Below is my column in The Hill on a new emerging mantra from businesses and universities seeking to roll back on DEI and other programs: Trump Did It. The TDI defense is allowing executives and administrators to do what they lacked the courage to do for years.
Here is the column:
“Trump made me do it.”
Across the country, this is a virtual mantra being mouthed everywhere from businesses to higher education. Corporations are eliminating woke programs. Why? Trump did it. Universities are eliminating DEI offices and cracking down on campus extremism. Trump did it. Democratic politicians are abandoning far-left policies. Trump did it.
For those who lack both courage or conviction, the claim of coercion is often the next best thing. The “TDI defense” is born.
Of course, they did not invent Trump, but they needed him. For years, schools like Harvard and Columbia ignored warnings about the rising antisemitism on campuses. They refused to punish students engaged in criminal conduct, including occupying and trashing buildings. These administrators did not want to risk being tagged by the far-left mob for taking meaningful action.
Then the election occurred, and suddenly they were able to blame Trump for doing what they should have been doing all along.
Administrators are now cracking down on extreme elements on campuses.
At the same time, hundreds of schools are closing DEI offices around the country. Again, most are not challenging the Trump administration’s orders on DEI or seeking to adopt more limited responses. They are all in with the move, while professing that they have little choice.
In other words, schools are increasingly turning to TDI to end DEI.
The legal landscape has changed with an administration committed to opposing many DEI programs as discriminatory and unlawful. However, it is the speed and general lack of resistance that is so notable. In most cases, the Trump administration did not have to ask twice. Trump seemed to “have them at hello,” as if they were longing for a reason to reverse these trends.
Many will continue to fight this fight surreptitiously. For example, shortly before the Trump election, the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted to ban DEI and focus on “institutional neutrality.” Yet, even Administrators emboldened by the TDI defense are finding resistance in their ranks. For exsmple, UNC Asheville Dean of Students Megan Pugh was caught on videotape, saying that eliminating these offices means nothing: “I mean we probably still do anyway… but you gotta keep it quiet.” She added, “I love breaking rules.”
The Board, perhaps not feeling the same thrill, reportedly responded by firing her.
The same pattern is playing out in businesses. Over the last few weeks, companies ranging from Amazon to IBM have removed references to DEI programs or policies. Bank of America explained, “We evaluate and adjust our programs in light of new laws, court decisions, and, more recently, executive orders from the new administration.”
Once established, these DEI offices tended to expand as an irresistible force within their institutions and companies. Full-time diversity experts demanded additional hirings and policies on hiring, promotion, and public campaigns. Since these experts were tasked with finding areas for “reform,” their proposals were treated as extensions of that mandate. To oppose the reforms was to oppose the cause.
While some executives and administrators supported such efforts, others simply lacked the courage to oppose them. No one wanted to be accused of being opposed to “equity” or being racist, sexist, or homophobic. The results were continually expanding programs impacting every level of businesses and institutions.
Then Trump showed up. Suddenly, these executives and administrators had an excuse to reverse this trend. They could also rely on court decisions that have undermined long-standing claims of advocates that favoring certain groups at the expense of others was entirely lawful.
This week, the Supreme Court added to these cases with its unanimous ruling in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, to remove impediments to lawsuits by members of majority groups who are discriminated against.
For many years, lower courts have required members of majority groups (white, male, or heterosexual) to shoulder an added burden before they could establish claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In a decision written by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court rejected that additional burden and ordered that everyone must be treated similarly under the law.
Many commentators noted that the ruling further undermined the rationales for disparate treatment based on race or other criteria within DEI.
In other words, more of these programs are likely to be the subject of federal investigations and lawsuits. Of course, if these executives and administrators were truly committed to the programs in principle, they could resolve to fight in the courts. The alternative is just to blame Trump and restore prior policies that enforce federal standards against all discriminatory or preferred treatment given to employees based on race, sex, religion, or other classifications.
Former Vice President Hubert Humphrey once observed that “to err is human. To blame someone else is politics.” That is evident among politicians. For years, many moderate Democrats voted to support far-left agendas during the Biden administration, lacking the courage or principles to oppose the radical wing of the Democratic Party. Now, some are coming forward to say that the party has “lost touch with voters.”
Rather than admit that their years of supporting these policies were wrong, they blame Trump and argue that the party must move toward the center to survive.
