CHRISTOPHER RUFO: The campaign for colorblind equality has just scored its biggest victory yet
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on Monday, President Trump signed an executive order eliminating the “diversity, equity and inclusion” bureaucracy in the federal government.
The move marks a stunning reversal of fortunes from just four years ago, when Black Lives Matter, critical race theory, and DEI seemed unstoppable. Next the death of George FloydLeft-leaning activists have infiltrated American institutions, overhauling school curricula, changing government policy, and establishing DEI offices at major universities, big-city school districts, and Fortune 100 companies. The Biden administration immediately followed suit, mandating a “whole-of-government equity agenda” that has entrenched DEI in the federal government.
No more. President Trump rescinded Biden’s executive order and directed his Cabinet to “terminate, to the fullest extent permitted by law, all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions, and “all ‘action plans,’ ‘justice’ actions, initiatives, or programs.” In other words, President Trump has signed the death warrant for DEI within the federal government.
How did we get here? Through patiently building the movement and winning the public debate. In early 2023, I worked with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to launch a “repeal DEI” campaign. We started by eliminating the DEI bureaucracy in the New College of Floridaa small public university in Sarasota, where I serve as an administrator. The reaction of the racist left was fierce. Protesters gathered on campus, and left-wing media published hundreds of articles condemning the move. But we stood firm and argued that public institutions should judge individuals based on their achievements, not their origins.
The discussion began to gain momentum. Poll data showed that Americans overwhelmingly support a “color-blind society” over a “race-conscious society.” Even the New York Times, one of the biggest proponents of left-wing racism, began publishing articles criticizing the DEI. At the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement was mired in scandal, and DEI’s leading intellectual voices, such as Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo, faced constant public scrutiny and seemed to fade from the limelight.
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We pushed on. Governor DeSantis led the way, signing legislation to eliminate the DEI bureaucracy at all of Florida’s public universities. A dozen other red states followed suit, limiting DEI programs and banning DEI-style discrimination in their public institutions. The process became a virtuous cycle: each state that passed an anti-DEI bill reduced the risk that the next state would do the same. The campaign has moved from the sphere of discussion to the sphere of politics.
Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris On November 5, he sealed DEI’s fate. Corporate America, including companies such as Walmart and Meta, interpreted the event as an impetus for change, voluntarily ending their DEI programs before Trump took office. Mark Zuckerberg expressed this explicitly, claiming that the country had reached a “cultural tipping point”, which convinced him to stop DEI programs. And Zuckerberg, along with a number of other tech titans, sat prominently at Monday’s inauguration.
In one way, Trump’s executive order on Monday came at a price — people knew it was coming. However, it is a crown for those who built this campaign from the ground up. There will be many struggles ahead – the bureaucracy will try to evade the order, and more needs to be done on civil rights reform in general – but, for now, we should celebrate. The forces of left-wing racism are on the defensive, and the forces of color-blind equality are on the move.
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None of this was inevitable – and none will continue, either. It took courage, hard work and more than a little luck. But this is undoubtedly a moment for optimism.
American institutions are not incorrigible, as many have feared. The American people were wise enough to realize that their country might not survive another four or eight years government by DEI. They talked on November 5th, and now President Trump is acting on it.
