DEI’s Year in Retreat

At the outset of 2023, the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda showed no signs of slowing its march through American institutions.

The DEI outlook, which seeks to draft all public and private enterprises into an effort to level the cosmic scales by correcting for real and perceived historical injustices through the elevation of individuals possessed of certain accidents of birth, was popular. According to invested parties with an interest in anathematizing anti-DEI campaigns waged by Republicans such as Ron DeSantis, Americans saw it as a necessary corrective mechanism. The DEI extortion racket — in which private actors are threatened with social and commercial consequences if they do not reward anti-racism activists with high-status, well-compensated positions — rolled along into the spring. The rigid tenets of this new ideology captured colleges, high schools, and even elementary education. It tainted scientific study and found its way into the practice of medicine. It became a central feature of American politics at all levels of government. And there seemed to be no stopping it.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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At the outset of 2023, the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda showed no signs of slowing its march through American institutions.

The DEI outlook, which seeks to draft all public and private enterprises into an effort to level the cosmic scales by correcting for real and perceived historical injustices through the elevation of individuals possessed of certain accidents of birth, was popular. According to invested parties with an interest in anathematizing anti-DEI campaigns waged by Republicans such as Ron DeSantis, Americans saw it as a necessary corrective mechanism. The DEI extortion racket — in which private actors are threatened with social and commercial consequences if they do not reward anti-racism activists with high-status, well-compensated positions — rolled along into the spring. The rigid tenets of this new ideology captured colleges, high schools, and even elementary education. It tainted scientific study and found its way into the practice of medicine. It became a central feature of American politics at all levels of government. And there seemed to be no stopping it.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.