On his first day in office, President Trump signed an Executive Order targeting “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” programs in the federal government. A day later, the President signed an executive order entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit Based Opportunity.” Together, these executive orders have been used to justify an across the board targeting of all federal programs, grants, and contracts, essentially a targeting of the entire federal bureaucracy. For example, very quickly, thousands of federal web pages have been taken down, with vast amounts of data from Alzheimer’s research to clinical trials being removed.
The Trump administration has taken as its chief target DEI - Diversity Equity and Inclusion. The Executive Orders Trump signed on his first two days in office have been used to justify targeting federal agencies and other institutions, and to threaten the jobs of those suspected to be less than completely loyal to the new regime, on the grounds that they embody the ideology of DEI.
