Donald Trump recently criticized how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related civil-rights and DEI-era policies have operated in practice, saying they have led to “very badly” treating white people and amount to “reverse discrimination,” while also acknowledging the law did “very wonderful things.”

What Trump said, in plain terms

In a January 2026 interview, Trump said that after the Civil Rights Act and related policies, “white people were very badly treated,” especially in contexts like college admissions.

He described situations where, in his view, highly qualified white applicants “were not invited to go into a university to college” because of race- conscious policies.

Trump added that the Civil Rights Act “accomplished some very wonderful things” in ending discrimination and segregation.

However, he argued it “also hurt a lot of people” who “deserved to go to a college or deserved to get a job” but, in his framing, lost out due to affirmative action and similar programs.

His core framing of the law

Trump has framed the legacy of the Civil Rights Act and later civil-rights enforcement as having morphed into “reverse discrimination” against white Americans.

He specifically tied this to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and race-conscious policies in education and employment, saying they made some white people “very badly treated” despite being successful or qualified.

At the same time, his comments implicitly recognize the original intent of the Act—ending race-based discrimination and segregation—calling those outcomes “wonderful things.”

This creates a two-part message: praise for the law’s anti-segregation achievements, paired with strong criticism of how its spirit and related policies are applied today.

Policy backdrop and “merit” language

Beyond rhetoric, Trump’s broader civil-rights posture has emphasized “merit- based opportunity” and opposition to race-conscious programs.

An early 2025 executive order framed longstanding civil-rights laws, including those originating in the 1960s, as protecting individuals from discrimination while insisting that enforcement should focus on eliminating what he calls “race-based discrimination” in DEI and similar initiatives.

Civil-rights and advocacy groups argue that these moves effectively weaken or “gut” protections that flow from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, especially disparate-impact tools that address systemic discrimination.

Supporters of Trump’s approach, however, say he is restoring fairness to white and other applicants they believe have been disadvantaged by race-conscious programs.

How this is playing on forums and in “latest news”

Recent opinion pieces and panel shows compare Trump’s language about the Civil Rights Act to past segregationist arguments, noting his focus on supposed harms to white people rather than on ongoing racial inequities.

Commentators highlight that describing civil-rights enforcement as “reverse discrimination” fits a broader, years-long political trend against affirmative action and DEI.

On forums and discussion boards, some users claim the administration is “gutting the Civil Rights Act of 1964” via executive orders and enforcement changes, particularly by attacking DEI and narrowing how discrimination is defined.

Others argue the law itself is not repealed, but that Trump is reinterpreting and enforcing it in a way that prioritizes claims of discrimination against white people and seeks to roll back race-conscious remedies.

TL;DR: Trump has said the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did “very wonderful things” but also led to white people being “very badly treated,” calling its legacy and related DEI policies a kind of “reverse discrimination,” especially in college admissions and jobs.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.