Only days after Indiana Gov. Mike Braun was sworn-in in Indianapolis, the former Republican senator officially rid the state government of its Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) apparatus.
Instead, Braun – who grew a small Jasper truck-body business called Meyer Distributing into a major player with 700 product lines – said on Friday it takes a politician who "signed the front side of a paycheck" to understand what economic priorities actually matter, and DEI is not one of them.
"At the [Indiana] inaugural, which was over the weekend for me, there was so much excitement knowing something is afoot even in a good red state like Indiana, mostly because of what's going to happen out in D.C. and the partnership that can happen between enterprising states like ours has always been," Braun said on "Fox & Friends."
"We’ve never really had somebody from Main Street… be our own governor here."
Braun contrasted the conservative economic vision with that of President Biden and other Democrats, whose platform is "built on big government."
"Rahm Emanuel said ‘never let a crisis go to waste’," he said in that respect, referring to the former President Barack Obama confidant’s motto during the 2008 financial crisis. The line was seen as a suggestion to use tough moments to force through tenets of one’s personal agenda.
In comments to Fox News Digital, Braun said that in nearly 40 years of running a business, he knows what works and what does not.
Instead of DEI, Indiana needs "MEI" – or Merit, Excellence and Innovation – to be a priority, he said.
"Government should be laser-focused on one thing: getting results for the people they serve. We’re replacing the divisive DEI ideology with a level playing field of MEI -- the same reason we’re eliminating college degree requirements where they’re not essential and adding key performance metrics for accountability," Braun said.
"[That is] because everyone should be judged on what they do, not who they are."
Braun noted his business background and reiterated how his guiding principle of growing Meyer into the expansive business it is today has been "results – above everything else."
"That’s exactly what we’re putting first in my administration."
In his order, Braun cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard – which found affirmative action programs violate the Equal Protection Clause – and said state resources would not be used to "support [DEI] positions, departments, activities, procedures or programs if they grant preferential treatment based upon one person's particular race..."
It also bans requirements of Indianans to have to disclose their personal pronouns or for employers to mandate job applicants to provide a DEI-related statement.
"We've grown the federal government to a place that I hope DOGE… brings it down because you’ve got a lot of anxious governors that want to double down on [DOGE] – we’re going to do it anyway," Braun said separately on Fox News Channel.
Braun said that since COVID-19, too many Indiana bureaucrats are still teleworking and that the DEI-nixing effort is also another way to streamline government to be more effective, just like Meyer.
The state’s DEI office had been established by Braun’s predecessor, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb.
After the George Floyd incident in Minnesota, Holcomb addressed Indianans on the issue of "getting to the root causes of inequities and not just reacting to the symptoms."
Holcomb, who first ascended to the governorship when Mike Pence became vice president in 2017, appointed then-University of Notre Dame public affairs director Karrah Herring to lead the new DEI department.
Braun also received some pushback on his decision:
The Indiana legislature’s minority leader said he respects Braun’s right to position his new administration how he wants but questioned his chosen hierarchy.
"Thinking of the myriad issues Hoosiers are facing, though, I can’t understand why this is a top priority," State Rep. Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, said in a statement.
GiaQuinta added a recent caucus meeting with the DEI office was "insightful and helpful" to their work addressing Indianans’ needs, and called the department’s sunset a "distraction from the real issues."
The brief life of the Ghost of Christmas Present passed upon the stroke of midnight on Wednesday, and children began the countdown to the appearance of his brother, one year from now.
This Christmas, as I do every Christmas, I read Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol." There is a scene, right after the departure of Marley’s ghost, where Scrooge sees disembodied spirits, doomed to wander the earth. These spirits are begging and pleading, unseen and unheard, with the poor, homeless and disenfranchised. What they lament is their inability to help — a tragic irony, as they had the opportunity to act while alive but, now without physical bodies, can do nothing.
This got me thinking about homelessness. Is it the same thing? As the mayor of El Cajon, California, I’ve been an outspoken critic of how the state has handled the homelessness crisis. I asked myself, "Is it possible, like Scrooge, that I’ve been forging my own ponderous chain every time I criticize voucher programs, lawlessness and housing-first policies?" I wondered: if I were given the same gift that Scrooge received, what revelations might my hauntings reveal?
The Ghost of Christmas Past, which brings to mind the 1970s, would show me a California largely devoid of homelessness. Back then, California was a relative paradise, marked by a sense of law and order.
