In front of a crowd of supporters in Washington on Monday – his first day in office – the Republican wiped out 78 executive orders, actions and presidential memoranda issued by his Democrat predecessor Joe Biden.
Several of the overturned decrees promoted diversity and equality in the government, workplaces and healthcare, as well as the rights of LGBTQ Americans.
He also issued new ones decreeing only two genders and ending government diversity programmes.
“The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programmes, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government,” said one executive order ending such programmes.
“SHAMEFUL DISCRIMINATION”
The OPM memo dated Tuesday said DEI programmes “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination”.
It ordered all agency heads to cancel DEI trainings, terminate related contractors, and take down websites and social media accounts promoting it by Wednesday evening.
Federal department and agency bosses are also required to ask “employees if they know of any efforts to disguise these (DEI) programmes by using coded or imprecise language”.
The memo includes a template email for bosses to send to employees, which asks them to report to OPM if they are “aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since Nov 5, 2024 (Election Day) to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies.”
Failure to report the requested information within 10 days “may result in adverse consequences”, the template email states.
