What The Hell America!

Trump has called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs “immoral” and “illegal.” 

In his first week in office, Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting DEI programs in public and private sectors. In short, these orders directed agencies to:

• Terminate all DEI offices, positions and programs in the federal government.
• Terminate DEI-related grants and contracts.
• Repeal all previous executive orders designed to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace, including efforts to prevent age, gender and disability discrimination.
• Challenge DEI-related programs of publicly traded corporations, nonprofits and philanthropic foundations by threatening legal action.

The administration has created a culture of fear. Officials have encouraged employees to report any colleagues who defy these orders and have even threatened “adverse consequences” if there’s resistance. 

A federal appeals court in March allowed the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI to proceed after a lower court in Maryland had temporarily blocked the enforcement of the executive orders. 

What’s been surprising?

The wide-reaching impact of these orders has been shocking — particularly because there is not a clear definition of  what “DEI” means or what might constitute a “DEI program.” Some worry this means anything could be considered DEI. 

And though many of the administration’s anti-DEI efforts were initially bogged down or blocked entirely by the courts, the ripple effect of the executive orders quickly spread to the private sector. 

Many corporations, sensing a shift in political and public opinion, preemptively shifted their approach to DEI goals or scrapped their DEI programs altogether. They include Pepsi, GM, Google, Disney, UnitedHealth Group, Amazon, PayPal, Chipotle, Comcast and Target. 

What could be next?

We expect the executive orders to continue being disrupted by legal challenges as critics argue that they could infringe upon the right to free speech and are an overreach of presidential authority. 

Ultimately, the administration’s attempts to dismantle DEI could hurt years of progress for women, minorities and other marginalized communities. DEI programs were created to help communities that historically faced obstacles to opportunities and were expanded with the 1964 Civil Rights Act — which outlawed employment discrimination based on race, religion, sex, color and national origin.

Education

Nadra Nittle | education reporter

What stands out to you so far? 

Trump has quickly moved to slash the Education Department and target K-12 schools and higher learning institutions that he sees as defying orders aimed at canceling out DEI programs and recognizing trans students. 

He has threatened to revoke federal funding from a number of elite universities where, he says, antisemitic and anti-American protests have gone unchecked. Some universities, notably Columbia, have agreed to Trump’s demands in the face of canceled grants, while others, like Harvard, have refused and even sued the Trump administration.  

Trump has also vowed to revoke federal funding from public K-12 schools across the country unless education officials scrap policies that conflict with his anti-DEI executive orders. 

The Trump administration announced that it would revert back to the Title IX guidelines from the president’s first term, a version that excludes LGBTQ+ people from protections and imposes restrictions on what constitutes sexual misconduct at schools.  

What’s been surprising?

Trump vowed to eliminate the Department of Education while campaigning for president, but his executive order calling for the education secretary to explore ways to disband it lawfully still came as a surprise. 

Some education leaders had believed that Trump would cave to public pressure and hold off on targeting the department. 

What could be next? 

The Trump administration already faces lawsuits over a number of its executive orders. Expect more litigation and education cases headed to the Supreme Court. 

The Department of Education works to ensure that all students have equal access to education and administers funding for college financial aid. It remains to be seen how the department can continue to serve the public after losing so many employees. We could see a very different Department of Education, with other agencies taking on its core duties — if the Trump administration gets its way.

Abortion and reproductive rights

Shefali Luthra | Reproductive health reporter

What stands out to you so far? 

Trump hasn’t really said much about abortion so far, beyond a pre-taped speech at January’s anti-abortion March for Life.

But any time his administration has had a chance to take a stance opposing reproductive rights and abortion, it has:

• The Department of Justice abandoned a case arguing that federal law protects abortion rights in medical emergencies.
• It also argued that Planned Parenthood should get the boot from state Medicaid programs. 
• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has withheld money from Planned Parenthood and other organizations that were helping people get contraception. 
• And HHS has stopped research into reproductive health policy, including a grant meant to study the long-term health implications of the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

What’s been surprising?

