Trump’s orders to end DEI programs reflect his push for a profound cultural shift

President Donald Trump’s orders to end the government’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts mark a significant shift, undoing long-standing priorities for the federal government and efforts to encourage private sector initiatives to promote workforce diversity and inclusion.

Trump, only days into his second term as president, has shown with his wide-reaching moves that he’s willing to use all the levers of the government to fulfil a longstanding campaign promise and bring about a profound cultural shift across the US from promoting diversity to an exclusive focus on merit.

Hours after taking the oath of office, the president signed an executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government, which he and conservatives have long condemned as discriminatory.

His administration then moved Tuesday to end affirmative action in federal contracting — a move first required by President Lyndon Johnson — and ordered all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave and eventually laid off.

The effort escalates a push Trump made in his last term as president and relies on the very same tools his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, used to try to promote DEI programs across American life by embedding the priority into rules for federal contractors and grant recipients.

Biden and his supporters cast DEI efforts as a way to ensure that historically marginalized communities are included and represented. Trump has branded the programs “discrimination” and said he wants to restore “merit-based” hiring.Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the government already hires and promotes exclusively based on merit.

“The results are clear: a diverse federal workforce that looks like the nation it serves, with the lowest gender and racial pay gaps in the country. We should all be proud of that,” Kelley said in a statement.

The effort escalates a push Trump made in his last term as president and relies on the very same tools his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, used to try to promote DEI programs across American life by embedding the priority into rules for federal contractors and grant recipients.

Biden and his supporters cast DEI efforts as a way to ensure that historically marginalized communities are included and represented. Trump has branded the programs “discrimination” and said he wants to restore “merit-based” hiring.

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the government already hires and promotes exclusively based on merit.

“The results are clear: a diverse federal workforce that looks like the nation it serves, with the lowest gender and racial pay gaps in the country. We should all be proud of that,” Kelley said in a statement.The effort escalates a push Trump made in his last term as president and relies on the very same tools his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, used to try to promote DEI programs across American life by embedding the priority into rules for federal contractors and grant recipients.

Biden and his supporters cast DEI efforts as a way to ensure that historically marginalized communities are included and represented. Trump has branded the programs “discrimination” and said he wants to restore “merit-based” hiring.

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the government already hires and promotes exclusively based on merit.

“The results are clear: a diverse federal workforce that looks like the nation it serves, with the lowest gender and racial pay gaps in the country. We should all be proud of that,” Kelley said in a statement.

“We have gone down that path before as a society,” he said. “We decided this was something we did not want to do, to promote or hire based on race.”

Most Americans agree that being white and a man helps people’s ability to get ahead in the US today, and that being Black hurts people’s ability to get ahead, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in 2023. They’re also more likely to say that being a woman, Hispanic or Asian is more harmful than helpful.

But another Pew Research Center poll from 2024 found that U.S. adults are more split on the extent to which white people benefit from advantages that Black people don’t have, or if women still face obstacles that make it harder for them to get ahead than men.

And there are indications that Trump’s supporters are particularly concerned about gains for groups like women and racial minorities coming at the expense of others. According to AP VoteCast, relatively few voters in the 2024 election overall — about 3 in 10 -- said they were “very” or “somewhat” concerned that US society has focused too much on gains for women at the expense of men, but Trump’s supporters were more divided. A majority were “not too” concerned or “not at all” concerned about gains for women coming at the expense of men, but about 4 in 10 said they were at least “somewhat” concerned.

Even before Trump’s actions, a backlash to DEI programs had already been underway in corporate America.

Dozens of prominent companies started to roll back, or even eliminate, their DEI commitments in the wake of a 2023 Supreme Court ruling eliminating affirmative action at universities, a decision that unleashed a flood of conservative-backed lawsuits against diversity efforts in the corporate world. The trend accelerated sharply after Trump’s election as companies anticipated his aggressive orders to dismantle DEI.

Walmart, for instance, announced in November that it would no longer consider race and gender when offering supplier contracts, a decision that mirrors reforms the Trump administration will pursue with federal contracts.

Already, conservative lawsuits have successfully forced some government agencies to stop considering race when awarding government contracting and financing.

Facebook owner META, McDonald’s and Boeing are among other companies that have dropped DEI commitments in response to the changing legal landscape and the change of government.

However, many of the country’s top companies have stuck by their DEI policies, including some with government contracts such as tech giant Microsoft and global consulting firm Accenture.

AP

(2025/01/24-00:00)