Trump touts merit as new US governing principle

Washington, July 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) President Donald Trump on Monday declared that the United States had returned to what he called a "merit-based" system in education, the military and public life, arguing that recent court rulings and his administration's policies had ended race-based preferences and helped reverse declining military recruitment.

Speaking at a White House Rose Garden luncheon, Trump said merit had become the guiding principle across key American institutions under his administration.

"We now have a country based on merit," Trump said. "That goes for colleges... you get into colleges by merit and you get into the military by merit."

The President credited the US Supreme Court with helping restore what he described as fairness in college admissions.

"I frankly, I give a lot of credit to the Supreme Court on that one, because that was a tough one for them," he said. "We won."

Trump argued that, under the previous system, highly qualified students had been denied admission to elite universities.

"People were getting into college with bad marks, with bad board scores, not great students. And they'd get into college and people with straight A's with the highest boards everything else couldn't get into colleges," he said.

According to Trump, admissions decisions should now depend solely on academic performance.

"If you have the highest marks and the best boards and all the things that you need, you don't get on based on race, color, creed, thought, look, height, you get on by merit," he said.

The President extended the same argument to military recruitment, claiming enlistment had rebounded sharply since his return to office.

"We had a military where we could not sign anybody before the election," he said. "Now recruitment has gone to an all time high. We've never had anything like it."

Trump said the armed forces were now selecting recruits solely on ability.

"Our military's got merit based everything we do is merit based, and we're not forced to take people that cannot do the job," he said.

He also linked merit-based recruitment to military readiness.

"I'd like to have strong soldiers. I want my soldiers to be strong physically and we have strong soldiers," Trump said, adding that "it's all based on merit."

Throughout the remarks, Trump portrayed meritocracy as central to his administration's broader agenda, arguing that it had helped strengthen both educational institutions and the armed forces.

"That's the way our country grew," he said. "We grew based on merit."

The comments formed part of a wide-ranging address in which Trump announced a new investment programme for American children, discussed foreign policy, crime, economic performance and ongoing renovations at the White House.

Source: IANS