President Trump used his address to the joint session of Congress to tout his actions reversing Biden administration policies on gender identity and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
“Our country will be woke no longer,” Mr. Trump declared to Republican cheers in Tuesday night’s address.
“We believe that whether you are a doctor, an accountant, a lawyer or an air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on skill and competence, not race or gender,” he said.
Mr. Trump went on to say that people should be hired based on merit and praised the Supreme Court on its decision related to affirmative action in college admission, calling it a “brave and very powerful” push in the right direction.
“We have removed the poison of critical race theory from our public schools, and I signed an order making it the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” he noted before detailing his executive order that banned biological men from playing in women’s sports.
He referenced Peyton McNabb, a female high school volleyball player who was “smashed” in the face by a volleyball spiked by a person who identifies as a woman playing on the opposing team.
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“He smashed the ball so hard in Peyton’s face, causing traumatic brain injury, partially paralyzing her right side and ending her athletic career,” Mr. Trump said. “It was a shot like she’s never seen before.”
Ms. McNabb and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines, an activist who fights for females to compete only against other females, were among the guests sitting in the gallery Tuesday night.
Mr. Trump promised that schools that violate his executive order would lose federal funding.