The calculus is simple: You never act on principle when you can blame a villain instead. It is not a profile of courage but one of simple convenience. No need for admissions or responsibility — just TDI and done.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Mornin’ everyone! Checking in for my dose of the good professor and I am not disappointed. I do wish there were mention of lovely California Governor Gavin Newsom, who, –when Los Angeles declined to nip the rioting in the bud and instead assured its residents that it would not assist ICE efforts,—essentially said “Trump did It” by calling out the National Guard
“When ICE agents came under attack because they were doing their job, they appealed to local authorities [to] help them and they declined to assist
It is my understanding that ICE originally called local law enforcement to assist with protester control
^^^cont’d quote ^^^^^(sorry, kept toggling back and forth to get quote and accidentally sent!)
remainder of quote:
“….declined to assist. That is both the LAPD and the LA County Sheriff. And the sheriff is one who is responsible for the mutual aid in LA County during times of unrest.” Quote from former LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/former-la-county-sheriff-calls-california-s-riot-response-feckless-on-steroids/vi-AA1GkRMs?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=852e48b8f2394e53a31d04b37d5e2a26&ei=15
Arrest Him (Gov. Newsom) and deport him to El Salvador’s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) to join his Counter-Revolutionary insurgent Buddies. “Arrest Him” He’s asking for it. – JUST DO IT !
He doesn’t know the difference between Americans and Aliens:
Someday from now People will realize that there is no difference between Gavin Newsome and Daniel Ortega Co-Presidents of the Republic of Nicaragua.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-presidents_of_Nicaragua
‘Arrest me’: Gov. Gavin Newsom pushes back against threats of arrest by Trump administration
In an exclusive interview with NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff, California Governor Gavin Newsom said that President Trump “has created the conditions” surrounding the Los Angeles protests. The governor went on to call Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard “a manufactured crisis,” then addressed White House border czar Tom Homan’s threats of arrest. “Tom, arrest me. Let’s go,” Newsom said.
By: Jacob Soboroff – MSNBC ~ June 8th 2025
Newsom is a coward and grifter. He knows the repubs won’t shoot him in the head as the insurance CEO was by Luigi a far left radical. He stays to get more high speed rail money. Fence sitter of a kind. IMO
After the election that Trump won, you could almost hear the collective sigh of CEOs that they now could ditch the useless DEI crap from their companies. The good professor has it absolutely right; companies and colleges needed an excuse to ditch these do nothing for the betterment of corporate or college culture, useless programs, no value added divisions. They were too afraid to do it on their own in fear of the woke leftist mob. That mob is now losing their power more and more. We can all see it like a dying animal that fights their own demise.
How marvelous!
I also take a degree of delight that thousands if not millions of woke leftists who put their futures on the line by getting useless DEI degrees are now finding themselves as career baristas. Go woke, go broke!
How marvelous!
Upstate: No, they could avoid “putting their futures on the line” by just stating on their resumes that they worked with DEI because they mistakenly thought DEI stood for Developing and Evolving Intelligence.
Lin,
Good one!
DEI has nothing to do with intelligence at all!
AND universities are feeling the glow and hope of deleting remedial math. They’re probably giddy saying, can it be true?
Really. The modern left is repugnant to its core, look no further than Los Angeles. Not one single dem representative has the spine to do the right thing. Not. One.
Anyone thinking there is any such thing as a ‘moderate dem’ in 2025 is whistling in the dark; the levels of self-delusion are just remarkable. They ALL crossed a Rubicon these last five years, and there won’t be any walking it back at this point, the party is beyond redemption. These people are not the ‘educated’ or wise, just the coddled or insulated by privilege, and literally driven mad by ideological hatred.
The thing that is really amazing is that somehow these bubbles of privilege are still intact enough for the left’s constituency they can so comfortably lie to themselves while the rest of the country is torn asunder by their insanity. That speaks to the power of our Republic, but it won’t hold forever unless we continue to reject anything associated with what the modern left have become.
I simply don’t believe them when they say they want to ‘move to the center’. That is just more self-serving dishonesty, the preservation of their own status quo is quite literally their only concern.
‘Classical liberals’: find your spines and do what is right because it is the right thing to do. That is all the qualification necessary, and yet something so simple is beyond the grasp of these cowards.
James,
I look at the disaster in LA and other cities as a good thing. Not for the LEOs who are trying to do their jobs and carry out lawful orders, protect society from all those violent criminal illegals that Biden let in. It puts on full display of how lawless the Democrat party has become. They think they are displaying they are fighting . . . something. Really they are showing the nation how not only lawless they are, but how the are the ones who are prone to violence to get what they want. The only people they are appeasing to are the far leftists. The rest of the country, to include moderate and traditional Democrats, see the defense of violent criminal illegals as wrong and the riots as wrong. These modern leftist Democrats will be written as on the wrong side of history.
