Loudoun County, Virginia, a suburban suburb for an hour from Washington, the corridors of high schools are no longer very similar to those of last year. Colorful posters touting “diversity” and workshops on “micro-aggressions” have disappeared. On the plannings, the sessions of I (diversity, equity and inclusion) which punctuated the start of the school year were deleted. The turn is clear: since the signing, on May 15, 2025, of the presidential decree 14151, public establishments under federal contract must cease any training deemed “Ideological” by Washington.
In Richmond, republican governor Glenn Youngkin, ally of Donald Trump, hastened to enforce the measure to all school districts that receive federal funds. Exit workshops on unconscious biases or the critical theory of the race, replaced by modules on the Constitution and the American economy.
In the private sector, the quotas and programs reserved for minorities are removed
It is here that Donald Trump’s cultural policy anchors his roots: in these schools where parents want their offspring to learn history and merit. And this case is far from isolated. In other districts, the federal administration pushes schools to expurging gender programs.
The high academic spheres are also concerned. A new memorandum, dated August 7, requires universities that they transmit the detailed admission data (race and notes) to prove that they do not use positive discrimination criteria. A way to check, by figures, that the university remains a place of merit.
At the University of Columbia, New York, or that of Brown, in the Rhode Islan, pressures led to the suspension of federal funding until the adoption of more neutral standards. To obtain subsidies, it is now necessary to prove that excellence is not subordinated to identity activism.
In Donald Trump’s America, the war against wokism of course does not stop at the doors of the schools. Upon his return to power, the Republican widened his battlefield. The day of his inauguration, Decree 14168 falls: there are “more” only two sexes, man and woman. In the process, the mention “X” disappears from the passports and official documents. A page is turned: the federal administration no longer recognizes identities “Non -binary” who had flowered under Biden.
The army, too, is summoned to enter into the rank. The Pentagon separates from transgender soldiers, tried “Incompatible” with the cohesion and efficiency of the troops. In Navy’s recruitment centers as well as the US Army, the instruction is clear: any trans application is dismissed. Emergency seizure, the Supreme Court validates the measure.
The crusade even invites itself into the world of culture. At Kennedy Center, Washington Temple of the Arts, Donald Trump will orchestrate a ceremony on December 7 where Stallone, the Kiss group, Gloria Gaynor or the Crooner Country George Strait will be in the spotlight. Not a Woke activist on the horizon. In front of the cameras, Donald Trump claims to have chosen “98 % of the selection”. The message is clear: taxpayer’s money will no longer be used to subsidize artists who confuse scene and militant tribune.
New cultural climate
And the private follows. At Paramount Global, we delete the quantified diversity objectives and we stop collecting the demographic data of the candidates. Pepsico recalibbs its inclusion for growth: more quotas, and those responsible for DEI policies are reassigned to more general positions. Target supermarkets bury their initiative “Belonging at the Bullseye”, “in its place in the target”, by closing several internal programs reserved for black employees. The KPMG audit giant, finally, abandons its objective of 50 % of executives from minorities.
The trend is also measured in figures: according to a survey by the firm specializing in Littler Mendelson labor law carried out in early August, 53 % of business leaders are now planning to reduce their Dei programs. They were only 38 % to assert it before Donald Trump’s re -election. The law does not force them to do so, it is the cultural climate that pushes this caution.
