Donald Trump Ends DEI Policies at the Federal Level for Agencies, Universities, and More

During his inaugural address, Donald Trump made it clear that two of the most hot-button cultural issues – radical gender ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices – would be dealt with by his administration on day one.

He followed through on that promise with two executive orders. One ends the use of the term ‘gender’ in all federal policies and documents and defines two sexes, male and female. And the other ends “radical and wasteful” government DEI programs.

The results of the latter are already being felt as all federal DEI staffers are being placed on paid leave on Wednesday. On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Nicole Shanahan, host of Back to the People, to discuss the initiative and what it means for merit.

The Executive Order

One of the many executive actions Trump signed on Monday was titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences” with the purpose of undoing the “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the federal government” under the Biden administration. 

The action calls for the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the attorney general and the director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to “coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the federal government, under whatever name they appear.”

The OPM issued a memo on Tuesday directing all federal agencies to take down all DEI-focused webpages and place all DEI staffers on paid leave by 5pm Wednesday. Agencies must also cancel any DEI-focused training and terminate related contracts. “Reduction-in-force action” plans for federal DEI offices and workers must be submitted by next Friday.

This will also impact future hiring as Charlie Kirk noted on X. “President Trump just removed affirmative action from the federal government hiring practices. This reverses [Lyndon B. Johnson’s] executive order 11246,” he posted. “We will have a government based on merit, not race. This is massive. [Ronald] Reagan, [George] H.W. Bush, and [George W.] Bush never dared to touch it. Now it’s gone. America is rising.”

As Kirk pointed out in a separate tweet, this will extend to agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), “ending an insane Obama-era push to put travelers’ lives in the hands of incompetents hired for diversity reasons.” It also applies to colleges and universities that accept taxpayer dollars.

A Return to Merit

Megyn called the progress “wonderful,” and Shanahan said the consequences of these policies have been far-reaching in both the public and private sector. “I was just on a phone call yesterday with a farmers association that went woke because it felt like it had to, and, as a result, this farmers association wasn’t actually able to do the things for the farmers that the farmers were asking. And so they went irrelevant,” she explained. “And that is what these policies do. They make institutions that need to get stuff done irrelevant at best. At worst, it makes them dangerous.”

She pointed to the wildfires in her home state of California as one such example. “In the case of the fire department in [Los Angeles], these policies are dangerous policies. They normalize this idea of failing upwards, something that my friends and I are noticing all the time,” Shanahan said. “People are failing, and they are getting promoted. And these positions are not ceremonial… These are roles requiring execution, performance, excellence, competition.”

While there was, as Megyn said, a “massive shift away” from merit under the Obama and Biden administrations, she said the 2024 election was the “public’s rejection” of it. “It is the American people’s time… Irrespective of your color, you’ve got a shot,” she concluded. “Work hard. Try harder.”

You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Shanahan by tuning in to episode 988 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.