President Donald Trump evidently means business when it comes to eliminating racist DEI initiatives and other forms of race-based discrimination, both new and old.
On Tuesday, he issued an executive order directing all executive government departments and agencies to eliminate “all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements,” as well to combat similarly discriminatory DEI policies and activities.
Trump left virtually no ground for dissenting federal bureaucrats to take a stand on, rescinding President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1965 Executive Order 11246, which required that government contractors take affirmative action, as well as other race-prioritizing executive actions issued by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
In his order, titled “Ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity,” Trump noted that while federal civil rights laws protect Americans from discrimination, roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, numerous influential institutions, both private and public, “have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) … that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.”
Trump noted that in addition to violating the text and spirit of American civil rights laws, these DEI policies “undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
‘This is an epochal shift, which will be noted in history books.’
A November study published by the Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University supports Trump’s concerns about the divisive nature of DEI.
“When DEI initiatives typically affirm the laudable goals of combating bias and promoting inclusivity, an emerging body of research warns that these interventions may foster authoritarian mindsets, particularly when anti-oppressive narratives exist within an ideological and vindictive monoculture,” said the study. “The push toward absolute equity can undermine pluralism and engender a (potentially violent) aspiration of ideological purity.”
After putting Johnson’s EO in the ground, Trump directed the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to immediately cease promoting “diversity,” holding federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking affirmative action, and allowing or encouraging federal contractors to “engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.”
In addition to tasking the director of the Office of Management and Budget nominee to undertake a purge of any DEI jargon, principles, or schemes in federal acquisition, contracting, grants, and financial assistance procedures — and indicating that doing so will “streamline those procedures, improve speed and efficiency, lower costs, and comply with civil-rights laws” — Trump signaled that DEI practitioners in the private sector may soon reap the whirlwind for their discriminatory practices.
The attorney general, working with the head of relevant federal agencies, will draft a list of recommendations for how the Trump administration could crush civil rights-violating DEI practices in the private sector, along with a list of worst offenders and workable strategies.
“Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex,” wrote Trump.
Christopher Rufo, a senior Manhattan Institute fellow who has waged a years-long war against DEI, called Trump’s EO a “massive shift.”
Texas Rep. Chip Roy (R) tweeted, “This is game-changing & we should strive to make it permanent. The @freedomcaucus would all vote to codify this. But many Republicans would not. We have to be willing to be as bold in Congress.”
“This is an epochal shift, which will be noted in history books,” wrote Eric Kaufmann, a professor of politics at the University of Buckingham. “The fact this did not happen for over half a century despite 2/3 public support is testament to the cultural power of the (inflated) anti-racism taboo over successive Republican elites.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Affirmative action, Executive order, Dei, Donald trump, Lyndon johnson, Racism, Diversity equity inclusion, Winning, Merit, Politics