A political divide deeper than the Marianas Trench affects just about every issue in today’s America. DEI is no different.

Biden Era’s DEI

DEI existed in the military even before Trump’s first term in office, but was visibly accelerated when then President Joe Biden strengthened it. DEI policymakers ignored the toxic roots of CRT/DEI. DEI infrastructure was put in place with policy and social media gatekeepers keeping people in line with the DEI architects’ vision for a new America. Data was hidden. Predictably, the military suffered - recruiting, distraction, etc. Public opposition emerged. DEI proponents spread false truths of DEI’s benefits for the military – ‘imperative’ for victory, almost a principle of war, with no data/research to support it. They hired professional DEI cheerleaders to fan the flames and colluded with media/social media to create a vicious and toxic cancel culture. Supporters inside and outside the military offered the platonic excuse for its existence – ‘isn’t it a good thing to give minorities opportunities?’ They almost always skirted the toxic issues formal DEI structures were creating. On the other side of the equation, opponents of DEI offered little but a public outcry and demands to end DEI.

Trump Era’s DEI

Opponents of Trump have long accused him of being racist. Interestingly, at his 2025 inauguration on MLK day he praised MLK, saying, “We will make his dream come true.” This is not exactly verbiage a ‘racist’ politician would use to fire up his base.

Predictably, Trump abruptly ended DEI by Executive Order on day 1. Recruiting instantly improved. DEI opponents cheered. And then, DEI began to be removed from the military and its public websites. While the target was the DEI structure itself, removal of more than just ‘DEI’ began to take place. For example, in February 2025, West Point shut down minority clubs that had existed long before DEI was even ‘invented.’

In March 2025, media outlets began to report that the bios for famous military minorities were being removed from the DoD websites. Trump and Hegseth offered little if any information or explanation to the public. DoD announced it was putting some of the key minority bios back on its website, but the damage to minority military history was already done.

The removal of Jackie Robinson was the highwater mark of the outrage.

This was a forced error within the Trump administration. Over a month had elapsed from the first reports that more than just DEI itself was being removed. There was ample time to 1. Clarify orders of what was and was not to be taken down, 2. Identify if the removal of key items was being done by overzealous military leaders or even passive aggressive ‘saboteurs,’ and, most importantly, 3. put out a public message acknowledging the mistakes and to make explicitly clear to the US public what was being done to remove DEI while still preserving minority military history. None of these seemed to have been done.

Just as under Biden’s administration, the opposition to the removal of DEI cherry picked stories to amplify in the media without any discussion of ‘the why’ DEI was needing to be removed from the military. Interestingly the same media outlets and celebrities that were up in arms over the removal of minority military history bios were silent when the ill-conceived military COVID mandate resulted in the career terminations and humiliation of many combat heroes.

Worse, President Trump appears to be repeating the public relations mistakes of his first presidency with ill-conceived remarks and social media posts - DEI involvement in the DC plane crash, sparring directly with judges, etc. There is merit and power in behaving in a presidential fashion in the public eye. Biden ignored the concerns of DEI opponents during his tenure. Trump appears to be running roughshod over concerns by DEI supporters. This is not bipartisan leadership on either side. His supporters and DEI opponents seem to be dutifully turning a blind eye to mistakes being made to end DEI.

The Problem

America has become a political debacle that increasingly encourages citizens and officials to view and act in black and white. It cannot be a choice between supporting DEI and being viewed as a racist, white supremist. Similarly, it cannot be a choice between opposing DEI and being viewed as embracing the Marxist destruction of America. No political issue is that cut and dried.

On the one hand, slavery and racism were real, happened, and cannot be forgotten (ie the reason that the DEI concept emerged). Opponents of DEI must be mindful of why DEI was so widespread initially. However, America cannot change the past and cannot let it (the past) define our future forever. The US was not built on slavery, but…racism still exists and always will. It is in human nature. Every culture/country has bigotry; in 5 minutes I can be given a name of any culture or country and find bias/bigotry/hatred/etc in its past and present. This does not condone what happened in America, but rather illuminates that the issue is not so simple and does not justify condemning America as the worst country in history.

On the other hand, there is a reason DEI peaked and began to fade in the past few years in corporate America. DEI in its form was not inherently directly adding profits to companies. It was an expensive diversion that had poor data at best to support its implementation. Fear of being anti-DEI likely forced widespread public endorsement of DEI initially.

For various reasons, it persisted in military and medical culture. These 2 professions should rely on merit. The stakes are just too high and DEI cannot allow selections and promotions based on forced percentages. Minorities need to be better represented in senior levels in the military and medicine, but it needs to happen the right way (indirectly).

Think about the NBA – imagine if NBA teams’ rosters “looked” like their cities. That would mean at most each team would be allowed 2 black players. While comical, it is a serious number. The reality is that the NBA (and the NFL) are not diverse at all. They are merit based and the racial makeup reflects who is the best athlete at any given date since sports were integrated. Even better, they are inclusive in their recruiting as teams want the biggest pool of athletes to draw from for their teams, regardless of race. In the military, minorities need to be better recruited with more competitive scores and encouraged to select a combat arms job to later produce more minority generals. Similarly, to improve diversity in medicine, investment and mentorship in STEM in schools are essential to spark interest in minorities who have the interest and MCAT scores to secure spots in medical schools. Both sides of DEI need patience and cooperation to make this happen as the proper remedy takes years to enact.

The result

Groupthink reigns on either side of DEI. Supporters and opponents use memes, cherry pick examples to validate their biases, and talk past each other at nearly every level. Adding to the problem, media/social media organizations fan the flames by feeding their supporters an endless supply of ideology to validate their biases.

Racial and political tensions are predictably rising again. Simultaneously, there is no public and rational solution from either side to improve minority standing.

Stephan A Smith was right to call out President Trump and SECDEF Hegseth for taking down Jackie Robinson’s bio. Smith was right, but even he cherry picks facts. He called Hegseth a DEI hire (white man with little/no policy experience). Interestingly, Smith omitted to mention the prior SECDEF (Retired GEN Lloyd Austin). Austin was a failed general at every command level who presided over multiple losing wars before being SECDEF, was the poster child of the military industrial complex (well-paid Raytheon executive), and was one of the worst SECDEFs in American history (COVID, wars, readiness, obesity, recruiting failures, DEI, etc). Why was he (a black man) selected at exactly that moment in history?

Smith was right to call for a ‘summit’ of the two sides – ie a sit down with Trump to explain his actions. It is refreshing that he is willing and able to publicly criticize his own party from time to time. More of this is needed from both sides. Neither side has it right. Both need to be more humble and more honest. There has been mostly silence from DEI opponents over missteps at the Pentagon where black heroes were expunged from the DoD websites.

Compromise is a dirty word but the only one that will bring lasting change and allow America to move on to a better future. Trump’s administration is still in the first 100 days. It still has time to fix its anti-DEI optics and policy. It should quickly and thoroughly apologize for mistakes made and clarify its intentions.

Similarly, DEI proponents still have the chance to help America succeed and not just on principle pursue antagonistic, partisan policy. They should admit DEI in its form was wrong and unpopular and bad for business and work with DEI opponents to find better solutions to achieve the desired end state.

Neither extreme is good for the military or the country.