Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Restores Merit and Lethality to America’s Armed Forces

Fact Sheets

TLDR

This fact sheet makes misleading claims about DEI’s impact on military readiness by falsely attributing recruitment shortfalls to DEI programs, ignoring multiple key factors affecting recruitment, misrepresenting DEI’s budget impact, overlooking recent positive recruitment trends, and omitting successful military support initiatives. Its claims about DEI overshadowing combat training are inaccurate, and recent DEI program removals have led to concerning unintended consequences.

The fact sheet makes several misleading claims about DEI’s impact on military readiness.

The claim that DEI caused the 41,000-troop shortfall in 2023 is false. The military’s recruiting challenges stem from multiple factors:

  • Only 23% of Americans aged 17-24 qualify to serve without a waiver due to obesity, drug use, or academic standards
  • Strong civilian job market and competition from private sector
  • Declining youth population and lower birthrates
  • COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption of in-person recruiting

The fact sheet omits that DEI spending was a tiny fraction of the military budget:

  • FY2023: $86.5 million for DEI programs
  • FY2024: $114.7 million requested These amounts are minimal compared to the overall defense budget.

The claim that DEI overshadowed combat training is false. The military maintained its focus on core competencies:

  • 1 hour of equal opportunity training versus 95 hours of rifle marksmanship
  • Basic military training prioritized combat readiness over DEI initiatives

The fact sheet ignores recent positive recruitment trends:

  • Military recruitment increased by 12.5% in 2024
  • The Air Force exceeded its recruitment goals by 130 people in late 2023
  • The Army met and exceeded its adjusted 2024 target by 300 recruits

The fact sheet overlooks successful military support initiatives:

  • The Joining Forces initiative helped 1.5 million veterans and military spouses find employment
  • Military Spouse Employment Partnership assisted 100,000 military spouses in finding jobs

The removal of DEI programs has already had concerning effects:

  • The Air Force hastily removed training about the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots
  • These historical programs were later reinstated after review

The fact sheet presents a simplified and politically motivated narrative that doesn’t accurately reflect the complex challenges facing military recruitment and readiness.

ELIMINATING RACE- AND SEX-BASED DISCRIMINATION WITHIN THE ARMED FORCES: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to restore merit and lethality to America’s fighting force.

  • The Executive Order bans the use of discriminatory race- or sex-based preferences by any element of the Armed Forces, the Department of Defense, or the Department of Homeland Security.
    • This Order also abolishes any remnant of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy within the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
  • The Secretary of Defense will task the Department of Defense with conducting an internal review of all instances of race- or sex-based discrimination based on Department of Defense DEI initiatives.
    • This Order also requires the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to review the curriculum at the United States Service Academies and other academic institutions to ensure these institutions eliminate radical DEI and gender ideologies.

ENDING AN ERA OF ASSAULT ON MILITARY DISCIPLINE AND CULTURE: Foreign adversaries are strengthening their fighting forces every day while the United States has deliberately been focused on radical ideology like DEI. The world is watching.

  • Prior to harmful changes introduced by the Obama and Biden administrations, the United States military offered equality of opportunity to every American capable of and interested in serving their country. Yet these two administrations exploited the military in favor of identity politics—harming our national defense, undermining the non-political nature of our military, and eroding morale and recruitment.
    • Due to this “woke” assault, the Services together logged their lowest recruiting records since 1940 with a 41,000-troop shortfall in 2023.
  • Today’s Order moves our military away from this dark period and renews esprit de corps, readiness, and focus. It returns the Pentagon to the warfighter.
  • This Order also combats ideologies that seek to divide our Armed Forces by race, sex or other immutable characteristics and thus tear at cohesion and military efficacy.

RESTORING A WARFIGHTING MINDSET: The Armed Forces of the United States exist to preserve our freedom and the American way of life.

  • President Trump is committed to a merit-based system of sex-neutral policies and colorblind recruitment, promotion, and retention that will return our military to greatness.
  • President Trump vowed to get rid of the “woke” generals who prioritize social experiments over warfighting. He stated in his 2024 reelection campaign that “…[y]ou can’t have a woke military…You need people that want to win. They want to win wars. That’s what their purpose is, to win wars, not to be woke… but we do have great military.”