The Democrats are starting to scream. Some of their most sacred federal programs aimed at reshaping American society have been targeted by the new administration.
President Trump has launched a sweeping offensive against affirmative action policies in the United States. Within the first 48 hours of his second term, Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling decades-old initiatives designed to foster diversity and inclusion in both the federal government and the private sector. These actions have sparked widespread controversy and even surprised some conservative activists who have long advocated for the end of such programs.
The Washington Post writes:
The newly signed executive orders to end “illegal discrimination” and restore “merit to government service” were so sweeping and aggressive that even conservative activists — ones who had been waging a multipronged attack to end diversity initiatives in the private and public sectors — were shocked by their scope and intensity.
“I can’t believe he’s going this far,” said Dan Lennington, deputy counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which for years has led a relentless legal campaign to invalidate diversity programs. “It still is sinking in, because I’m thinking of all the ways in which this affects the average American.”
The flurry of executive orders was meant to put a hard stop to diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI) throughout the federal government. The administration ordered U.S.-run diversity offices to close and scores of their workers to be put on administrative leave by Wednesday. It also suspended dozens of contracting programs aimed at minorities and women, some of which have been operating for decades.
The executive orders stand to reach deep into the private and government contracting sectors, said Jason Schwartz, a partner at Gibson Dunn and co-chair of the firm’s labor and employment group. The attorney general and agency heads have been tasked with identifying as many as “nine potential civil compliance investigations” of publicly traded corporations, large nonprofits or associations, and foundations with assets of $500 million or more, state bar associations, medical associations and universities with endowments over $1 billion.
DEI has become a huge cost within the federal government and higher education.
From my recent review of one single Agency (NIH) in one single Department (HHS), there were over 200 direct DEI staffers. And likely over 1,000 FTEs worth of DEI work being done within the NIH alone.
Now multiply that across 15 Departments… https://t.co/BU2tGFvNqq pic.twitter.com/CuAhB0LNdy
— ~~datahazard~~ (@fentasyl) January 23, 2025
Trump’s efforts to eliminate affirmative action programs have been building momentum over the past year, following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn race-based affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since then, diversity programs and their proponents have been on the defensive, with many Fortune 500 companies proactively paring back their programs and federal initiatives for minority-owned businesses being forced to undo fundamental aspects of their missions.
