We explore real-life reformation here in this informed, online community.
Trump just killed federal affirmative action. The new Trump EO goes beyond even no longer mandating affirmative action among contractors. While DEI was required to get government contracts before, now it’s prohibited.
Christopher Caldwell says this is way bigger than people may think:
"Trump’s decision to repeal it is the most significant policy change of this century—more significant than the Affordable Care Act of 2010 or anything done about Covid. How can people be talking about anything else? Yet major news outlets treat Trump’s bold move as a detail of personnel management: “Distress and Fury as Trump Upends Federal Jobs,” headlined The New York Times.
"Somewhere along the line, the Trump administration came to understand in a sophisticated way how the enforcement of civil rights actually works. Not many Americans do—and it’s worth reviewing.
"It was possible to believe at the time of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that a good-faith moral commitment would suffice to remedy the devilish racial antagonism that had beset the country since its founding. That that wouldn’t work became obvious very quickly. Barely a year later, at the start of the summer of 1965, President Johnson argued before a Howard University graduating class that it’s not fair to make a runner “who, for years, has been hobbled by chains” compete with others.
"It sounded generous. But it was dark. Three months later, Johnson would issue Executive Order 11246, realizing that it was possible to remedy a racist system only by favoring the victim race, in doses of remedial racism, or what the British—apparently a more straightforward people than we are—call “reverse racism.”
"This was a course that the public could not tolerate and neither government nor business could avow. A climate of dishonesty was the result. Affirmative action was a big factor—perhaps the biggest—in convincing about half of Americans never to trust anything any person of authority said.
"Ten presidents managed to insulate affirmative action from public accountability. Then it became obvious to the public that changing anything would require dismantling everything."
Mr. Trump loves the "high ratings" of a celebrity and election victories for his legacy. A clean and magnanimous victory over Iran might have provided that. But a two-year quagmire will destroy his legacy, his party, our military and much of the younger generation. And Valerie Jarret will be making policy in 2028.
If the President wanted good "optics" in this imprudent and dangerous war, he would have declared an epic victory immediately after the death of the Ayatollah, pulled American assets home, and arranged the equivalent of a ticker-tape parade for them.
But it has been two full days since the decapitation, and young American bodies are being placed in coffins.
"U.S. missile and air-defense interceptor inventories have been severely drawn down by the relentless pace of recent [Iran] operations, revealing that between defending Israel, Ukraine, and itself, the American military is spread too thin. Replenishing these high-end systems can take over a year, analysts say, because production lines are optimized for peacetime and cannot be surged overnight.
"We know for sure that China is thrilled to see America weakened. They will view Iran as Joe Biden viewed Ukraine: as an opportunity to cripple a global rival (the Russian Federation.) Keep an eye out for headlines about Chinese efforts to prolong this conflict."
-- Tucker Carlson
Maybe, at most, a week long. He expected an immediate regime change and then surrender.
Remember the Sand People? Those primitive Houthis? The US spent $7 billion bombing the Houthis over about 6-7 weeks and failed to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack with missiles.
The problem with Iran is much worse. This week, the US and Israel may burn through the last offensive and defensive munitions, including interceptors. Will Iran surrender at that point, or escalate with their larger arsenal of missiles?
If you are not praying for Pete Hegseth, you should be.
