If nothing else, the Biden administration is evidence “intersectionality” is a poor criterion for determining eligibility for higher office.

Indeed, as several Biden officials have shown, elevating individuals to positions of leadership because they check the “intersectionality” box does not translate into meaningful and effective leadership. Quite the opposite, actually.

Take, for example, Sam Brinton, the disgraced former deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy.

Brinton got as far as “they” did with “their'' high-profile gig in the federal government not for any talent or accomplishment, but because the dress- and stiletto-wearing “gender-fluid” ex-Biden official allowed the White House to check off a box on its diversity and inclusivity chart. Brinton was a trophy hire, meant to earn the White House social credit in the LGBT department. Brinton had top-level security clearances. He was celebrated, feted even by Washington and the press.

It appears now, however, that Brinton is not the brave and stunning example of LGBT exceptionalism the White House and the press made him out to be. Rather, he appears to be a run-of-the-mill panty-snatching creep. Brinton stands accused of stealing women’s luggage from multiple airport baggage claims.

What an embarrassment for the White House — one that could have been avoided entirely with just a few well-placed questions and good old fashion prudence.

The same is true for Vice President Kamala Harris, a woefully incompetent dunce who continually beclowns herself on the world stage. Like Brinton, she was nominated not for any real-world political talent or accomplishment. Biden promised during the 2020 Democratic primary that his running mate would be either a woman or a “person of color.” And, by God, his failed primary opponent offered a twofer! She’s a woman and she’s black!

Thanks to Biden’s loose hiring qualifications, the American public must contend now with a vice president who speaks in predictive text and whose own allies confide privately they have "lost hope in her,” according to the New York Times. (For additional context, the allies who told the New York Times they’ve lost hope in Harris were referred to the New York Times by Harris’s people!).

Then, there’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The fact he’s something of a household name says it all. The secretary of Transportation is a bit like an NFL kicker: You know his name only if he screws up — never for anything good. From supply line crises to train derailments, screwed up Buttigieg has. He never should have been nominated in the first place. But, hey, he’s gay. So, let’s not ask too many questions or think too long about whether he’s the best man for the job.

Elsewhere, Karen Decker, the charge d’affaires of the U.S. mission to Afghanistan, landed in hot water last month after she encouraged oppressed Afghan women to take inspiration from Beyonce.

“Are Afghans familiar with [Black Girl Magic] and the movement it inspired?” Decker asked on social media.

“Do Afghan girls need a similar movement? What about Afghan women? Teach me, ready to learn,” she added, including Twitter handles for black artists, including Beyonce, Lizzo, and Regina King.

Where do they find these people? It’s bad enough Americans should suffer such gross and childish incompetence, but must the entire world suffer also? Apparently!

Such is our lot, so long as those in power continue to place a special emphasis on all things “intersectional.” For the Left, it’s a powerful motivator being at the forefront of the “inclusivity” and “equity” game. So powerful, in fact, it has spawned an entire subgenre of liberal white women who pretend to be members of marginalized communities, reaping professional and social benefits that would have otherwise gone to actual minorities.

Take, for example, Rachel Dolezal. She claimed to be of both African American and Native American descent. Her alleged heritage served her well in her professional career, securing her a spot as the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter in Spokane, Washington. Dolezal is white. Her true racial identity came out after she claimed she was the victim of various race-related hate crimes. She identifies now as “transracial.”

Or consider the case of former George Washington University professor Jessica Krug, who claimed she is a Bronx native of Afro-Puerto Rican heritage. She even went by the made-up name of “Jess La Bombalera,” affecting a ridiculous Latina accent. Krug is from Missouri. Her parents are Jewish.

Then, there’s former Black Lives Matter activist Jennifer Lynn Benton, who assumed the identity of a black woman named “Satchuel Cole.” As a “black woman,” Benton served as a spokeswoman for the family of Aaron Bailey, a black man who was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop. Benton is white.

There’s also former Furman University assistant professor Kelly Kean Sharp, who identified as “Latinx.” Sharp, who in one of her earlier gigs in academia functioned as a supervisor to student "Latinx" groups, even got into the habit of referring to herself as “chicana” and tweeting about her “abuela,” whom she claimed came to the United States from Mexico during World War II. There is no evidence Sharp’s grandparents on either side were born outside of the U.S. In fact, there is no evidence whatsoever Sharp has any Mexican heritage. Sharp, who served as an assistant professor of African American studies, resigned shortly after it was shown her grandmother did not, in fact, emigrate to the U.S. from Mexico during the Second World War.

CV Vitolo-Haddad similarly resigned from a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison after it was discovered she lied about being black. She is white.

Lastly, there’s Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, whose dubious claim to Cherokee heritage certainly didn’t hurt her career ambitions. Fordham Law Review billed her as Harvard Law School's "first woman of color." For nearly a decade, Warren self-identified as a "minority" in the Association of American Law Schools’ deskbook. Warren is somewhere between 1/64th and 1/1,024th Native American.

Why did they lie? Was it shame for being white? Was it an attempt to profit from fake minority statuses, and all at the expense of actual minorities? Did they lie merely to position themselves better within their respective communities? All of the above?

None of this is about justice. None of this is about equity. Like almost everything in life, it’s about honors, praise, and personal benefit.

Race hustlers Regina Jackson and Saira Rao, co-authors of White Women: Everything You Already Know about Your Own Racism and How to Do Better, are trained professionals in this game. For $5,000, Jackson and Rao will attend your white liberal woman dinner party and berate you about your racism and your “complicity in upholding white supremacy.” White women actually pay for this service. And why not? It’s a win-win for everyone involved. Jackson and Rao get to split $5,000, and the white women get to say they’re “educating” themselves on systems of oppression.

It’s the equivalent of the multimillion-dollar charity event thrown by some bored, well-to-do heiress in the Hamptons. She almost certainly has no idea what she’s supporting or what she even believes regarding the charity event. But knowing and supporting are not the point. The point is the social cache. The social credit of being a “good person” on paper is what she’s really after. She knows the score, she knows what suffering looks like and, by God, she’s going to do something about it. And if it brings her attention and praise, well, that’s just icing on the cake. Now get out your checkbooks everyone!

It's the same thing with these race impersonators. It’s all about social clout. The main difference between the Hamptons' blue blood and Dolezal is you don’t need to be the heir to a centuries-old fortune to do what the “transracial” woman did. You can be a schlub, anyone from any station in American society, and advance your social cache merely by claiming membership in a decidedly non-elite marginalized class.

It shouldn't be this easy, but it is precisely because the people doing the rewarding are equally invested in advancing their own interests in terms of "inclusivity" and "intersectionality." They want the praise and recognition that comes with marking the “diversity” box. They want it badly. So badly, in fact, they forget to ask basic questions, such as, “Are you actually qualified for this job?” or "Are you lying?"

The left-wing obsession with "diversity, equity, and inclusion" is what gave us Harris and Buttigieg. It’s what gave us Brinton. He shrewdly wrapped his fetish in the language of “intersectionality,” and the hiring authorities fell for it – they fell for it about as hard as those weird white women who pay thousands of dollars to be berated over dinner.

Becket Adams is a columnist for the Washington Examiner and the program director of the National Journalism Center.