritocracy. asserted
all → devise → meritocracy
DEI, identity politics and woke dictates played no role in their construction. asserted
DEI → play → construction
Nor should they ever, when what is being designed and built will eventually determine the safety of human lives. asserted
designed → design → lives
My third and overriding thought was: "That’s all about to be thrown out the window once the ‘religion’ of wokeism comes roaring back into play across the spectrum of our lives." asserted
religion → throw → lives
If you think otherwise, I most humbly believe you either have not been paying attention to current events or are fooling yourself via the cliché: "Ignorance is bliss." asserted
Ignorance → think → cliché
To be clear, I don’t care if someone is female, male, Black, White, brown, straight, gay, trans, liberal, conservative, faith-based or an atheist. asserted
someone → care → ?
If that person happens to be the best person for the job based solely upon merit and real-world experience, they should get it. asserted
they → happen → it
But if that person is being inserted into the flight deck of a commercial aircraft; the control tower of an airport; the bridge of a military or commercial ship; behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler; into a police force or fire department; or behind the controls of a major utility simply because of "identity politics," then the lives in the hands of those occupations are exposed to much higher risk simply to appease an ideological narrative. asserted
lives → insert → narrative
There are many people — myself included — who strongly believe that DEI never went away. That it was never "defeated" or "crippled." asserted
it → be → ?
Rather, we believe that it was placed in a purposeful "sleeper mode" by the powerful prophets of "woke" who were simply biding their time while riding out the peak influence of President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement. asserted
who → believe → Trump
If the Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives — and quite possibly the Senate — on Nov. 3, expect those identity-politics-pushing prophets to signal their various flocks to fire up the DEI machines across the corporate, academic, political, media and governmental spectrums. uncertain
flocks → retake → spectrums
As a stark reminder of the malicious power DEI can wield, we have these exposés: the first being the recent report from the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) which outlined in detail that his agency uncovered "irrefutable evidence that the nation's largest banks have denied, debanked and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses." asserted
banks → wield → customers
No surprise at all that many of those targeted were conservative or faith-based. asserted
many → target → those
Regarding this seemingly DEI-fueled discrimination, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould stressed in part: "Americans should have access to financial services regardless of their beliefs, affiliations, or political views." asserted
Americans → regard → beliefs
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital: "Debanking Americans over faith or politics is simply un-American. asserted
Debanking → tell → faith
Expect to hear more from the Banking Committee on this important issue when Congress returns." asserted
Congress → expect → issue
U.S. banks targeting elements of their own customer base because of politics and faith because they happen to operate via the dictates of woke and staffed via identity politics is not only chilling, but dangerous. asserted
they → target → politics
And yet, such illicit conduct not only exists, but might soon be dialed up to "blast." uncertain
conduct → exist → ?
Going back to the DEI-compromised airline industry, we first have this recent editorial from The Wall Street Journal: "Flying the Socialist Skies at United CEO Scott Kirby wants a wealth tax. asserted
Kirby → go → tax
Kirby, who, according to the Journal, made over $32 million in compensation last year, now wants to tackle "wealth inequality" in the United States. uncertain
who → accord → States
Of course he does. asserted
he → do → ?
Back in 2021, Kirby pushed DEI hiring practices to the max by stating in part: "Over the next decade, United will train 5,000 pilots who will be guaranteed a job with United after they complete the requirements of the Aviate program — and our plan is for half of them to be women and people of color." asserted
half → push → color
Kirby continued: "We're excited that JPMorgan Chase has agreed to support our work to diversify our pilot ranks and create new opportunities for thousands of women and people of color who want to pursue a career in aviation." U.S. banks targeting elements of their own customer base because of politics and faith because they happen to operate via the dictates of woke and staffed via identity politics is not only chilling, but dangerous. asserted
they → continue → politics
And yet, such illicit conduct not only exists, but might soon be dialed up to "blast." JPMorgan. uncertain
conduct → exist → ?
Would anyone be surprised to learn that JPMorgan has also been implicated in the "debanking" scandal? asserted
JPMorgan → learn → scandal
I have a wild idea for Kirby: How about hiring only the most-qualified pilots based entirely upon merit? asserted
I → hire → merit
And if half of them happen to be women and minorities, all the better. asserted
half → happen → them
The planes we fly; the ships we sail; the trains that move us from city to city; the bridges we cross; and the skyscrapers we ascend via elevator are all testaments to genius and meritocracy. asserted
we → fly → genius
But very soon, all may be designed and built not by the most qualified, but someone who checks an ideological identity politics box. uncertain
who → design → box
DEI is about to come back with a vengeance if political control switches hands on Nov. 3. asserted
control → come → Nov.
If — and when — it does, the lives of countless Americans will be put at more risk in service to woke over merit. asserted
lives → do → merit
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