(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) President Donald Trump took executive action Tuesday to end “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices for American flights.
Trump ordered the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation to stop prioritizing race, gender and disability status over qualification when it comes to bringing employees aboard.
Anyone else notice how the airport and airline experience has gotten SO MUCH WORSE the past few years?
Delays and cancellations everywhere thanks to Pete Booty
Turns out the FAA was using DEI to hire unqualified clowns
Trump just ended that https://t.co/OHpQeCFzMU
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) January 22, 2025
DEI hiring “harms all Americans” and “penalizes” those who don’t fit the FAA’s preferred “disability or skin color,” according to Trump’s executive order titled “Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation.”
“FAA employees must hold the qualifications and have the ability to perform their jobs to the highest standard of excellence,” the executive order continued.
The Trump administration referred to DEI initiatives as “dangerous discrimination” at the expense of “excellence.”
The FAA under former President Joe Biden moved to hire employee in air travel jobs who suffer from “targeted disabilities,” especially those with “severe intellectual” and psychiatric issues, the agency’s website, which now shows a “Page Not Found” error, previously said.
“This week I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” Trump said Monday on Inauguration Day.
Meritocracy is back 🔥
“I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit based.” – President Trump pic.twitter.com/1TRwDBe3EE
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) January 20, 2025
Among dozens of executive orders signed on the first day of his second term, Trump passed multiple actions including one ending “radical and wasteful” DEI practices and another prioritizing merit in federal hiring practices.
On Tuesday, Trump signed another executive order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” This action encourages the private sector to end “DEI discrimination” and moves to terminate its implementation in the federal government.
“In case after tragic case, the American people have witnessed first-hand the disastrous consequences of illegal, pernicious discrimination that has prioritized how people were born instead of what they were capable of doing,” the executive order states.
OBTAINED FIRST BY @cbsnews’ @kristincbrown: All federal employees in DEI roles have to be placed on paid leave by 5pm Wednesday as those offices and programs are being ordered shut down, according to @USOPM memo. pic.twitter.com/PhTn4QrQqB
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) January 22, 2025
The Trump administration will place all federal employees in DEI roles on paid leave on Wednesday by 5 p.m., CBS News reported. Concurrently, DEI offices and programs will be ordered to shut down.
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and the American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
