Dozens of federal websites taken down to be scrubbed of references to DEI and gender ideology
President Donald Trump is on a mission to fully extricate all of the progressive left's "woke" nonsense from the federal government and to promote and restore common sense in its place.
To effectuate that plan, numerous websites for various federal agencies and departments were temporarily taken down on Friday to be scrubbed of any content and language that ran counter to Trump's agenda, Fox News reported.
That includes all content and language related to "diversity, equity, and inclusion," anything having to do with "gender ideology" or there being more than two biological sexes, and anything else that could be construed as "anti-Trump administration" and its stated policy goals.
Numerous websites taken down
NBC News reported that the Office of Personnel Management sent out a memo earlier this week that set a deadline of 5 pm on Friday for all federal departments and agencies to comply with certain executive actions taken by President Trump on DEI and gender ideology.
Part of that compliance involved temporarily taking down dozens of various federal websites to scrub them of references to the above topics, though most or all were quickly restored after the appropriate changes were made.
The outlet provided several examples of federal websites that were completely down or shown as blank pages and noted that the White House declined to comment when asked how long the process would be.
Websites "up and running" later Friday evening
It is unclear how long the assorted federal websites were down, and durations varied depending upon whether only some slight rewording was necessary or a full rework was required, according to CBS News.
At some point Friday evening, however, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to the outlet that everything was functional and "agency websites are still up and running."
President Trump, when asked by reporters earlier in the day about the memos instructing the removal of all DEI and gender-related content from federal websites, replied, "If they want to scrub the websites, that's OK with me."
Trump's executive orders
At issue here are two executive orders signed by President Trump on his first day in office, one of which dealt with protecting women from "gender ideology extremism" and the fiction of there being more than two biological sexes as well as one intended to root out the "radical and wasteful" DEI and racial preferencing programs throughout the federal government.
The first order established the "biological reality" of there being only the female and male sexes, and ordered in one provision, "Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other messages."
The second order lacked similar instruction but instead directed each "agency, department, or commission head" to take action within 60 days to "terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and 'environmental justice' offices and positions (including but not limited to 'Chief Diversity Officer' positions); all 'equity action plans,' 'equity' actions, initiatives, or programs, 'equity-related' grants or contracts; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees."
Promises made and kept
President Trump vowed repeatedly on the campaign trail that he would work in office to end the progressive left's radical "woke" nonsense within the federal government and was arguably re-elected in large part because of those vows.
Trump and his administration have acted quickly to fulfill that promise, much to the confusion and consternation of Democrats and their media allies.