The most consequential Presidential Executive Order for American higher education may be the one signed the day after Trump’s inauguration titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit Based Opportunity.” While similar to the directive the day before called “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences,” the January 21 Order is more broad, more focused on restoring an ethic of individual character and competence, and, critically, requires federal contractors to certify compliance with DEI bans. This should mean that a school administrator can be held accountable if schools flout Trump’s anti-DEI policies to quietly continue identity politics business as usual. Looks like Trump’s team won’t stand for that.
The Order’s first section on Purpose explains:
“Illegal DEI… policies violate the text and spirit of our long-standing federal civil rights laws… and also undermine our national unity as they deny, discredit, and undermine American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoiled system. Hard-working Americans who deserve a shot at the American dream should not be stigmatized or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.
The second section then states:
“It is the policy of the United States to protect the civil rights of all Americans and to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work. I therefore order all executive departments and agencies to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements.
The Order also directs agencies to combat DEI discrimination in the private sector.
Section three rescinds multiple executive orders promoting identity politics and “diversity” from prior administrations, including one from 1965, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, authorizing affirmative action. Other revoked policies date from the Clinton, Obama, and Biden years. […]
— Read More: amgreatness.com
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
