MAGA celebrates Walmart’s DEI move: “The tide has turned”

Several MAGA figures have expressed rejoicing after Walmart announced it will be scaling back its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Walmart, the largest private employer in the U.S. with 1.6 million workers, has become the latest and largest company to say it will back away from its diversity initiatives amid pressure from the right.

The changes include opting out of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, which measures workplace inclusion of LGBTQ+ employees, eliminating a racial justice center and not giving priority treatment to suppliers based on race or gender, The Associated Press reported on Monday.

DEI programs aim to eliminate inequities between traditionally marginalized groups in businesses, schools and government agencies and have long been the target of Republican attacks over claims they are racially divisive. Several people joining President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet, including those associated with the Heritage Foundation’s conservative manifesto, Project 2025, have vowed to target DEI initiatives.

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who will join Trump’s Cabinet in the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, welcomed the Walmart announcement and suggested it was a major turning point in the fight against the so-called “woke agenda.”

“The tide has turned,” Musk posted on the platform he owns, X, formerly Twitter.

Newsweek Walmart reached out to email for comment.

Robby Starbuck, a former Republican congressional candidate from Tennessee who has led a pressure campaign against companies that promote DEI initiatives, acknowledged Walmart’s announcement and said he had contacted the company about its policies.

“This is the biggest victory yet for our movement to end wokeism in corporate America,” Starbuck posted on X on Monday. “Our campaigns have become so effective that we are getting the world’s largest companies to change their policies without for me to even post a story about their new policies.

“Companies can clearly see that America wants normalcy back. The era of wokeness is dying right before our eyes. The landscape of corporate America is rapidly shifting toward rationality and neutrality. We are now the trend, not the anomaly.”

Starbucks has released several other DEI initiatives that Walmart said are now ending. This includes no longer using the gender-neutral term “Latinx” to describe people of Latin American descent and reviewing funding for Pride events to ensure it does not fund inappropriate sexualized content that may be inappropriate for children.

Walmart also will not renew its Center for Racial Equity, a five-year, $100 million philanthropic commitment launched in 2020 to address the “root causes of the gaps in Black and African American educational outcomes “, health, finance and criminal justice systems.”

Conservative commentator Rogan O’Handley, better known as DC Draino, posted to his 1.9 million followers: “Absolutely wild how powerful an X account can be.”

“Robby just made Walmart abandon its DEI policies. Think about it – a nearly $1 trillion company with nearly 2 million employees abandoned its corporate policies because of a single upcoming tweet. The pen is truly mightier than the sword.”

Tom Fitton, a Trump ally and president of Judicial Watch, added: “Great news. Robby Starbuck helps convince Walmart to further retreat from woke racial discrimination and other DEI extremism, such as promoting transgender extremism against children!”

“It will also stop trying to appease the rabid representatives of the cultural left at the Human Rights Campaign.”

Sharing Starbuck’s post, the Libs of TikTok account run by Chaya Raichik wrote: “YOU MUST DIE!!”

Walmart has now joined other major companies such as Toyota, Harley-Davidson, John Deere and Lowe’s in announcing that it is withdrawing from DEI initiatives.

A Walmart spokesman told The Associated Press that several of the dropped policies, including the use of the term DEI in job titles and communications, had been discussed for some time and had nothing to do with conservative outrage or Starbucks activism.

“We have been on a journey and know that we are not perfect, but every decision is based on the desire to foster a sense of belonging, open doors for all of our employees, customers and suppliers and to be.” “A Walmart for everyone” the company said in a statement.

After being nominated for the Democratic Party’s 2024 nomination, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is Black and Asian, was dubbed the “DEI VP” or “DEI candidate” by some right-wing figures. This met with cross-party criticism.

Many Black Americans have said that calling someone a “DEI employee” is a racial slur.