When it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion, President Donald Trump and his minions have it exactly backward. DEI actually enhances the chances of finding the best and the brightest. They know this but they don’t care. When it comes to hiring or firing, talent matters little. It’s loyalty that counts.

The Trump administration repeatedly, and inaccurately, contrasts DEI programs with the hiring of the smartest and most talented people. Instead of hiring according to some woke racial formula, they argue, employers should simply hire those who are most qualified. In fact, most DEI programs increase the chances that the best person will be hired. But then, Trump’s attacks are not really driven by a concern to hire the best and the brightest.

The reason why most DEI programs increase the meritocratic nature of hiring is quite simple. Most DEI programs call for increasing the pool of candidates that will be considered to include members of groups not traditionally considered for particular positions. So the pool of qualified candidates is expanded, increasing the likelihood of hiring the best talent. Take the Rooney Rule in the National Football League.

Adopted in 2003, this rule requires NFL teams to interview at least one minority or female candidate for various jobs within their organizations. It does not require the hiring of any particular group member. The goal was to increase the number of minority and female employees, not by a numerical mandate but rather by increasing the pool of people that would be considered and, therefore, increasing the chances that the best person would be identified. There is some debate over how effective the rule has been. But the number of minority head coaches in the NFL has increased from three before the Rooney rule to nine before the 2024 season. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated in February: “We got into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing to do for the National Football League and we’re going to continue those efforts because … it does make the NFL better … There are no quotas in our system. This is about opening that funnel and bringing the best talent into the NFL.”

But it’s not just in the NFL where DEI helps. In its 2023 report “Diversity Matters Even More: The Case for Holistic Impact,” the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company concluded, “Despite a rapidly changing business landscape, the business case for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) not only holds, but grows even stronger.” The report concluded that firms with more diverse workforces and boards outperform their peers in their financial operations including profitability, employee well-being and a variety of environmental and social measures.

DEI programs are controversial. Perhaps some should be abolished. But sweeping mandates to eliminate all DEI programs would undercut efforts to increase fairness and, perhaps more importantly, deny organizations the opportunity to hire the best and the brightest. But talent is not Trump’s concern.

The administration’s attack on DEI is simply one tactic in its effort to eliminate its “enemies” in the “deep state” and replace them with loyalists. It is part of a pattern reflected by the firing of Department of Justice attorneys, FBI agents, inspectors general at several agencies, heads of several independent and watchdog agencies (e.g., Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Government Ethics, Office of Special Counsel, Merit Systems Protection Board) and more. The stunning lack of qualifications of so many cabinet appointments should dispel any notion that talent is any concern of Trump and that loyalty trumps all.

There is resistance, but it is unclear how effective it can be. Congress can and occasionally does push back. Federal employee unions are going to court and many individual civil servants are taking legal action. But Trump knows part of what he is attempting by executive order is illegal. He claims the law is often wrong and that he will win when judges declare unconstitutional laws he does not like. He won’t win all his cases. But he might win some and damage can be done with even just a few victories. No doubt, he is counting on the Supreme Court should any cases make it that far.

So DEI at least in the federal government is currently dead. But not because of any real interest in hiring the best and the brightest. We are in for some contentious times.

Gregory D. Squires is a research professor and professor emeritus in the Department of Sociology at George Washington University. He served as the co-chair of the university’s first President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion which in 2011 produced the report “Diversity: A Key to Academic Excellence.”