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Federal DEI officials made history Monday when President Donald Trump rescinded an executive order that President Biden issued at the start of his 2021 term, one that directed him to promote racial preferences throughout his administration. As he began his second term in office, he needed to know what was going to happen.
But they probably never imagined that President Trump had just taken office, and that he would be granted leave as early as 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
President Trump has rescinded the “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,'' which Biden signed on January 20, 2021, his first day in office. But this was the prelude to a four-year obsession with race and sexuality.
White House OPM orders all DEI offices to begin closing by end of day Wednesday
President Trump then spent the next 48 hours systematically dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices across the vast federal bureaucracy, federal contractors, and federal grant recipients.
It was the same policy that the Romans used to salt the fields of Carthage after laying waste to their Mediterranean city-state enemies. After all, the promotion of racial preferences was a hallmark of the defeated and dispatched Biden administration.
Late Monday, President Trump signed his second anti-DEI EO, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Incentives,” or EO 24. But it wasn't over yet. The next day, President Trump signed the third EO to end unlawful discrimination and restore merit-based opportunity. Then his administration issued a killer memo.
Trump’s DEI move was the same policy that the Romans salted in the fields of Carthage after laying their Mediterranean city-state enemy in ruins. After all, the promotion of racial preferences was a hallmark of the defeated and dispatched Biden administration.
The second EO No. 24 detailed what departments needed to do to banish DEI. They will primarily coordinate with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Attorney General, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in halting all DEI activities.
Voters back Trump on ending DEI program as federal deadline approaches, poll shows
For example, the EO called on the bureaucracy to:
“To the fullest extent permitted by law, all DEI, DEIA, and “Environmental Justice” positions and positions (including, but not limited to, the position of “Chief Diversity Officer”), all “Equity” “Action Plan,” “Equity” actions, initiatives, or programs, “Equity-Related” grants or contracts, and any DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees.
On his second day in office, the third EO signed a bill that would end long-standing racial preferences and end unlawful discrimination and restore merit-based opportunity. It even rescinded EO (11246), signed by Lyndon Johnson in 1965, which is notable as the first government action to effectively require federal contractors to agree to racial quotas.
As my good friend and colleague at the Heritage Foundation, Giancarlo Canapallo, recently posted on “The basis for issuing rules and practices that require or enforce discrimination in subcontractors.'' ”
Giancarlo said LBJ's order required contractors to create affirmative action plans, which quickly became a norm because LBJ and future administrations “forced contractors to report race composition.” He added that
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As long as EO 11246 remains in place, no measure by Trump or any other to rid the country of the scourge of racial preference will succeed.
It is a testament to the renewed enthusiasm of this second term that the makers of the Trump EO knew they had to repeal 11246.
But President Trump wasn't done yet. An OPM memo attached to the third EO requires that by 5 p.m. Wednesday “all DEIA office employees be notified that they will be placed on paid administrative leave as soon as the agency takes the following actions.” They informed the heads of government agencies that there was. Close/terminate all DEIA initiatives, offices, and programs. ”
In fact, just before closing time on Wednesday, federal employees began receiving memos from departments and agencies warning that DEI activities would cease immediately. A friend sent me an email that was clear and to the point.
Certainly, some government agencies will seek to change the labels of DEI activities and DEI personnel. And we started seeing some of that late Wednesday. But the long battle has only just begun.
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Eliminating DEI was a campaign promise of President Trump and one that voters also demanded. A recent Fox poll ranked it the sixth-highest priority, behind ending inflation, cutting taxes, strengthening the national defense, deporting illegal immigrants, and reducing the size of government. That was a top priority for a whopping 29 percent of voters.
And DEI was even more important to President Biden. It had to go.
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