But did not Christ say, "The poor will always be with us?" I know the 1970s were full of poor people — I was one of them. Most everyone I knew was poor. Yet we could walk downtown without running a gauntlet of homelessness. Crime existed, but police were empowered to protect communities. Beaches were places of beauty, not encampments filled with filth and despair.
Why? What changed? In my opinion, it was a conscious decision to make homelessness a viable option — by subsidizing the homeless lifestyle financially, eliminating laws that kept communities safe and clean, normalizing addiction and de-stigmatizing vagrancy (using the blunt language of the 1970s). In my imagination, the ghost would make no judgment but would let me draw my own conclusions.
Would the Ghost of Christmas Present show me the dark, dangerous encampments, rife with rape, violence and hopelessness? I believe he would. But would the blame fall on those trapped in this hell, or on the politicians? Would he show me the backroom deals and development contracts that sustain the homeless industrial complex — a system in which a select few profit from $25 billion in wasted funds while the problem only worsens, leaving NGOs begging for more?
Would the Ghost gaze upon the wretched and say, "Blame me not for this misery. This is man’s doing"? Would he point to the people dying on sidewalks and say, "I see a tent left empty. If these policies do not change, this will be their fate?" Would he show me Christmas dinner tables where people laugh, shake their heads and lament California’s self-destruction?
The final ghost, like Scrooge’s, would be the one I fear most. He would show me a California where cities are uninhabitable and residents are scattered across the nation as refugees. He would reveal lawless anarchy in the streets, where sexual assault and overdose deaths are predictable and accepted outcomes. He would show shuttered retail stores, overrun hospitals and public spaces rendered unsafe. He would lead me to the ruins of the home where I was born. And, with his skeletal hand, he might point silently to places like Haiti, forewarning what lies ahead.
It is my Christmas wish that the true recipients of such hauntings would be the political decision-makers responsible for this crisis. May they wake up on Christmas morning with a new vision and vitality — one that prioritizes the welfare of all Californians over greed and failed ideologies.
If I were Dickens, I would write an ending where the homeless industrial complex is dismantled and replaced with effective solutions. Most importantly, I would write a happy ending for those trapped by homelessness and addiction — not by enabling them, but by enforcing laws that prevent street living while providing, and sometimes requiring, appropriate treatment. I would see municipalities regain the tools to clean their cities and reverse policies that have made California increasingly unlivable.
In reflecting on this, I see a disconnect between the poor and homeless of Victorian England and the crisis we face today. In 1843, there was no safety net and options were few. I believe Dickens’ poor would have embraced modern shelters, work opportunities and rehabilitation programs — not because they were better people, but because harsh conditions demanded it. "Are there no poor? Are there no workhouses? Many would rather die than go there," they said. This was their grim reality.
Today, however, our obligation to the poor and homeless must be matched by their obligation to participate in their own recovery. The real Scrooge in this story is the political class that has imposed a failed social experiment on Californians — a failure by every measure. May we all see the truth so we can proclaim, "God bless us, everyone."
Before President Biden was inaugurated as the nation’s 46th president, he and his administration put its staunch support of transgender issues at the forefront of its policies.
In the waning days of the Biden administration, Fox News Digital revisited the Biden administration’s support of transgender issues, including a handful of controversies that elicited backlash from conservatives.
"The president’s belief is that trans rights are human rights," former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said within the administration's first month in office during a press conference.
One day before Biden was inaugurated, he announced the nomination of a person who would become the first known transgender woman to hold an office that required Senate confirmation: Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine. The announcement was soon followed by Biden, in his official capacity as president, rolling back Trump-era trans policies, celebrating holidays championing the trans and LGBTQ communities at large, and pledging support to transgender individuals during each of his State of the Union addresses.
Following Biden’s successful nomination of Levine to the Department of Health and Human Services, a job Levine still holds, Biden again underscored his administration’s explicitly pro-trans stance when he rolled back the first Trump administration’s ban on trans members of the military.
Under the Trump administration in 2018, the 45th president officially authorized the Pentagon to ban transgender individuals from joining the military, with limited exceptions, after making the pledge to do so in 2017.
Biden bucked the policy on his fifth day in office through an executive order, saying it was "the right thing to do" and in the "national interest" of the country.
"President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America’s strength is found in its diversity," the White House said in January 2021. "This question of how to enable all qualified Americans to serve in the military is easily answered by recognizing our core values."
The White House said at the time that America "is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive," adding that "the military is no exception."
The Biden administration has also elevated trans and LGBTQ holidays across the last four years, including issuing messages of support of "Transgender Day of Visibility" each year.