Get this, ABC news anchor said, “could turn very volatile if you move law enforcement in there in the wrong way and turn what is just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn into massive confrontation, altercation between officers and demonstrators.”
Bunch of people having fun watching cars burn! HA!
MSM is trying to fool the American people that the LA riots, with all the cars burning, the looting, attacking LEOs, destruction of property, as “peaceful.” HA!
This is the face of the modern, violent, lawless Democrat party for you!
If any issue has been ruled on by the courts, especially up to the U.S. Supreme Court – that issue is NOT DEI. From gun rights to marriage rights. In 1919, women’s voting rights would have been viewed as DEI.
For example: the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that everyone has equal marriage rights – from interracial couples to LGBTQ+ couples. The court also ruled these groups have equal rights to adopt children.
Whatever DEI is, if not these things the very Conservative U.S. Supreme Court has ruled upon. Unlike Bumper Sticker Patriots, the U.S. Supreme Court rules on facts and evidence. Nobody can define what DEI really is!
“Nobody can define what DEI really is!”
If that’s true (which it isn’t), then how do you know this? —
“. . . women’s voting rights would have been viewed as DEI.”
Did Not Earn It
Or Discrimination, Exclusion, Inequity. When the courts started ruling against Affirmative Action – here comes DEI. Reverse racism no matter how you spin it.
SCOTUS got rid of affirmative action … overwhelmingly … again and again.
Probably because Trump wouldn’t stop. TDI – Brilliant…
“Corporations are eliminating woke programs. Why? Trump did it. Universities are eliminating DEI offices and cracking down on campus extremism. Trump did it.” (JT)
From my experience, there are primarily two types of “leaders” in industry and academia. Those who do make an independent judgment, on cultural issues such as affirmative action, multiculturalism, BLM, DEI. But they’re too cowardly to express themselves publicly or to act on that judgment. And the type who defaults on the responsibility of judgment, declaring in effect: Who am I to judge?
I’m not sure which type is worse.
What I do know is what we’re sorely missing: That leadership is independent judgment and action.
P.S. Great piece, JT.
I’ve heard things from the left like “Trump made me do it” or “it’s all Trump’s fault” for years as they unethically rationalize their actions and now we can add the cross partisan rationalization that “Trump did it” to justify a particular action, I think they’re all BS rationalizations. These people want to engage in the actions and they’re rationalizing as they try to shift blame away from themself. Yes they’re all cowards.
Personally I think the problems in our society and culture don’t surround Trump, they are squarely in the actions of the political left and the willful ignorance of their supporters. The core of political left has become pure anti-American. This has been going on for so long that there’s absolutely no excuse for the supporters of the political left not to have openly rebelled against the anti-Americanism that’s taken hold of the lunatic left, this cult is intentionally being enabled and it’s being psychologically rationalized using “the ends justifies the means”.
Cowardice is a defining characteristic of America’s educated classes. But why? On part, because they believe in nothing.
Yeah, we’d be better off as an uneducated country, led by gross oversimplifiers and know-nothings.
@Anonymous
That you are unaware of the irony in your comment speaks for itself.
James,
Awesome!
The know-nothings know what a woman is, knows there are two sexes, not 97 with the rare genetic mutation. They know open borders with millions of invading violent criminal illegals is bad. They know pornography in elementary school libraries is wrong.
The know-nothings have something the overeducated academia do not have: Common sense.
Things like bravery, courage are genetic gifts some are utterly without. If you need bravery and courage then you look for it and identify it. Don’t mistake it for foolhardiness or someone who just likes to fight.
When I was in business and I didn’t won’t to do a particular thing I would blame it on the government Who’s going to check?
In truth, President Trump is attacking the IslamoCommuNazis, the most pernicious, degenerate, depraved Cult ever promoted by the Deep State.
What is an IslamoCommuNazi? IslamoCommuNazis are in favor of certain specific things to readily identify them. They favor, for example:
* Importing massive numbers of criminal illegal aliens
* DEI
* Bogus climate change narrative
* Importing massive number of Muslim extremists
* Normalizing attacks on Christians and Jews
* Destroying Western Civilization and Culture
* Gender confusion and disphoria
* Destruction of family values
* Conversion of all educational institutions into Leftist Indoctrination Entities (“LIEs”)
* Mob violence supporting any of the IslamoCommuNazi planks, described above
* Corrupt judges and politicians that advance any of the IslamoCommuNazi planks, described above
Not surprisingly, the Democrat Party base largely consists of IslamoCommuNazis. The media Presstitutes are also critical leaders in the promotion of the IslamoCommuNazis.
