President Trump Ends Radical DEI Programs, Fires All DEI Personnel

In his inaugural address on January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump pledged to quickly end the federal bureaucracy’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He stated:

This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is color blind and merit based.

Within two days, the president has already made good on that promise. He has signed at least four executive orders or actions ending racial bias in the federal government.

FIRST ACTION

The first order is entitled Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing. It proclaims:

The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military.

This was a concerted effort stemming from President Biden’s first day in office, when he issued Executive Order 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.”

The order recounts that because of former President Biden’s executive order (which President Trump rescinded on his first day back in office), “nearly every Federal agency and entity submitted ‘Equity Action Plans’ to detail the ways that they have furthered DEIs infiltration of the Federal Government.” It points out that the “public release of these plans demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination.”

It declares: “That ends today.”

Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.

Therefore, the executive order directs several agency heads to “coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”

It adds,

Federal employment practices, including Federal employee performance reviews, shall reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and shall not under any circumstances consider DEI or DEIA factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements.

The effect of President Trump’s executive order was immediate. On Tuesday, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent a memo to all heads and acting heads of federal departments and agencies. It directs them to place all federal employees in DEI roles on paid administrative leave by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, January 22.

By the same deadline, all agencies were directed to “take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) of DEIA offices.”

“To every reporter asking about this: I can gladly confirm!” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

To every reporter asking about this: I can gladly confirm! https://t.co/gRb356vSwO

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 22, 2025

According to The Wall Street Journal, after President Trump issued the executive order,

The Agriculture Department, the Treasury Department and the Labor Department had removed some webpages on diversity by Wednesday morning. The Federal Communications Commission rescinded an action plan promoting DEI and shut down the agency’s advisory group, among other steps. Elsewhere, meetings on those issues were canceled quietly, and federal employees were uncertain about whether internal affinity groups would continue.

SECOND ACTION

President Trump’s second action on DEI is titled Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service.

It declares that “federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of ‘equity,’ or one’s commitment to the invented concept of ‘gender identity’ over sex. Inserting such factors into the hiring process subverts the will of the People, puts critical government functions at risk, and risks losing the best-qualified candidates.”

Therefore, it revises the Federal Hiring Plan to:

prioritize recruitment of individuals committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution;

prevent the hiring of individuals based on their race, sex, or religion, and prevent the hiring of individuals who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to faithfully serve the Executive Branch;

THIRD ACTION

Third, President Trump issued a presidential action titled Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation. The order specifically roots out DEI personnel and practices in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“Illegal and discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring, including on the basis of race, sex, disability, or any other criteria other than the safety of airline passengers and overall job excellence, competency, and qualification, harms all Americans, who deserve to fly with confidence,” the order states.

Therefore, it proclaims,

I hereby order the Secretary of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administrator to immediately return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring, as required by law.

All so-called DEI initiatives, including all dangerous preferencing policies or practices, shall immediately be rescinded in favor of hiring, promoting, and otherwise treating employees on the basis of individual capability, competence, achievement, and dedication.

FOURTH ACTION

The president’s fourth action is titled Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.

The order rescinds former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 which required “affirmative action” programs for companies and corporations that do business with the federal government.

According to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President for Corporate Engagement Jeremy Tedesco, President Trump’s action,

require(s) all federal contractors, including many large companies, to certify that they do not operate DEI programs;

urge(s) federal agencies to investigate the worst DEI policies and programs in corporate America, higher education, and other settings;

restore(s) merit-based decision-making in personnel decisions for federal government and contractors.

“Discrimination under the guise of DEI is legally suspect, reputationally risky, and morally unjustified,” Tedesco added. “DEI is on its way out. And not a day too soon.”

In recent years, DEI policy has been used to stoke racial tensions and discriminate against Americans based on race.

President Trump’s actions in the last few days have done more than anything in history to remove DEI from America’s government and corporations.

This is a very good thing indeed.

Related articles and resources:

Monique Duson: Responding to Critical Race Theory with Grace and Truth

Monique Duson: ‘Biblically Faithful and Sane Conversations on Race, Justice and Unity’

How to Talk With Your Kids About Racial Differences

BLM at School – How a Day Encouraging Parental Educational Involvement Was Overshadowed by a Week of Radical Ideology

Department of Education Blew $1 Billion on DEI – Here’s Why It Matters

Photo from Getty Images.

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