Trump’s valuable blow to DEI, there was no ‘Biden doctrine’ and other commentary

From the right: Trump’s Valuable Blow to DEI

President Trump “wants to pivot from his predecessor’s obsession with racial differences, as do millions of Americans,” cheers The Wall Street Journal’s Jason L. Riley. “Racial equity used to mean equal treatment regardless of race, but it’s become a progressive euphemism for group preferences.” Under Biden, “federal agencies were directed to ‘implement or increase the availability’ of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.” But Monday, “Trump announced that he would put a stop to these efforts” and “vowed to pursue race- and gender-neutral policies in his second term,” which he did by signing “an executive order that effectively reversed the Biden administration’s DEI directives.” “The evidence has been piling up that the country wants to move past race in ways that the political left continues to resist.”

Foreign desk: There Was No ‘Biden Doctrine’

The “Biden Doctrine” never existed, argues Ilan Berman at The Washington Times. Biden had no more than a “series of tactical responses to world events” that were “undermined by the White House’s fear of adverse consequences.” Biden “stopped short of giving Kyiv’s brave defenders the ability to turn the tables on Moscow.” During the Gaza war, he put “broad political pressure on the Israeli government,” delayed “the delivery of critical military aid” and sought “to limit Jerusalem’s war aims.” Don’t forget his “decidedly tepid” response to Iran-backed Houthi attacks. “This isn’t simply a chronicle of missed opportunities. It’s also a teachable moment for the incoming Trump foreign policy team.” “When it comes to foreign policy, there’s simply no substitute for seriousness.”

Migrant beat: Don’t Call It ‘Mass Deportation’

“Activists, officials and journalist have written repeatedly about the coming ‘mass deportation’ of illegal immigrants,” but that term’s mere “propaganda,” not a proper description of President Trump’s plans, corrects Seth Barron at City Journal. The term more accurately describes “the wholesale detention and removal of an entire community based on nationality, ethnicity, or some other immutable characteristic.” Yet, Trump’s plans are “targeted,” focusing on those who “already have an order of removal against them and on illegal aliens who have committed crimes.” More than 1 million people in the United States “are subject to a final order of removal,” having already “gone through a process of review and appeal.” The scale of this population “may be massive, but that doesn’t make it a ‘mass deportation.’ ”

COVID journal: Fauci’s Pardon Is a True Travesty

“There is no defence for offering clemency to the central figure in a scientific scandal of epic global significance,” huffs Ian Birrell at UnHerd, in slamming President Biden’s pardon of Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci played a “central role in the clandestine efforts by a cabal of top scientists to stifle debate over the origins of Covid-19” that appeared mysteriously in Wuhan — home to a lab funded by Fauci’s NIH unit “to carry out high-risk, gain-of-function research into bat diseases.” It’s noteworthy that Biden’s “pardon is backdated to 2014,” when the research was banned in the US and “and also the start date for an NIH grant to Wuhan.” Good news: The pardon won’t halt Senate and Justice Department investigations.

Mideast watch: The Cease-Fire’s Big Flaws

President Trump “deserves the lion’s share of the credit” for the Gaza cease-fire, declares Jonathan S. Tobin at The Federalist. Decent people are “rejoicing” that Hamas has already freed three female hostages it’s held. Still, the price — “releasing hundreds of Palestinian terrorists” and “withdrawing Israeli forces from most of Gaza” — is “problematic for the Jewish state’s security.” And for Trump, as it could lead to more Middle East wars. Yet it was Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, who reportedly threatened Benjamin Netanyahu to give the new prez “what he wants” and accept a deal. Witkoff has even sounded like Biden’s folks on a post-war Gaza. Trump may soon have to choose between backing “inevitable Israeli counter-attacks into Gaza” and pressuring Jerusalem to “endure the pain of terrorism.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board