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US President Donald Trump came to power on an anti-woke platform and he is now leaving no stone unturned to fulfil his promises.
Trump set the tone for the coming days in his Inauguration speech, declaring a crackdown on transgender rights was in the offing. He said that there are two genders and coupled it with the closure of all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes.
“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based. As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female,” said Trump.
Whether in military, educational campuses, or foreign policy, Trump is cracking down on what he calls woke — everything ranging from gender-affirming care, reproductive healthcare, and student activism, to sex education.
Trump’s moves on gender rights
In the first batch of executive orders signed within hours of taking oath as the president, Trump issued an order that could ban transgender persons from serving in the military. Trump labelled it a move against “radical gender ideology”.
“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member,” read Trump’s order.
Trump and his allies have dubbed expenditure on gender-affirming care in and out of military wasteful.
Trump’s order states, “Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service. Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
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View AllTrump’s promises for campuses
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to get rid of American campuses of what he dubbed “wokeness” and “left-wing indoctrination”.
Trump vowed to stop funding “any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children” and said he would “not give one penny” to schools with vaccine or mask mandates.
Trump’s crackdown on protesters, activists
In the name of combating antisemitism in the wake of Hamas-led October 7 attack, Trump has also signed an executive order to deport non-citizen college students participating in pro-Palestinian protests over their support to Hamas and other terrorist groups. While many protesters indeed supported for terrorist groups in several large-scale protests since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War, critics have said that the order could be used to deport all critics of Israel by dubbing all criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza as antisemitism.
The White House has promised “immediate action” to prosecute “terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews” and marshal all federal resources against what it called “the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets” since the Hamas attack, according to a fact sheet.
Trump further said, “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
Foreign aid for ‘woke’ programmes halted
Shortly after taking office, in line with Trump’s policy, Secretary of State Marco Rubio halted all foreign aid to ‘woke’ programmes.
“We are blocking woke programs. And we are exposing activities that run contrary to our national interests. None of this would be possible if these programs remained on autopilot,” said the Department of State in a statement.
The so-called woke programmes that Rubio has defunded include aid for condoms and other contraceptives, climate change programmes, clean energy programmes, family planning programmes, sex education, and abortion programmes.
The State Department said these programmes were being defunded as they “do not make America stronger, safer, or more prosperous”.
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