They're Crushing DEI
And Banking on Our Burnout to not React
On July 15, 2025, Skydance Media pledged to eliminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at Paramount Global as a condition of FCC approval for their $8 billion acquisition¹. The Federal Communications Commission made this unprecedented demand just three months after President Trump signed executive orders targeting DEI across federal agencies². The timing exposes this as ideological coercion, not regulatory oversight.
The Skydance capitulation is part of a systematic assault across American institutions. For example, Florida schools now teach that "slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit"³. Trump ordered the Smithsonian to eliminate exhibits with "divisive, race-centered ideology"⁴. Columbia University agreed to pay $200 million to settle discrimination claims and restore $400 million in frozen federal funding⁵. More than 50 universities face federal investigation for "race-exclusionary practices"⁶. While these actions are broad in their application, they are singular in their intent.
We're witnessing the weaponization of DEI as an easy political target to achieve total institutional control. The administration chose this issue because it's emotionally charged and divides communities, making resistance harder. This isn't about fixing workplace policies—it's about controlling American culture and stripping away our humanity.
And I Say, Oh HELL, No
The term "DEI" has become a political weapon precisely because real people's experiences are involved. That emotional complexity makes DEI the perfect target for authoritarian overreach.
Look, I get it. I have lived it too. Whether you felt attacked by word police or felt harmed by unfortunate word choices that went unchallenged, whether you felt welcomed and want to protect that experience or felt you don't belong and want the doors opened wider, whether you watched promising programs become meaningful change or saw them devolve into bureaucratic theater—we are all part of why this issue is so emotionally charged. Real people's lives, careers, and sense of belonging are at stake.
That's exactly why the government mandate approach is so dangerous. It eliminates the possibility of fostering these complex, painful, important efforts into solutions that we cannot fully comprehend - yet. The messy work of creating fair workplaces, healthy communities, and accurate historical understanding requires space for trial and error, not government mandates eliminating the possibility of institutional approaches to equity. Just ask Elon Musk. He blows up rockets on the regular, yet he hasn't taken that to mean the solution is unattainable.
Skydance executives faced a choice: fight for their employees' workplace protections or protect their $8 billion deal. They chose the money.
When regulatory agencies condition business approvals on eliminating workplace inclusion policies, they've abandoned legitimate oversight for political coercion. Democracy depends on institutions having the autonomy to evolve, learn, and serve their communities without government ideological control.
Here's What They Don't Want Us to Focus On
The Skydance deal reveals the real mechanism: The FCC now conditions business approvals on eliminating inclusion policies. This transforms every federal agency into an ideological enforcement tool. Your company wants a merger approved? Eliminate DEI. Your university wants federal funding? Strip diversity programs. Your museum wants grants? Remove exhibits about racism.
This creates a corporate compliance system where businesses eliminate inclusion policies to avoid government retaliation. Skydance agreed to strip workplace protections because refusing would have killed their $8 billion acquisition. Now every company knows the price of doing business with this administration.
They're building infrastructure to control every institution that shapes American culture without passing a single law. Federal agencies already have leverage over businesses, schools, and cultural institutions through existing regulatory and funding mechanisms. Now they're weaponizing that leverage to eliminate any institutional approach to addressing inequality.
What We Deserve
We deserve companies that make workplace decisions based on what's best for their employees and communities. We deserve regulatory agencies that approve business deals based on legal compliance and public interest.
We deserve cultural institutions that can tell honest stories about American history without government interference. We deserve museums and schools that maintain their independence to educate and inform based on evidence and expertise.
We deserve a society where inclusion efforts can evolve through trial and error, community input, and institutional learning. We deserve space for the messy work of building fairness without government mandates dictating the outcome.
And What We Got
We got Skydance executives who chose their $8 billion deal over their employees' workplace protections. We got regulatory agencies transformed into ideological coercion mechanisms that condition business approvals on political compliance.
We got schools teaching children that enslaved people benefited from bondage while the Smithsonian faces orders to eliminate exhibits with "divisive, race-centered ideology." We got Columbia University paying $200 million to restore federal funding while over 50 universities face investigation for supporting minority students.
We got the systematic elimination of any institutional framework for addressing inequality disguised as "merit-based" policy. We got the rewriting of American culture where every institution must eliminate acknowledgment of discrimination or face government retaliation.
Watch for What's Next
Expect this enforcement mechanism to expand beyond DEI to any institutional approach government disapproves of. Companies will eliminate environmental programs, museums will remove climate exhibits, and schools will strip curricula about democratic participation. This creates infrastructure for total institutional control while maintaining the fiction that organizations make voluntary compliance decisions.
How We Resist: Lessons from History
Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny" teaches us that defending institutions requires active resistance before they're completely captured.
Note that resistance is always guided by Lesson 20: Be as courageous as you can. We are not all positioned to take each of these actions. Consider what you can do given your circumstances. Know that for every action of resistance you engage in, you are also representing those who are not able to stand up due to vulnerability, ability, or means.
Lesson 2: Defend institutions. Government agencies are being weaponized to coerce ideological compliance through regulatory and funding leverage rather than legal authority.
How to resist: Donate to organizations challenging ideological compliance policies. Contact representatives demanding Congressional oversight of agency overreach: (202) 224-3121. Document instances where federal agencies exceed statutory authority by demanding ideological conformity and share this with independent journalists.
Lesson 6: Be wary of paramilitaries. Corporate compliance systems that eliminate workplace protections under government threat create the same institutional capture that paramilitaries achieve through violence—control without legal authority.
How to resist: Support companies that maintain independence. Create alternative support systems for workers whose protections are eliminated. Build community networks that provide inclusion and equity outside captured institutions.
Lesson 10: Believe in truth. The administration claims constitutional authority to eliminate "divisive" programs and "illegal" inclusion efforts, yet provides no legal basis for controlling institutional approaches to equity or historical education.
How to resist: Support investigative journalism that exposes government overreach. Share factual information about what's actually happening with people who don't follow these issues. Donate to organizations defending institutional independence.
The stakes extend far beyond any single workplace policy. When government controls what companies practice, what museums display, and what schools teach, we've abandoned democratic self-governance for authoritarian ideology enforcement. This systematic capture of American institutions represents the most comprehensive assault on institutional independence in modern history. The administration is banking on our burnout—that we'll get tired of fighting every battle and let institutional capture proceed quietly. They're wrong.
Behind each analysis: reading primary sources to cut through the noise.
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Sources
McKinnon, S. K. (2025, July 22). Letters to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr regarding Skydance Media acquisition of Paramount Global. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved from https://www.fcc.gov/
Trump, D. J. (2025, January 21). Executive Order 14151: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing. Federal Register, 90 FR 8339.
Florida Department of Education. (2023, July). 2023 Social Studies Standards: African American History. Florida Department of Education.
Trump, D. J. (2025, March 28). Executive Order 14187: Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. Federal Register, 90 FR 15234.
Trump administration reaches deal with Columbia University. (2025, July 23). The Washington Post.
Over 50 universities are under investigation as part of Trump's anti-DEI crackdown. (2025, March 14). NPR.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).