Trump's DEI order raises fears of anti-diversity "witch hunt"

The big picture: Though Trump's executive order emphasizes a commitment to equality, it guts the mechanisms the federal government has historically used to root out discrimination and guarantee equal opportunity, particularly among the federal contractors that employ about 3.7 million people.

• But even more than gutting standards, the order mandates that federal agencies identify companies, foundations and schools that have diversity programs, and target them for civil enforcement actions, effectively telling corporate America that its DEI efforts now stand on shaky legal ground.
• "You can't have a commitment to ending discrimination and then get rid of the tools that help you end discrimination," Jocelyn Frye, president of the advocacy group National Partnership for Women & Families, told Axios. You're "empowering agencies to engage in some sort of strange anti-diversity witch hunt," she said.

Zoom out: Trump's order, issued Tuesday, revokes one that President Johnson signed on Sept. 24, 1965, more than two years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

• The reversal comes after six Republican presidents — including Trump during his first term — kept the Johnson executive order in place, while others expanded it through amendments.
• The new order is sure to face legal challenges, and it's not clear how long any of these changes will ultimately take to implement.
• In the meantime, the administration is asking federal employees to snitch on any colleagues who are still doing DEI work.

What they're saying: Civil rights advocates were anticipating this move.

• Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, framed Trump's actions as "an assault on the civil rights movement and everything we've achieved in the last 60 years."
• Brenda Victoria Castillo, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, emphasized the economic power of the Latino community, with a $3.6 trillion buying power in 2024.
• "Anti-diversity is anti-business," she said. "Representation in leadership and media isn't just morally right. It's essential for success in a diverse America."

Some CEOs are still defending their DEI initiatives amid the backlash.

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, long a defender of the bank's diversity initiatives, was asked on CNBC yesterday if he was aware of anti-DEI activists going after his firm.
• He said he wasn't, but in his typical pugnacious way said, "Well, bring them on. I'm not aware of it." He added, "Wherever I go, red states, blue states, green states, mayors, governors...they said they like what we do."

Between the lines: Recent polling makes clear that while rolling back diversity programs may be a priority for the Trump administration, it's not for most Americans.

• The recent Axios Vibes/Harris Poll survey indicated that a majority of Americans oppose, or are unsure about, rolling back diversity programs.
• Almost three-fourths of the 3,200 global CEOs polled for the AlixPartners Disruption Index said their corporate diversity efforts had actually helped their bottom lines.
• Shirley Wilcher, who ran the office in charge of administering the LBJ executive order during the Clinton administration, said businesses will still wind up facing discrimination complaints: "If any of these companies think they're off the hook, they're not."

The bottom line: Corporations were already rolling back diversity programs and policies, partially in response to attacks from conservative groups.

• While some may push back, expect many to run even harder from those programs now.