President Donald Trump vowed during the campaign to take on the overtly discriminatory ideals and practices of "diversity, equity, and inclusion," or DEI, and he wasted little time after taking office in making good on that promise.

In a series of executive actions on his first and second days in the White House, Trump began the arduous process of dismantling all DEI-related programs that have been embedded throughout virtually every department and agency of the federal government, the Associated Press reported.

The move has quite predictably sparked furious outcries from Democrats and the left-leaning media but has received cheers of support from conservatives and independents who've long opposed the inherent discrimination within DEI.

Ending DEI in the federal workforce

The long-awaited destruction of DEI began on Monday with President Trump's very first executive order that rescinded or revoked dozens of executive actions signed by former President Joe Biden over the prior four years, several of which involved various aspects of "diversity," "equity," or "inclusion."

Trump followed that with an order to reform the federal hiring process and place "merit" and "skill" at the top of the list of desired attributes for federal job seekers instead of otherwise meaningless traits like skin color or "gender identity."

The new president took it a step further that same day with a third executive order that aimed to effectively terminate the "radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing" that had become all too common throughout the federal government during Biden's tenure in office.

That order accused Biden of having "forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military," and of requiring all federal agencies to create and implement "Equity Action Plans."

"That ends today. Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great," Trump said.

Ending DEI and affirmative action in federal contracting and the private sector

All of that was undoubtedly bad enough for DEI-promoting Democrats and media outlets, but President Trump wasn't done yet, as he unveiled on Tuesday arguably his most significant executive action of them all to end DEI not just in the federal government but in the private sector as well.

Titled "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," Trump's order looked beyond just what former President Biden had done and took aim at the predecessor policies that led to DEI, such as affirmative action.

Much to the shock of media outlets like The New York Times, that involved revoking a misnamed "equal employment opportunity" executive order from former President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 that in reality required all federal contractors to engage in discriminatory affirmative action and unfair practices like "workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin."

In addition to ending affirmative action and workforce balancing requirements for federal contractors -- indeed, continuing such practices could render contractors ineligible for future contracts -- Trump also ordered the heads of all departments and agencies to "encourage" relevant private sector counterparts to similarly drop DEI practices and instead promote merit-based ideals like "individual initiative, excellence, and hard work."

A historic move

A White House "fact sheet" described Tuesday's anti-DEI executive action as "the most important federal civil rights measure in decades," in that it "protects the civil rights of all Americans and expands individual opportunity by terminating radical DEI preferencing in federal contracting and directing federal agencies to relentlessly combat private sector discrimination."

"President Trump promised to terminate DEI in the federal government, protect equal opportunity, and force schools to end discriminatory admissions policies, and he delivered," the White House said. "Every man and woman should have the opportunity to go as far as their hard work, individual initiative, and competence can take them. In America, excellence, grit, and determination is our strength."