Trump to DEI Feds: You Can Run But You Can’t Hide

In the first hours of his new presidency, Donald Trump signed executive orders to put an end to so-called “diversity equity and inclusion” (DEI) policies. Within a couple of days, he ordered all federal employees assigned to that task furloughed with pay until the agencies could get around to terminating the positions properly.

However, it became immediately clear that the agencies had started a surreptitious “Resistance” effort to reassign those employees instead under new classifications — while pursuing the same DEI mission. Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump has declared war on the bureaucratic “Resistance,” this time ordering agencies to dig deeper to identify such employees and lower the boom:

Trump administration officials are pressing federal agencies to dig deeper to find diversity workers to push out of the government, according to current and former officials familiar with internal conversations. …

In a follow-up meeting on Tuesday, two people said, the OPM told agency officials that employee resource groups—also known as affinity groups, such as for Black or LGBTQ staff—cannot hold meetings during work hours or use government resources. Workplaces typically use those forums for staff to share common career obstacles and advancement strategies. 

Charles Ezell, the acting OPM director, on Friday told agency and department leaders to begin issuing reduction-in-force notices to employees immediately. Agencies have told their employees to report ongoing DEI-related work to a centralized tip line, or potentially face “adverse consequences.” This push has rattled employees, who note that many DEI activities are difficult to define and interpret.

“They have been encouraged to report anybody who is doing DEI work and you’ll be protected if they do. But if, after 10 days, you haven’t, you’ll face consequences. They find it very bizarre and confusing,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.), whose state is home to tens of thousands of federal workers.

Why would that be “bizarre and confusing”? Up until last week, these same bureaus and agencies proudly identified all of their DEI efforts and personnel assigned to those tasks. And for good reason, too — the Biden administration greatly incentivized that work, as did the Obama administration, and Trump didn’t do much to disincentivize it in his first term in between. Until January 20, the same people who now claim to be confused over DEI were loud and proud about their efforts in pursuing it.

This time, however, Trump is taking this much more seriously. He made it clear during his campaign that he would deconstruct the entire DEI edifice, as a Day One issue. If anything, Trump overperformed on that promise, ending affirmative action as well as DEI functions in his first EOs. As the duly elected president, Trump has the authority to set these priorities and to order the executive branch to end such functions, since they are and have always been executive policy rather than statutory requirements. 

This is more than just about ending DEI, however. This is about heading off another four years of the “deep state” working to neutralize Trump and halt the agenda for which the American people elected him back into the Oval Office. It’s an early test of Resistance 2.0, and of Trump’s desire and focus on draining the swamp this time around. If Trump is to succeed in that overall goal, he has to make this stick — and make sure that anyone attempting to usurp his executive authority on policies hits the bricks as well.

Addendum: With that said, I’m not a fan of interjecting the DEI issue into an air-traffic disaster whose investigation has barely begun. Trump should have kept his powder dry today on potential causes of the DC crash. What the country needed was the sense that leadership was present and focused on getting to the truth, and while the presser this morning did do that much, the DEI accusation without any evidence muddies that message. If DEI was an issue, it will come out soon enough.