Like cancer and dangerous viruses, they attack human decency and integrity wherever they find it.
You do not usually find great leaders in the faculty lounge or the Board Room, or comment columns . You find people who have “climbed the ladder”, “played by the rules”, “keep your head done” and such to get to positions of power. Once they have risen it’s virtually impossible to break that mold and suddenly move out of the group, and lead.
Leadership requires a sense of purpose, a guiding idea, a willingness to take risks, an ability to stand out and not be afraid of the consequences. You don’t find those type of people on just any street corner.
That’s why, in wars, you often have to clear the peacetime military of the peacetime officers who often played it safe and go to the warriors who lead. They often do not do well in peace but they are essential in war.
And American Politics is a full contact sport, sometimes like a low grade war. Love him or hate him, Trump fights and leads and literally breaks open the path which is easier for those who will follow on. Usually the people know the way they should go but they still need the leaders who will say “follow me”.
Taking a bullet that was millimeters from taking him to eternity and standing up to fight, blood and all, is a difficult image to erase and it screams leadership from the front.
Everybody else tends to pale in comparison.
GEB
Excellent comment!
GEB,
Great comment and well said.
I knew of those you speak of while in the Marines. I had a SNCO who could cite rules and regulations but could not lead his way out of a paper bag.
There’s no such thing as a “moderate Democrat.” The Democrat party specifically purged anybody opposed to murdering babies in the womb. Democrats are far-left communists. Anybody pretending otherwise is either stupid or delusional.
How many Dems do you talk to? “They’re all the same to me” suggests the answer. In reality, the “activist” lefty zealots only comprise about 20% of those who vote Dem. The moderate pragmatists get zero media coverage. It’s a spectrum — anybody pretending there’s no daylight among Dems is aloof and low-info.
Moderate Democrats have not been purged, they’ve literally become enablers of the extreme lunatic pure anti-American left and their rationalization for doing this is “the ends justify the means”. Their unachievable end goal is the psychological delusion of universal utopia.
You’re not paying attention. The moderate, pragmatist Dems are determined to take back the party from the whackos. It’s hard to predict when a tipping point will occur. Otherwise, the Party is over.
An Unobservant Person Wrote, “The moderate, pragmatist Dems are determined to take back the party from the whackos.”
Determined? BALDERDASH!
Mouthing words to that effect do absolutely nothing. I personally know lots and lots of self proclaimed moderate Democrats that spout the same virtue signaling nonsense but they absolutely refuse to put any action whatsoever behind their feckless words, in fact they continue to rationalize supporting and voting for anti-Americans. Every one of them are enablers.
Your words are nothing but twaddle.
Steve,
My sister is a traditional Democrat. So are many of her friends. Her and most of Democrat friends do not agree with a lot of this woke far leftist nonsense. But she has had a few of the far leftist Democrats tell her, her thinking was “wrong.” As in, she was not woke of far leftist enough. She did write to the DNC and the then Biden campaign telling them she would vote for someone else if they did not change and get off the woke wagon.
However, for the most part, she is pretty un-informed and oblivious to actual news as she only reads MSM. She did not know who Laken Riley was or what happened to her. Or that trans boy who rape a girl and the school board tried to cover it up.
UpstateFarmer wrote, “She did write to the DNC and the then Biden campaign telling them she would vote for someone else if they did not change and get off the woke wagon.”
Words are words and actions are actions, they are not equivalent. Democrats refuse to vote for anyone that doesn’t have a “D” after the name, period, end of critical thinking.
This post hits the nail on the head.
Good job Jonathan!
It is a problem of self-government that we are stuck with. Politicians, CEOs, boards, faculties try to keep up with the ping-pong nature of public opinion. We blame them, yet the fault lies at our own doors. They blame Trump, we blame them, when the fault lies with the capricious, shallow, brainless public, that will be in favor of who knows what thing until they are against it. How tiresome it must be to have to shift your policies over and over, trying to guess what the next mood swing will be. It is nothing new. Of what use is it for a politician to take a “principled stand” if it means he’ll be cast out of office at the next opportunity? This is why the autocracies hate to deal with the democratic nations. Just when they think they’ve got it figured out, the whole thing turns on its head. Now the Left has its own ‘bitter clingers’.
