Trump and the DEI Counter-Revolution

A full audio recording of this piece is available below the paywall.

The Trump administration’s opening policy blitzkrieg (on day one alone: 48 “presidential actions,” a record 24 Executive Orders, and 78 past executive orders revoked) has touched many different policy areas, but none more powerfully than DEI. Eliminating the “divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy” created by “the injection of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) into our institutions” was indeed listed as number one of three policy priorities announced on President Trump’s first day in office (ahead of immigration reform and combating “climate extremism”).

The boldness of Trump’s anti-DEI initiative is indicated by three actions that have surprised even conservatives who have tracked these issues closely (myself included).

The boldness of Trump’s anti-DEI initiative is indicated by three actions that have surprised even conservatives who have tracked these issues closely (myself included). First, Trump revoked Executive Order 11246 (and other related steps), a move that struck an unprecedented blow against affirmative action and eliminated federal support in place since 1965. Second, he eliminated—not reformed—all federal DEI offices and officers in one fell swoop (something not even red states had ever contemplated). Third, he fired two of the three Democrats who serve as commissioners on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, thereby rendering that supposedly independent body incapable of pushing back against the rest of Trump’s anti-DEI efforts for the foreseeable future.

The penetrating power of these three measures is matched by the broad scope of the Trump government’s anti-DEI efforts. Summarising it in detail would take up too much space here, but so far I count nine executive orders issued since 20 January. Of those nine, four deal with antisemitism and the status of transgender persons; the remaining five take aim at “DEI” in its various registers and in different contexts. (Two other orders, one related to free speech and another rescinding 78 past executive orders, also make contributions to the anti-DEI cause.) Narrower anti-DEI initiatives emanating from individual federal agencies are by now too numerous to count.