Despite its big role in the 2024 campaign, abortion has taken a back seat since Trump’s inauguration. 

The administration has undone Biden policies that protected abortion access, but it hasn’t yet added any more restrictions. And more surprisingly, influential anti-abortion groups are scaling back their own ambitions — suggesting a national ban may be difficult to achieve. 

What could be next?

We’re following a few big cases. 

Two involve a New York-based doctor who allegedly mailed abortion medications to patients in Texas and Louisiana. These cases are testing New York’s “shield law,” which is meant to protect health care providers who send abortion medication to people in states with bans. Attorney General Pam Bondi has suggested the federal government may get involved.

Another, filed in a Texas-based federal court concerns the legal availability of mifepristone, one of the drugs used in such abortions. The Justice Department is considering whether to stop defending access to the drug. Abortion opponents hope that case could be used to enact nationwide restrictions on how the drug is prescribed and how people receive abortions.

Health

Barbara Rodriguez | Interim health & caregiving reporter

What stands out to you so far?

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is undergoing massive changes. He announced plans to slash the health agency’s workforce by 20,000 employees between layoffs and early retirement offers, and consolidate 28 divisions down to 15, saying HHS has some redundant functions.

The cuts are beginning to reach everyday Americans. At the Food and Drug Administration, which is overseen by HHS, some milk quality testing is reportedly being suspended. 

At the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, key caseworkers who help people with health insurance enrollment, including under the Affordable Care Act, have reportedly been laid off.  

What’s been surprising?

Kennedy has staked part of his political ascension on a mission to “Make America Health Again.” But among the cuts are teams researching pressing health questions — including, reportedly, ones examining lead exposure among children, maternal and child health programs and programs that address chronic disease. Kennedy claims some of these services will have new oversight and some cuts have been a mistake.

Major reductions at the National Institutes of Health, a key agency under HHS for medical research, has already been hit by cuts to research grants that fund studies on women’s health and queer people. The scope of the cuts have reached universities and other research centers studying many aspects of Americans’ health — the sort of long-term investments that are aimed at helping people live healthier lives.

What could be next?

Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has also been under a microscope for his response to a measles outbreak that started in Texas and has stretched into hundreds of cases in at least 25 states as of mid-April. Kennedy says the decision to vaccinate “is a personal one” for parents — a framing that worries infectious disease experts who say it doesn’t take into account how contagious measles is and could contribute to more cases.

There are also now multiple media reports that the White House supports even more cuts at HHS, to the tune of $40 billion — about one-third of its discretionary budget. 

I’m wondering: How many more measles cases will we see this year? What will these budget cuts ultimately look like? And will members of Congress go along with them? How will the budget cuts impact people who rely on the slashed programs?

Military

Mariel Padilla | reporter

What stands out to you so far?

In his first full day on the job, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon would comply with Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI programs “immediately” and with “no exceptions, name-changes or delays.” Hegseth also later said: “I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is, ‘Our diversity is our strength.’” 

The changes to the nation’s largest department have been swift and sweeping:

• Gen. CQ Brown Jr., the second Black man to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was abruptly fired. He publicly supported the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. 
• Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Adm. Linda Fagan— two of the highest-ranking women in the Armed Forces — were ousted. Franchetti was the first woman to lead the Navy and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Fagan led the Coast Guard and was the first woman to lead a branch of the military. 
• Military academies were ordered to eliminate race-conscious admissions and disband some affinity groups centered on ethnicity, gender, race and sexuality.
• The military no longer recognizes commemoration months, such as Black History Month or Women’s History Month. 
• A new department task force was created to promote “merit-based, color-blind policies” to ban race and sex consideration from military promotions. 
• The military flagged more than 26,000 images for removal after the Pentagon ordered all military services to remove any content that highlights or promotes diversity efforts from its websites and social media accounts. The vast majority of the purge targeted women and minority milestones. 
• Hegseth ordered the elimination of lower fitness standards for women in combat roles, and the Army subsequently updated its physical standards test to be “sex-neutral.” 