The dictators Xi, Putin, Khameini, Maduro, Lukashenko are now in a precarious position. China watchers are saying that pragmatist forces in the CCP are forcing Xi to retire in August for gross mismanagement, cronyism and cult-building. Forces within the Kremlin are plotting to phase out Putin for wagering Russia’s future on a lost cause in Ukraine. The fall of Assad shocked all these overlords. Their propaganda machines and images of strength are all they have, and their disconnect from the priorities of ordinary people are reaching a tipping point. The number of small and medium businesses recently closing in Russia and China is staggering, at least 25%. It’s their version of the Great Depression, and all brought on by the world fighting back against their dictator’s bellicose, militant foreign policy. If just one more dictator is deposed, it could cause a tipping point globally for all the rest.
Of course Trump would immediately shift from “Putin (Xi) is my friend, we get along well” to “Their downfall began when I got elected”, disrespectful of the unflinching courage of leaders like Navalny, Zelinskyy and Li Riuyuan.
Ya
So we have $2 Trillion of unpaid student loans and $100’s of billion being given to universities, Over $30 Trillion WAS PRINTED to rescue Wall Street, Trillions go to failed Democrats cities, colleges, non-profits and states…. STOP giving BAD people MONEY!
Let’s bring back capitalism
Where we STOP supporting Democrat failure!
END Federal Aid to cities, states, non-profits, colleges/students
Ban Public Unions
Then you would see the CRAZIES destroyed
Democrats USE the mantle of doing good…and the shield of taxpayer money….to DO THEIR EVIL!
If you remove the money….their anti-USA efforts and STEALING STOP!
e.g. NY was rescued by Republicans and while democrats and their public steal as fast as they can!
Also the repeated rescues of Wall Street are eating Main Street a alive
We need a 4% tax on GROSS of all wall street trades or moving money offshore.
Make it about investing, not money spinning!
Turley must have chomped down on some “special” gummies this morning. Of course, Trump did it. He’s bullied Universities and businesses with punishment if they did not comply with his mandates. I didn’t consider Turley a fool, but this morning’s column proves it.
Weirdly enough, Turley complains about the lack of inclusivity only when conservatives are involved. For example, he gripes and moans about the lack of viewpoint diversity in universities because there are no conservatives in the schools or that they have been “purged”. The sad thing is he could have argued for more conservative views or ideas by invoking DEI. But no, that would run counter to Turley’s narrative.
Turley begs for DEI-like policies in universities so conservatives or libertatians have an equal say on their ideas and points of view. How ironic. Trump beating businesses and even private universities into discarding DEI because he thinks it’s bad runs counter to even libertarian philosophy.
Trump did it. Of course he did. Turley cheered it on and even supports the heavy handed approach Trump took to bullying DEI out of businesses and private schools by lying about it and demonizing it as something it’s not.
You have never provided a comment that wasn’t mired by your feeble mind.
Feeble minds revert to insults when they can’t refute or rebut.
Did you open up your feeble mind this morning by insulting Turley and Trump? Are you having some trouble refuting or rebutting on substance. Maybe you should “chomp down” on your fingers to keep them off the keyboard for awhile and instead watch some TV commercials to find the pharmaceutical remedy that fits your ailment.
Of course, DEI first establishes, then legitimizes, and finally institutionalizes incompetency. Thanks for the generous helping of vitriol highlighting this.
The word “diversity” in DEI does NOT mean diversity of political philosophy. All these words concatenated into a mnemonic slogan like “DEI” are euphemisms:
Diversity: anti-white, anti-straight, anti-male discrimination to “level the playing field”
Equity: same
Inclusion: same
You mean when theft is just an economic system? When rape is just reproduction? When voting is just paper disposal?
“Diversity” in DEI means diversity of anything. Idiots too invested in political tribalism don’t get it and never will. It’s too complicated and they are embarrassed to admit that they don’t understand so they revert to the easiest thing to do, attack it out of ignorance.
5 years ,George.
This is a truly sad commentary on the leadership of our institutions: schools, businesses, and other organizations. We expect leaders to persons of character and integrity, not spineless wimps. If DEI was wrong (which it was) how could they have succumbed to it? Likewise, if it had been the right thing to do, how could they cave so quickly?
Hope? The reason for caving so quickly, hope?
This may be a first in American history. As a form of evolution, Trump has moved from existential threat to existential hope and/or existential salvation. Historians will be writing about the “Trump effect” for generations.
For that kind of legacy, Trump needs to get his executive actions passed into real laws. Unless the laws that gave rise to these social failures are changed, the next president will simply do to Trump’s work what Trump is (thankfully) doing to Biden’s.
MAGA has TDS.
MAGA has common sense.
Woke leftists have TDS.
The question then is whether, those executives and administrators fully support Trump in other ways for his integrity and courage.