Trump has assembled least diverse US government this century, study shows

"Donald Trump has assembled the least diverse US government of the 21st century, filling the corridors of power with white men at the expense of women and people of colour, research shows. Nine in 10 individuals confirmed by the Senate in the first 300 days of the second Trump administration were white, according to the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington. The total percentage of women confirmed was just 16%, the lowest rate among the past four administrations including Trump's first term (23%)."

"For the Biden administration at the one-year point it was 50% male, 50% female and right now in the Trump administration it's 84% male, 16% female, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, director of the initiative on improving inter-branch relations and government, told the Guardian in an interview at Brookings on Wednesday. Probably that's the starkest contrast. But even if you go all the way back to George W Bush in 2001, Trump's confirmed nominees are whiter and less ethnically diverse and more male than his predecessors going back that far."

"But his actions as president suggest that diversity as a hiring priority has been explicitly abandoned. He has overwhelmingly favoured white men in his appointments while firing prominent African Americans such as Gen Charles Q Brown Jr, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, and Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress. He issued executive orders to curb diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government and is seeking to purge divisive, race-centered ideology from Smithsonian Institution museums."

Research from the Brookings Institution finds nine in ten individuals confirmed by the Senate in the first 300 days of the second Trump administration were white. Women constituted just 16% of confirmed nominees, the lowest rate among the past four administrations. The current administration's confirmed appointees are 84% male and 16% female, compared with a 50/50 split at Biden's one-year mark. Confirmed nominees under the current administration are whiter and less ethnically diverse than predecessors going back to 2001. Appointments have overwhelmingly favored white men, accompanied by executive orders curbing DEI programs and efforts to remove race-focused content from federal institutions.

Read at www.theguardian.com