Prairie State Wire

Jeanne Ives, a former state legislator and founder of Breakthrough Ideas, has commented on the recent termination of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. According to Ives, President Trump is being blamed for the cessation of these initiatives because corporate and institutional leaders lacked the courage to eliminate them independently.

"Exactly Right," said Jeanne M Ives. "The corporate and academic elites didn't have the courage to get rid of DEI on their own, so they blame Trump. 250 years ago, these people would have never fought for the Republic that now affords them luxurious lives and freedom."

On January 20, President Donald J. Trump issued an order ending DEI programs within the U.S. government. He labeled these initiatives as "radical and wasteful." The order revoked a directive from the Biden administration that required federal agencies to report on their DEI efforts. It also instructed agency heads to terminate DEI programs and submit detailed lists of DEI, diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility (DEIA), and environmental justice positions, activities, and budgets to the Office of Management and Budget. These lists were also to include federal grantees receiving funding for such programs and contractors providing DEI training or materials.

Screenshot of Jeanne Ives' June 9 post on X | X

As of April 11, 2025, several corporations along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have announced the end of their DEI efforts. According to Forbes, some companies cited a changing external landscape as a reason for their decisions. Among them is John Deere, which announced in July 2024 that it would no longer support events like Pride parades or include socially motivated messaging in company documents. Harley-Davidson ended its DEI programming in April 2024 and said it did not use diversity quotas. Lowe’s informed employees it would stop reporting to the Human Rights Campaign and participating in Pride events. Walmart abandoned DEI initiatives in November 2024 while Target ended its DEI efforts by pulling back on Pride merchandise and discontinuing racial hiring targets in January 2025.

According to Ives, she shared a column from Jonathan Turley focusing on executives and universities who he claimed lacked the courage to end DEI programs before President Trump's order. Turley said that these entities are using excuses such as "Trump Did It," or "TDI." Schools closing their DEI offices are not challenging the administration's policies but are instead using his actions as an explanation for those closures.

Jeanne Ives previously served six years representing Illinois House District 42 as a State Representative. She ran for governor in 2018 and sought election to represent Illinois’ 6th Congressional District in 2020.