"Bully and intimidate": Trump's opening assault on diversity is from the Project 2025 playbook
Source: Salon
"Bully and intimidate": Trump's opening assault on diversity is from the Project 2025 playbook
By Tatyana Tandanpolie
Staff Reporter
Published February 4, 2025 9:00AM (EST)
Among President Donald Trump's barrage of executive orders have been actions attempting to take down diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the federal government and schools across the country. Those moves threaten long-held civil rights protections and enforcement mechanisms, sparking concern over how far back Trump could take the country to deliver his "Golden Age."
Trump's assault on diversity includes a week-one repeal of prior executive orders in support of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act; freezing the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, with directives to halt most of its investigations from the Biden administration; and an order for K-12 institutions that restricts teaching on racism and gender identity in favor of a "patriotic education."
The moves have prompted concerns about the potential for bedrock, federal civil rights laws to one day be repealed altogether. But, as alarming as the orders are for millions of Americans, civil rights and racial justice advocates say that stoking fear and overwhelming Trump's critics is the intent — and staunchly defending the principles these orders threaten is the only way forward.
"It's obvious that the Trump administration is attempting to weaponize and co-opt long-standing civil rights laws to dismantle legal efforts at remedying discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities so that everyone has a shot," Amanda Meyer, a senior staff attorney in the ACLU's Racial Justice Program, told Salon.
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Read more: https://www.salon.com/2025/02/04/bully-and-intimidate-opening-on-diversity-is-from-the-project-2025-playbook/