If Donald Trump is elected president in November, he’s likely to take an ax to the federal government’s vast “woke” bureaucracy, the powerful regulatory agencies that are forcing progressive politics on all aspects of American life, including the workplace, The Post has learned.
Several outside advisers to candidate Trump say plans are already being drawn up on how to return agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, led by Lina Khan, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, headed by Gary Gensler, to their original mandates of consumer and investor protection, as opposed to pushing progressive change in the $28 trillion US economy.
As I point out in my book, “Go Woke, Go Broke: The Inside Story of the Radicalization of Corporate America,” Joe Biden was maybe the most woke-obsessed president in history, infusing progressive politics throughout the government’s vast regulatory matrix that in turn foisted it on corporate America.
This is a president who said, “To me, the values of diversity, equality, inclusion are literally — and this is not kidding — the core strengths of America. That’s why I’m proud to have the most diverse administration in history that taps into the full talents of our country. And it starts at the top with the vice president.”
Cabinet appointments, Supreme Court nominations and much more were made with a heavy emphasis on left-wing virtue-signaling about intersectionality, not skill.
Regulatory agencies have been prodding corporations to do the same, which is why DEI and in many cases de facto quotas permeate much of private sector hiring.
Biden’s uber woke SEC chair has expanded the agency’s mandate by proposing useless rules that force companies to figure out their carbon footprint and disclose how they’re making the world a greener place. When was the last time you heard Warren Buffett say he bought a stock based on such metrics?
We’re all gonna DEI
Now, courtesy of Byron Donalds, the GOP congressman from Florida, I got additional insight into just how far inane woke policies have permeated government and how a Trump administration might proceed in dismantling it.
Donalds recently wrote to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which is supposed to help the SEC combat financial malfeasance by providing frontline regulation of Wall Street. FINRA is a self-regulatory organization, meaning it’s funded by banks and brokerages but answers to the SEC.
It’s doing a pretty lousy job given all the various penny-stock scams out there these days with unscrupulous brokers enticing unsophisticated newish investors to throw their money away on garbage.
One reason, Donalds suggests, is that FINRA has been spending a lot of time promoting wokeness.
In addition to industry pros, its board of directors includes and has included people who “hail from left-leaning academic institutions, think tanks, government pension funds, and international development organizations,” he writes.
DEI is so big at FINRA, Donalds discovered, that the agency actually boasts it’s “integral to FINRA’s operations.” No one is against diversity, of course, but FINRA apparently believes that bean-counting race and gender will automatically help it catch bad guys on Wall Street.
An investigative tool in FINRA’s woke dream world is using preferred pronouns. Donalds found evidence that FINRA believes that “taking the time to appreciate and respect each other’s differences, including recognizing the full spectrum of gender diversity — particularly nonbinary and transgender identities” will help it prevent the next Wolf of Wall Street.
Donalds is asking FINRA to provide him with evidence on how all the above helps with its core mission. Look for hearings if the GOP keeps the House, and if Trump wins, they will provide a blueprint for change. A spokesman for FINRA declined to comment other than to say it “will respond to the Congressman’s letter.”
Progressive party foul
As this column was first to report, Kamala Harris is avoiding next month’s Al Smith Dinner, the gala sponsored by the New York Archdiocese to support Catholic charities.
Trump, also as I reported, has confirmed his attendance.
The question is why is Kamala dodging what has been a tradition for decades, where both parties’ presidential nominees show up for what’s essentially a celebrity roast in support of a good cause?
Last I checked, her party is the Democratic Party, built in large measure on support from Catholics, many of them working class, like the great Al Smith, the governor of New York in the 1920s.
One obvious answer: Harris is horrible at extemporaneous speaking. Another: this isn’t your father’s Democratic Party, it’s AOC’s. If the far left didn’t control its agenda, Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, a key swing state in the fall election, would be Harris’ running mate instead of goofy Tim Walz.
But Shapiro is Jewish and a supporter of Israel, which has been a target of its pro Hamas, progressive and increasingly powerful AOC-wing.
The Catholic Church is pro life, another progressive bugaboo, which adds to Harris’ calculus.
But as Cardinal Dolan pointed out, the last presidential candidate to boycott the event was Walter Mondale, “and remember, he lost 49 out of 50 states.” No wonder Trump is starting to poll better.
