The Trump administration is going full throttle in its effort to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across the country. During a Thursday press briefing, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller laid out the administration’s plan to replace DEI with a “system of merit.”

“This administration is not going to let our society devolve into communist, woke, DEI strangulation,” Miller declared. “We are going to have a system of merit.”

Standing beside Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Miller framed the rollback of DEI as both a cultural and economic imperative. “When you hire, retain and recruit based on merit as President Trump has directed, you advance innovation, you advance growth, you advance investment, you advance job creation,” he said.

Miller emphasized that in real-world situations—like visiting a hospital in an emergency—Americans want the best-qualified professional, not a diversity hire. “They don’t care what race or sex their doctor or nurse is,” he said. “They want the best treatment they can get.”

This policy direction comes as the Trump administration accelerates the closure of DEI offices throughout the federal government. Trump ordered the complete shutdown of all DEI initiatives across executive agencies during his first week in office in January. That directive has already affected departments from the Pentagon to Education, where DEI programs have been stripped and funding reallocated.

In parallel, the administration is putting pressure on America’s elite universities, threatening to pull federal funding if they do not eliminate DEI departments and overhaul their admissions systems. At the top of that list is Harvard University.

The Department of Education sent Harvard a warning letter in February, demanding reforms to the university’s governance, hiring, and admissions practices. The letter also called for a reassessment of Harvard’s international admissions process to ensure students admitted do not support terrorism, antisemitism, or hold hostile views toward the United States.

So far, Harvard has refused to comply, raising the possibility that one of the nation’s most prestigious institutions could lose significant federal support.

Miller argued that the campaign against DEI is not just about politics—it’s about restoring accountability and excellence across every American institution. “This is about making America competitive again,” he said.

The administration also announced earlier this week that all DEI offices in the federal government were ordered to begin closure procedures by the end of Wednesday. That includes more than 100 departments, boards, and commissions that were established during the Biden administration.

President Trump has frequently blasted DEI as a divisive and dangerous ideology, calling it one of the root causes of dysfunction in both the public and private sectors. During his campaign and now into his second term, Trump has pledged to make merit-based advancement the standard once again.

Thursday’s remarks marked a clear continuation of that agenda.

“America is not a nation built on quotas and checkboxes,” Miller concluded. “It’s a nation built on excellence and achievement. That’s what we’re going to restore.”

The administration has signaled that additional DEI-related reversals will be announced in the coming weeks as the White House continues to roll back the policies of the Biden era.