On the campaign trail, Trump promised his supporters that he would do his best to reverse the progress made by Former President Joe Biden. He has worked hard to make good on his promise; Trump’s slew of executive orders attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives of federal and corporate levels is clear evidence of this.
His latest move, however, is a dystopian one: the Trump administration has devised list of banned words. The New York Times recently reported a total of 199 words and phrases that are forbidden in the administration as they continue their ridiculous “war on woke.”
They include: “Black,” “anti-racism,” “discrimination,” “racial justice,” “diversity,” “trauma,” “at-risk,” “minorities,” “underprivileged,” “biased,” “climate science,” “women,” “female,” “socioeconomic,” “climate change” and “cultural heritage.” This isn’t the first time words have been censored during a president’s tenure.
In 2021, the New York Times reported that the Biden administration got rid of words and phrases like “illegal alien” and mandated that the word “tribal”—in reference to Native Americans—be spelled with a capital T. However, this move was in response to Trump’s first term policies.
Other terms banned by the Trump administration include “pregnant person,” “equality,” “inequality,” “sex,” “gender,” “LGBTQ,” “advocate,” and “institutional.”
The Times also shared that the list of words is most likely incomplete.
Ironically, Trump and some of his closest allies—including billionaire Elon Musk and CEO of X—have insisted that they are supporters of “free speech.” On Trump’s first day back in office, one of the executives orders he signed went against (what he called) the Biden’s administration’s suppression of First Amendment rights.
“Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society,” it said. Sadly, the extent to which Trump’s administration removed words from government websites and documents prove otherwise.