'All kinds of dumb outcomes' likely from Trump's latest education policy: expert

President Donald Trump required Department of Education employees to attend "diversity training" during his first term. Now, he's suspending them as he seeks to root out Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) from the federal government.

A new piece in Monday's Washington Post reports that Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was fully onboard with the training in 2017 when she wrote, "In building strong teams, embracing diversity and inclusion are key elements for success.”

"Now, in the opening days of Trump’s second term, dozens of employees who attended that diversity program — many during Trump’s first term — have been placed on leave because of it, according to union officials, affected employees and a person with knowledge of how the decisions were made," wrote WaPo reporters Laura Meckler and Hannah Natanson.

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Education officials have been "scrubbing" the agency’s website for words like "diversity, transgender, LGBTQIA and equity," WaPo reported. "On Friday, a directive sent to department employees said the agency would terminate programs, contracts, policies or media that mention transgender or 'fail to affirm the reality of biological sex.'”

Michael Petrilli, with conservative think tank Thomas B. Fordham Institute, called Trump's move, "Kafkaesque" and "Orwellian.”

“It is ridiculous to threaten professionals’ livelihoods because they attended a training. Most of America attended a DEI training in 2020. This policy by keyword search will lead to all kinds of dumb outcomes and, I hope, a real backlash," Petrilli said.

A spokeswoman for the Education Department "defended the decisions to place the employees on leave" as a part of the Trump administration’s review of federal agencies, adding that the administration has "the commitment to prioritize meaningful learning ahead of divisive ideology in schools."

Trump's war on DEI is expected to receive extensive legal pushback, especially after a memo from the Justice Department "indicated that the department would be involved in enforcing" Trump's executive order declaring DEI "illegal."

Read The Washington Post article here.