Tearing stuff down is easier than building them up

Man, it sure is easy to walk into the office and shred all past agreements, burn down policies that have been in place for a generation, and not bother to replace them with anything. Trump is firing people left and right and sweeping away useful programs.

U.S. President Donald Trump ‘s administration moved Tuesday to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off.

The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs that could touch on everything from anti-bias training to funding for minority farmers and homeowners. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and insisted on restoring strictly “merit-based” hiring.

The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by U.S. president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients.

Sure, let’s tear down all the progress made since the 1960s. Dismantle the Great Society programs, since we’re now a small, mean, nasty society. Also, don’t you dare try to preserve them by renaming them.

Agencies must also cancel any DEI-related training and end any related contracts, and federal workers are being asked to report to Trump’s Office of Personnel Management if they suspect any DEI-related program has been renamed to obfuscate its purpose within 10 days or face “adverse consequences.”

I’m at a state university, so this doesn’t affect us yet, but I know people involved in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs at the University of Minnesota; I’ve taken DEI training on several occasions. They’re good people and it’s useful information. How can you have “merit-based” hiring if you don’t recognize the existence of policies and attitudes and social pressures that work against merit? I think that’s the problem — they don’t recognize the existence of bigotry and bias while they practice them to the maximum degree.

While they’re taking a wrecking ball to our institutions, here’s another one: the US is pulling out of the World Health Organization.

The World Health Organization regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization. WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans, by addressing the root causes of disease, building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go. The United States was a founding member of WHO in 1948 and has participated in shaping and governing WHO’s work ever since, alongside 193 other Member States, including through its active participation in the World Health Assembly and Executive Board. For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats. Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication. American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership in WHO. With the participation of the United States and other Member States, WHO has over the past 7 years implemented the largest set of reforms in its history, to transform our accountability, cost- effectiveness, and impact in countries. This work continues. We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well- being of millions of people around the globe.

The Trump administration is listening to RFK jr, a notorious crank and quack. We’re slowly emerging from a pandemic (one could argue that it’s not at all over), one that first emerged in Asia, and here we are, tearing down connections to the rest of the world and blinding ourselves to diseases outside of our little country. It’s stupid and short-sighted.

What happens in four years (we hope)? Do we just go crawling back to these international societies, hat in hand, and beg to be let back in? These betrayals are going to permanently damage our relationship with the rest of the world; they know we can’t be trusted, so every international relationship is going to be organized with the understanding that the USA is an unreliable partner.