"Transgender rights are human rights – and I’m calling on every American to join me in uplifting the worth and dignity of transgender Americans. Together, we can stamp out discrimination and deliver on our nation’s promise of freedom and equality for all," he posted to his X account in March 2021.
International Transgender Day of Visibility was created by activists more than 10 years ago and is celebrated each year on March 31. The holiday came under fierce fire earlier this year, however, as it fell on the same day as Easter Sunday – the most holy holiday for Christians. Conservatives, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ripped the White House’s decision to recognize Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter, calling it an attack on Christianity.
"We call on Joe Biden’s failing campaign and White House to issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only – the resurrection of Jesus Christ," Karoline Leavitt, who served as the Trump campaign’s press secretary before being named as Trump’s White House press secretary, said at the time.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital at the time that Biden, as a Christian, was working to bring "people together" with the event.
"As a Christian who celebrates Easter with family, President Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignity and freedoms of every American," Bates said.
Fox News Digital previously reported that the White House has celebrated or commemorated seven other holidays focused on LGBT issues, including National Coming Out Day in October; Lesbian Day of Visibility in April; International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia in May; Pride Month in June; Spirit Day in October; Intersex Awareness Day in October; and Transgender Day of Remembrance in November.
The Biden administration came under fire in 2022 when one of the U.S. government’s first "non-binary" officials was accused of stealing airport luggage on multiple occasions. Non-binary is understood as an individual who does not exclusively identify as male or female.
Sam Brinton, a biological male, worked as the Department of Energy deputy assistant secretary, but made national headlines in 2022 when accused of stealing luggage at airports. Brinton was charged with stealing a woman’s suitcase at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in September and another at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas in July. The DOE said, amid outrage over the case, that Brinton was no longer employed by the department.
Biden also hosted what was billed as the White House’s largest Pride celebration in its history in 2023. During that event, a transgender model and activist, Rose Montoya, came under fire for going topless and cupping their bare breasts while standing on the South Lawn of the White House. The incident was slammed by conservatives as an "international embarrassment" and Montoya was subsequently banned from visiting the White House.
"This behavior is inappropriate and disrespectful for any event at the White House. It is not reflective of the event we hosted to celebrate LGBTQI+ families or the other hundreds of guests who were in attendance," the White House said in response to the controversy. "Individuals in the video will not be invited to future events."
The administration has also invited notable transgender individuals to the White House over the last few years, including hosting "Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider in 2022, and held a sit-down discussion with transgender internet influencer Dylan Mulvaney – who was embroiled in the Bud Light commercial controversy in 2023. The Biden admin also saw the elevation of transgender retired Navy officer and activist Shawn Skelly as assistant secretary of defense for readiness in 2021, a role Skelly still holds.
The White House celebrated the progress of the trans community under Biden's administration in a comment to Fox Digital.
"President Biden is proud to stand up for the dignity of every single American, and to have achieved historic progress for the following values that Fox Corporation shares and includes in their employee handbook: transgender Americans deserve an ‘environment free of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation, and without fear of consequences or transphobia for living openly," Bates said.
Biden has also supported the transgender community each year during his State of the Union addresses, vowing in his first year that the "president has your back."
"To all transgender Americans watching at home, especially young people who are so brave, I want you to know your president has your back," Biden declared during his first State of the Union address in 2021.
In 2022, he said: "The onslaught of state laws targeting transgender Americans and their families is wrong. As I said last year, especially to our younger transgender Americans, I will always have your back as your president, so you can be yourself and reach your God-given potential."
"Let’s also pass the bipartisan Equality Act to ensure LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity. Our strength is not just the example of our power, but the power of our example. Let’s remember the world is watching," Biden said in his 2023 State of the Union address.
The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, which is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, also showed their support for the LGBT community under the Biden administration by flying the pride flag during June each year.
Trump’s second administration is expected to be a departure from Biden’s unequivocal support of promoting transgender issues. The president-elect vowed on the campaign trail that he will ban biological males from women’s sports, as well as vowing to remove "woke" ideology from the military – though no decision has been made if that policy will include removing trans individuals from the military.
"On Day One, I will revoke Joe Biden’s cruel policies on so-called ‘gender affirming care’ – ridiculous – a process that includes giving kids puberty blockers, mutating their physical appearance, and ultimately performing surgery on minor children. Can you believe this?" Trump said in a campaign video last year of his plan to "protect children from left-wing gender insanity."
"I will sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age. I will then ask Congress to permanently stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures, and pass a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states. It’ll go very quickly."
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