DEI experts blame Trump for national revolt against discrimination

Thanks to President Donald Trump’s first-day executive orders, DEI is been excised from every part of the federal government — and the American people couldn’t be any happier.

Indeed, a Fox News poll conducted last month found that a majority of Americans felt it was important for Trump to end the federal government’s focus on so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion.

DEI advocates, on the other hand, are mad as can be and blame Trump specifically for the public’s growing distaste for DEI madness, as well as for the decision by so many companies to drop DEI initiatives.

“It is important to note, that it’s not just about President Trump being against DEI, presidents are allowed to have their opinions,” DEI advocate Naomi Wheeless told Fox Business Network.

“It is that he is a president with a well-documented history of vindictiveness. He creates a sense of fear and the feeling that whether we want to or not, we better fall in line. I don’t believe that such large prominent companies would be making these announcements in such a public way if Trump was not president,” she added.

So according to her, corporations are dropping DEI because they’re scared of the big, bad orange man, not because they’re trying to appease investors who’ve grown increasingly fed-up with DEI.

Lola Bakare, an author and so-called “inclusive marketing strategist,” was equally critical of Trump.

“We’re seeing a tornado-like effect of the preferences of a new administration lead to a lot of poor, fear-based reactionary decision-making by companies,” she whined to Fox Business Network.

“I encourage people to think about the more nefarious reasons behind this administration’s decision to champion exclusion, which is the opposite of inclusion, and to abolish a number of programs, even positions, people’s jobs, in an executive order on day one without even looking into the reality of the efficaciousness of those programs,” she added.

However, Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist and author, told Fox Business Network that he at least recognizes the many, many, many problems with DEI programs.

“At their best, diversity programs should remind us that everyone deserves to be treated equally and with respect, no matter who they are,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the trend over the last few years, across so many American institutions, has been to make DEI programs into political commissars, to go after people who have different viewpoints, and they end up, in many ways, sowing more division in the institution that they’re supposed to help,” he added.

Jeremy Knauff, the founder of Spartan Media, told Fox Business Network that he’s observed two distinct reactions to the elimination of DEI programs.

The first reaction is “Well, this seems like a good idea because we shouldn’t be making hiring decisions based on criteria like race, gender, or sexuality anyway,” and the other reaction is “Anyone who doesn’t agree with these policies is clearly a racist, sexist and homophobic monster.”

He added that from a PR-perspective, the intolerance of the latter position is a perfect example of why so many people now view DEI as negative and harmful.

“While there was a time for policies like these in our past, they’ve essentially been transformed to bludgeon companies and individuals into submission on a wide variety of political topics, and frankly, most people have become tired of the constant lectures and attacks,” he said.

“As the saying goes, ‘You attract more flies with honey than you do with vinegar,’ and these activists have been hosing everyone down with vinegar for decades, so the outcome was completely predictable. I’m just surprised it took this long,” he added.

Vivek Saxena

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