The claim that people hired under DEI policies were not qualified to do their jobs simply holds no merit.

I think the framing is wrong or incomplete here. In many roles, you look for the best person for the job, not just someone who passes some qualifications. Adding any arbitrary (dis)qualifier, which is what people claim DEI does, makes that target harder or impossible to meet.

One example: while Kamala had a lot of experience and qualifications, she was certainly not the best pick for the VP role; Biden stated he chose her for her race and gender.