Fight against DEI dominates start of Trump's second term

Companies rushed to place chief diversity officers into the C-suite after the 2020 killing of George Floyd

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based on their disabilities, based on their skin color, their gender, their race. None of that matters," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday.

Trump hasn't provided evidence for his suggestion that DEI programs in the military or the Federal Aviation Administration are to blame for Wednesday's crash, which was the deadliest aviation disaster in the U.S. in more than two decades.

Trump often goes on the offensive during times of crisis and looks to assign blame, according to people who know him. This time, he pointed the finger at prominent Democrats, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "We put safety first," Buttigieg wrote on X of his time leading the department.

Other influential anti-DEI advocates advising Trump include deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who as head of the conservative group America First Legal filed lawsuits against companies over diversity initiatives. Harmeet Dhillon, Trump's nominee as assistant attorney general for civil rights, has a history of "suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers," Trump said in announcing the nomination.

Battle lines are being drawn over some of his actions.