What’s been surprising?

Hegseth’s statements disparaging women in the military have needed a fact-check. He has insisted that the military has lowered its standards to adhere to gender-based quotas. However, there are no such quotas and the thousands of women currently in combat roles had to meet the exact same requirements as their male counterparts — by law. 

What could be next?

Hegseth has faced a lot of scrutiny after allegedly sharing classified information using the Signal messaging app on his personal smartphone instead of using more secure communication channels. There are rumors that these headlines could lead to Hegseth’s replacement, though Trump has publicly defended him. 

Immigration

Mel Leonor Barclay | Politics reporter

What stands out to you so far? 

The Trump administration’s “flood the zone” approach to immigration is what really stands out:

• Trump signed an executive order undercutting birthright citizenship.
• Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law, requiring the detention of any unauthorized immigrant arrested or charged with crimes like shoplifting and burglary with no chance for bond.  
• Trump directed federal agencies to boost immigration enforcement while clawing back federal funding from some nonprofits that serve immigrants, including some that provide legal representation to immigrant minors who entered the country alone. 
• Trump put an end to a program for Venezuelan immigrants fleeing violence and economic catastrophe.
• Trump gutted the civil rights office at the Department of Homeland Security, along with two watchdogs, weakening protections for victims of domestic violence and anti-LGBTQ+ violence. 
• The Trump administration has detained and revoked the visas of international students who protested Israel’s war in Gaza.

What’s been surprising?

Shock and awe has always been part of the Trump playbook, and still I’ve been taken aback by the administration’s Instagramization of its immigration agenda. 

There’s Kristi Noem in full makeup, Utah curls and an ICE baseball cap talking to the camera about having arrested “dirtbags” alongside law enforcement agents. 

There’s the cartoon of a woman in a hairnet crying while being detained by a law enforcement agent — a depiction of an ICE arrest posted to the White House’s official Instagram account. 

What could be next? 

We’re closely watching ongoing lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s executive order undercutting birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court will hear the case next month, opening up the possibility that some babies could be denied citizenship while the case is tied up in court.

We’re also looking out for other ways the administration could make it harder for women or LGBTQ+ immigrants to get authorization to live in the country, including changing visa programs for victims of domestic violence or altering asylum eligibility for people escaping anti-LGBTQ+ violence. 

Economy

Marissa Martinez | Economy reporter

What stands out to you so far? 

Trump came into his second term promising to shake up the economy — and he has. 

While egg prices reached a peak in February and are expected to slowly come back down — which Trump has taken credit for — his attempts to increase American production through tariffs has been chaotic.

On the employment side, Trump has gutted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board, which deal with workplace discrimination and unionization processes, respectively. This leaves fewer resources for women, people of color and LGBTQ+ people who want to take action against workplace biases.

What’s been surprising?

The speed and indelicacy with which the Trump administration imposed tariffs has been incredibly surprising. Instituting, then rescinding, reciprocal tariffs on most of the country’s trading partners based on a simplistic formula goes beyond Trump’s initial promises to bring back domestic manufacturing. 

Now, consumers are worried about affording not just basic goods, but also important household items that could balloon in price over the next few months — everything from baby strollers to coffee. Some have started panic-buying goods ahead of retailers saying they could raise prices soon.

What could be next?

In Congress, Democrats and some Republicans have questioned the constitutionality and legality of Trump’s tariff sweep. It’s unclear what’s next for tariffs, but consumers should expect at least a temporary rise in prices in coming months.

Women make the vast majority of purchases in the United States, and their wallets will be impacted. One way is through the end of an exemption for low-value imports, but all levels of consumerism could be affected by the new tariff rates. This can extend to many American-made goods: think the glass used for California wine bottles, or the technology needed to repair tractors. 

We will have to wait a few months to understand the scope of the impact on American consumers and businesses, particularly if the administration walks back its plans again.