The DEI SCAM: How America’s universities and corporations were duped by the biggest con of the century

By willowt // 2025-03-05

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The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) movement emerged in the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd protests, initially as a well-intentioned effort to address systemic inequalities. However, it quickly transformed into a bureaucratic initiative aimed at embedding social justice programs into the fabric of universities and corporations.
Fueled by psychological manipulation, ideological extremism and the threat of violence, DEI programs spread across institutions. This led to the creation of a bloated bureaucracy that enforced ideological conformity and promoted divisive rhetoric, often pitting individuals against each other based on identity markers.
By 2024, the flaws in DEI became evident, with major corporations like Ford, Walmart and John Deere rolling back their DEI commitments due to legal and political pressures. A growing number of employees and students criticized DEI for fostering division and mediocrity, leading to a widespread backlash against the movement.
As DEI retreats, proponents are rebranding their ideology with terms like "inclusive excellence" and "belonging." However, critics argue that the underlying ideology remains unchanged, and the movement's advocates are likely to adapt and continue promoting their agenda under new labels.
The collapse of DEI has prompted a shift towards merit-driven frameworks that emphasize objective criteria and measurable outcomes. This includes structured hiring practices, transparent promotion policies and collaborative decision-making processes, which are seen as more effective and less divisive than the top-down mandates of DEI.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) movement, once heralded as a moral and business imperative, has been exposed as one of the most elaborate cons of the 21st century. What began as a well-intentioned effort to address systemic inequalities quickly devolved into a bureaucratic hustle, enriching thousands of ideological hustlers while sowing division and mediocrity across academia and corporate America. Now, as DEI collapses under the weight of its own contradictions, it’s time to reflect on how this con took root—and why its demise is a victory for common sense and meritocracy.

The rise of the DEI con

The DEI movement gained traction in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests, which sparked a national conversation about race and inequality. But as Stanley K. Ridgley, author of DEI Exposed: How the Biggest Con of the Century Almost Toppled Higher Education, explains, DEI was never about genuine diversity or inclusion. Instead, it was a “bureaucratic initiative designed to anchor a new raft of social justice programs as an inescapable presence on the campus.” Ridgley recounts how DEI metastasized across universities and corporations, fueled by a combination of psychological manipulation, ideological extremism and the threat of violence. “It was violence and the threat of violence that opened the door for this effervescence of DEI,” he writes. College administrations, fearing the chaos of 2020’s summer riots, capitulated to the demands of activists, allowing DEI to embed itself deeply into institutional structures. The result? A bloated bureaucracy of “apparatchiks and supernumeraries” who peddled racialist pseudoscience and enforced ideological conformity. DEI training sessions became notorious for their divisive rhetoric, pitting employees and students against one another based on race, gender and other identity markers. As Ridgley bluntly puts it, “It was weird and alien and hateful at its core.”

The backlash begins

By 2024, the cracks in the DEI façade were impossible to ignore. Major corporations like Ford, Walmart and John Deere began rolling back their DEI commitments, citing mounting legal and political pressures. A Fox News poll conducted in early 2025 found that 45% of voters believed it was “extremely” or “very” important for President Donald Trump to focus on ending DEI programs. The backlash wasn’t just political—it was personal. Employees and students who had long endured the mediocrity and divisiveness of DEI initiatives finally began speaking out. Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, who has seen the harmful effects of DEI in his practice, told Fox Business, “The trend over the last few years has been to make DEI programs into political commissars, to go after people who have different viewpoints, and they end up, in many ways, sowing more division in the institution that they’re supposed to help.” Even DEI advocates like Naomi Wheeless acknowledged the role of political pressure in the movement’s decline. “It is that [Trump] is a president with a well-documented history of vindictiveness,” she said. “He creates a sense of fear and the feeling that whether we want to or not, we better fall in line.”

The con story lives on

As DEI retreats, its proponents are already scrambling to rebrand. Terms like “inclusive excellence” and “belonging” are emerging as replacements for the now-toxic DEI acronym. But as Ridgley warns, the underlying ideology remains the same. “The Con Story will morph and adapt,” he writes. “Buzzwords will change, new slogans will be coined, but the underlying ideology will remain the same as it always has.” This isn’t the first time America has fallen for a con story. From the pseudoscience of Karl Marx to the utopian promises of radical activists, history is littered with examples of ideologies that duped the credulous. Ridgley draws a chilling parallel between the DEI movement and the case of Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old who murdered a man in New York City in 2024, driven by extremist ideology. “Persons who cheer the killer Luigi Mangione for his assassination of Brian Thompson also fully support DEI’s personnel, programs, policies and enforcement mechanisms on the college campuses,” Ridgley asserts.

A return to meritocracy

The collapse of DEI is a reminder that meritocracy and fairness are not just ideals—they are essential to a functioning society. As corporations and universities abandon DEI, many are turning to evidence-based, merit-driven frameworks that emphasize objective criteria and measurable outcomes. Structured hiring practices, transparent promotion policies and collaborative decision-making processes are proving to be more effective—and less divisive—than the top-down mandates of DEI. The death of DEI is a victory for common sense, but the fight is far from over. As Ridgley warns, the con artists behind DEI will not go quietly. They will rebrand, relabel and repackage their ideology in an attempt to deceive a new generation of marks. But for now, America can breathe a sigh of relief that one of the biggest cons of the century has finally been exposed. The lesson is clear: Ideological extremism and bureaucratic bloat have no place in our institutions. It’s time to return to the principles that made America great—individual merit, equal opportunity and the pursuit of excellence. DEI may be over, but the work of rebuilding trust and integrity in our institutions has only just begun. Sources include: AMGreatness.com FoxNews.com FoxBusiness.com