Former President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to rescind President Joe Biden’s latest equity executive order, which he says implements “a woke takeover of the entire federal government,” if he is reelected to the Oval Office.
Biden’s order, which came last month, seeks to install diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within a host of federal agencies over five years, as Breitbart News reported. It mandates agencies to form “Agency Equity Teams,” which will “coordinate the implementation of equity initiatives and ensure that their respective agencies are delivering equitable outcomes for the American people.”
Additionally, agency heads will submit annual “Equity Action Plans” on steps to “advance equity” to the newly formed White House Steering Committee on Equity.
“Instead of treating everyone equally – making decisions based on merit or qualifications – equity means that benefits are awarded, and policies are enforced based on skin color and sexual identity,” Trump explained in a campaign policy video.
“I will revoke this executive order on my first day back in office,” Trump later said. “I will look forward to it.”
Along with reversing the order, Trump said he plans to use the Department of Justice to investigate instances of “discrimination” under the mandate while also terminating all staffers who were hired to implement the action:
I will instruct the Department of Justice to make clear that any such discrimination is completely and totally illegal and to investigate the unlawful domination and discrimination, and civil rights abuses carried out by the Biden Administration. I will immediately terminate all staffers hired to implement this policy, and eliminate all offices and initiatives connected to it.
Trump would also create a team to review actions taken by agencies under the order “that will need to be reversed” and would call on Congress to establish “a restitution fund for Americans who have been unjustly discriminated against.”
“I will get this extremism out of the White House, out of the military, out of the Justice Department, and out of our government,” Trump pledged.
Some House Republicans are pushing back on the executive order, as Rep. Jim Banks (R-IL) and Anti-Woke Caucus members have introduced legislation to cut funding for the order.
“So-called ‘equity action plans’ are rooted in discrimination, promote division, and directly conflict with American values,” Banks exclusively told Breitbart News on Thursday. “This latest executive order will force every single one of the 23 federal agencies to enact the radical left’s climate and equity agendas. The Anti-Woke Caucus will continue to fight these abuses of power that are meant to pit Americans against one another and tear down the principles that made our country great.”