(LifeSiteNews) — The political “vibe shift” inaugurated by Donald Trump’s election continues, with rollbacks of progressive projects proceeding across the country. The pace of these reversals is matched only by the dizzying speech with which DEI and transgender policies descended in the first place; the thing about top-down policy impositions, as I’ve noted before, is that Astroturf can pulled up and discarded with surprising ease. Consider just a few recent examples.
In Montana, Governor Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 215, which amends statue 2-15-108 in order to eliminate this paragraph: “As vacancies occur and appointments are made, all appointing authorities of all appointive boards, commissions, committees, and councils of state government shall take positive action to attain gender balance and proportional representation of minorities resident in Montana to the greatest extent possible.”
In short, Montana’s state government is done with DEI. As state Rep. Caleb Hinkle, one of the bill’s sponsors, noted, the paragraph was “discriminatory and will likely be sued into oblivion anyways, as most DEI policies are right now, if this bill does not pass.” It did; Democrat opposition was muted. Most have resigned themselves to the fact that the fight to defend DEI has been lost.
Indeed, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed an even more expansive bill on May 9 that effectively bans all DEI programs and policies in the state. The “Dismantling DEI Departments Act” nullifies all DEI programs, mandates, or activities in state departments, agencies, colleges, universities, and city and county governments. Democratic lawmakers opposed it; Republican sponsors of the bill stated that DEI is “racist” due to the fact that it is premised on the concept of “equity” rather than “equality.”
The same day, Governor Lee also signed a bill protecting freedom of speech. SB 937 asserts: “Students, teachers, employees, and contractors of public schools and LEAs (Local Education Agency) do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression while at school or work.” The bill specifically prohibits asking “a student, teacher, employee, or contractor of the public school or LEA to provide the individual’s preferred pronouns” or subject them to “an adverse action or disciplinary action for refusing to provide the individual’s preferred pronouns.”
In Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill banning trans-identifying men from invading private female spaces in prisons, including changing rooms, bathrooms, and sleeping areas. “States have a duty to protect the privacy and safety of women and girls,” Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Sara Beth Nolan said. “Letting men intrude into women’s intimate spaces is a denial of the real biological differences between the two sexes and has devastating effects on women.”
“SB 418 ensures that women’s intimate spaces in correctional facilities are protected for women,” Nolan continued. “ADF commends Sen. Julie Daniels, Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, and the Oklahoma Legislature for their leadership on this bill, and Gov. Stitt for signing it into law. In no world should women be forced to sacrifice their privacy and safety to activists pushing gender ideology.”
The “vibe shift” also extends to private corporations. As NPR reported on May 19, “Verizon has become the latest big company to end policies around diversity, equity and inclusion, or ‘DEI,’ in order to keep the U.S. government happy. It seems to have worked: On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission approved Verizon’s $20 billion deal to buy broadband provider Frontier Communications.” The Trump administration is incentivizing the rejection of insane progressive policies, and it is working. T-Mobile started to end its DEI programs in late March, and NPR noted in February that corporations are quietly scrubbing the word “diversity” from their documents and websites.
Much of the progressive insanity that has gripped the private sector over the past decade has been in direct response to the public policy pronouncements of Democratic presidents. The political assault on these progressive projects via executive orders and state-level legislation, as well as pressure from the administration, means that these policies are unlikely to come back once Trump leaves office. Time will tell how much of this “vibe shift” is a temporary backlash, but some of it, at least, is likely to be permanent.
