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Move fast and break things. That's the original operating philosophy of Facebook founder and Meta mogul Mark Zuckerberg, and it seems to be the operating procedure of President Donald Trump in these first weeks of his second term.
That makes a certain sense. In a largely successful society, unrocked by revolution, institutions come to be in need of repair, revamping and reconstitution. Just as tools rust, barnacles adhere and roofs leak, institutions and professions, government agencies and private industries need to be reformed or even abolished.
The high-tech firms that now dominate the American -- indeed, world -- equity markets moved fast and broke many of the business plans of many long-established entities in the early 2000s. Now, with the sudden support of many of their leaders, Trump in his first two weeks of his second term is moving fast and breaking things.
And so far with surprisingly little backlash. As these major changes go into effect, it's a fair question to ask about the long-term consequences.
Start with Trump's executive orders dismantling the misnamed diversity, equity and inclusion apparatus. Opponents started changing the names of DEI programs, and someone in the Air Force said the order required nonmention of the Tuskegee Airmen. That's a variation of what the late Washington Monthly editor Charlie Peters called the "shut down the Washington Monument" strategy, to which incoming Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quickly put the kibosh.
More importantly, Trump's executive order repeals the 1965 Lyndon Johnson order that got the government and large parts of the private sector fighting racial discrimination with racial discrimination. DEI bureaucracies and enforcement were stepped up after the death of George Floyd in May 2020. Now private companies, subject to lawsuits for discriminating against Asians and whites, are scrambling to defund their DEI commissars.
Not many will miss them. Polling, and referenda in California, has shown large majorities disapproving racial preferences. Controversy over Black Lives Matter's leaders' purchase of a $6 million house and the implosion of Ibram X. Kendi's academic center suggests a weariness even among DEI recipients.
DEI repeal seems likely to be, as Christopher Caldwell writes, "the most significant policy change of this century."
Likely in second place are the highly publicized deportations of criminal and other illegal immigrants from so-called sanctuary cities. Illegal border crossings are reduced to a trickle, and Trump's first-term "Remain in Mexico" policy seems back in force.