Amidst the early stages of his second term, President Trump has taken an axe to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs in various facets across the country. Offshoots of Trump’s executive order, issued the day he was inaugurated, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” has been deteriorating DEI programs in a direct attack against President Biden’s actions to mitigate systemic racism.
After Trump’s first term, Biden implemented his executive order, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” which Trump retaliated against this second time around. Despite the seemingly constructive aims of DEI and the dangers of systemic racism, Trump sees the issue very differently, and has been injecting his opinion on the topic into various conversations with the media, whether the focus of the interview is relevant or not.
The president aims to terminate DEI in the federal workforce, meaning that federal hiring, promotions, and performance reviews will reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and not, under any circumstances, DEI-related factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements. The order revokes Executive Order 11246 contracting criteria mandating affirmative action. It bars the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs from pushing contractors to balance their workforce based on race, sex, gender identity, sexual preference, or religion.
Trump’s main reasoning roots itself in his belief that DEI has had a negative impact on society and that “radical DEI has dangerously tainted many of our critical businesses and influential institutions, including the federal government.” He asserts that DEI fosters “prejudicial hostility and exacerbates interpersonal conflict.” His ideas stem from a desire for a meritocratic society where everyone is treated equally, however he overlooks the systemic setbacks that numerous groups are subjected to. The executive order claims that DEI presents minority groups with an unfair advantage, and draws focus away from their merit. Despite the strides that the civil rights and equitable treatment movements have made in the past decades, the Trump administration stated their goal to “reverse the progress made in the decades since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 toward a colorblind and competence-based workplace.”
Trump stuck to this ideology and blamed diversity requirements at the Federal Aviation Administration for the midair collision over the Potomac River. He claimed that standards for air traffic controllers were not stringent enough, however he cited no evidence that there is any relationship between these standards and DEI related requirements.
Federal Judge Abelson temporarily blocked the executive order during a hearing this past week, citing that “The harm arises from the issuance of it as a public, vague, threatening executive order.” However, this wasn’t before fear spread through federal organizations; even West Point Military Academy disbanded numerous gender, racial and ethnic clubs within its DEI office to adhere to Trump’s new guidelines.
