The Daily Fuckup

The Trump administration’s anti-DEI push moved from presidential order to personnel action on Jan. 21, when the Office of Personnel Management told agencies to begin closing DEIA offices and place employees in those offices on paid administrative leave by 5 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Jan. 22. The memo said agencies were acting in response to President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 order ending federal DEI programs and his Jan. 21 order on merit-based opportunity. ([whitehouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/))

Trump’s Jan. 20 order told the Office of Management and Budget, working with the Justice Department and OPM, to coordinate the termination of discriminatory DEI and DEIA programs, policies, preferences and activities across the federal government. It also directed agencies, within 60 days, to end DEI and DEIA offices and positions to the maximum extent allowed by law, along with equity action plans, equity-related grants or contracts, and DEI performance requirements. ([whitehouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/))

The OPM memo went further on implementation. It told agencies to send a closure notice to employees, take down outward-facing media tied to DEIA offices, withdraw final or pending DEIA documents and plans, and cancel DEIA-related training and contracts. It also set a Jan. 23 deadline to report back to OPM on steps taken and a Jan. 31 deadline to submit written reduction-in-force plans for employees who work in DEIA offices. ([opm.gov](https://www.opm.gov/media/e1zj1p0m/opm-memo-re-initial-guidance-regarding-deia-executive-orders-1-21-2025-final.pdf))

The result is a fast, paper-trail-heavy rollback of federal DEIA infrastructure, but not an instant across-the-board shutdown of every related office. The memo lays out a staggered process: paid leave first, reporting next, and workforce-cut plans after that. ([opm.gov](https://www.opm.gov/media/e1zj1p0m/opm-memo-re-initial-guidance-regarding-deia-executive-orders-1-21-2025-final.pdf))