Trump deep-sixed DEI — but is it undead at major federal contractors like Lockheed Martin?



President Donald Trump has endeavored to ram a stake through the heart of the federal DEI regime.

He kicked off his second term by requiring that the head of every federal agency, department, or commission see to the elimination of all DEI offices, positions, initiatives, programs, contracts, and performance requirements; ordering the government to eliminate DEI discrimination in the federal workforce as well as in federal contracting and spending; tasking his inbound attorney general with preparing a civil rights-focused pressure campaign against DEI practitioners in the private sector; and rescinding numerous race- and identity-centered executive orders issued by Democrat presidents.

While Trump has since enjoyed tremendous success in eliminating various DEI initiatives across the government, it appears that there is still much work to be done.

The 1792 Exchange, a corporate bias watchdog seeking to restore political neutrality in the boardroom and to educate lawmakers about the dangers of woke corporate policies, recently released an analysis of the top 100 federal contractors by dollars obligated in fiscal year 2023.

The report highlights the apparent ideological capture and woke policies of a number of corporate juggernauts on the list, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and the RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon.

"The American people have the right to know if our hard-earned money is subsidizing any corporation's subversive ideological programs," 1792 Exchange CEO Daniel Cameron said in a statement.

"President Trump has taken bold action to remove DEI programming from federal institutions, including government contractors," continued Cameron. "This report empowers government agencies and legislators to align procurement decisions with that vision of neutrality and excellence."

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Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

Of the 100 contractors that the 1792 Exchange analyzed, 36 were characterized as "high risk," 16 as "medium risk," and 46 as "lower risk," on the basis of "publicly documented alignment with DEI-driven policies and practices."

The watchdog noted that high-risk companies "have demonstrated a pattern of engaging in DEI practices that prioritize ideological conformity over merit-based considerations."

Examples of such practices include recruitment, hiring, and promotion on the basis of immutable characteristics and sexual preference; requiring employees to suffer through training sessions on gender ideology and critical race theory; and corporate alignment on philanthropy and marketing strategies with "progressive social agendas."

While some big organizations appear to have read the writing on the wall and reversed course on DEI — 1792 indicated that Accenture, AT&T, IBM, Booz Allen Hamilton, and IBM have rolled back at least some of their most divisive DEI policies — others have dug in their feet.

Seven out of the top 10 recipients of federal dollars on the 1792 Exchange's list of U.S. government contractors were labeled "high risk." They were, in order from biggest to smallest recipients of federal dollars obligated: Lockheed Martin, the RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon), the Boeing Company, Northrop Grumman, Optum360, Leidos, and McKesson.

'Compliance with the CEI naturally leads to ceding nearly all facets of corporate governance to the HRC's influence.'

BAE Systems and Honeywell, though farther down the list, similarly appear to be big offenders in terms of DEI initiatives.

Lockheed Martin, at the top of the list, "yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders"; "implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes"; and "embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues," according to the 1792 Exchange.

Part of what gave the company away was its perfect score on the 2025 Corporate Equality Index from the non-straight activist organization Human Rights Campaign, as well as its receipt of the "Equality 100 Award: Leader in LGBTQ+ Workplace Equality" distinction from the activist group.

Many of the scoring criteria for both the 2025 CEI and the so-called equality award appear to require corporate violations of federal policy.

While the watchdog outfit did not go out of its way to put CEI scores as a top consideration when assessing risk, Dustin DeVito, the 1792 Exchange's director of corporate research, told Blaze News that "compliance with the CEI naturally leads to ceding nearly all facets of corporate governance to the HRC's influence."

"1792 Exchange's company ratings center around six criteria: ideologically driven cancellation, charitable work, employment policies, reputation, funding, and political action," continued DeVito. "The CEI touches on all of these."

When pressed for comment, Lockheed Martin referred Blaze News to its Jan. 23 statement, which claimed:

Merit-based talent management programs and compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, contracts, and directives have always been central to this mission. We are taking immediate action to ensure continued compliance and full alignment with President Trump’s recent executive order. We will not have goals or incentives based on demographic representation or affirmative action plans. Additionally, our training offerings are compliant with Executive Order 13950 from President Trump's first administration.

The RTX Corporation was slapped with the same broad critiques as Lockheed Martin. A closer look revealed precisely why.

The company similarly rated high on the 2025 CEI partly because the company apparently "will not donate to non-religious charities unless they embrace controversial sexual identity policies"; requires employees to attend "multiple, controversial trainings on gender identity, sexual orientation, transgender issues, and divisive racial ideology"; covers medical transvestism costs for employees and their children; and publicly advocates for "controversial sex and gender ideology through local, state, or federal legislation or initiatives."

When pressed for comment, RTX directed Blaze News to a Jan. 24 company statement that said, "RTX is taking the necessary actions to comply with the presidential executive orders."

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Blaze Media Illustration

Both Boeing — whose executive compensation plan the 1792 Exchange claimed "devalued the weight of product and employee safety in its operational performance metrics, in order to include diversity, equity, and inclusion as a consideration" in recent years — and Northrop Grumman also scored 100% on the 2025 CEI, meaning that it likely jumped through many of the same hoops as other "high-risk" organizations.

Blaze News reached out to Boeing and Northrop Grumman as well as to top "high-risk" companies McKesson, Honeywell, Leidos, Optum360, and BAE Systems for comment.

Northrop Grumman directed Blaze News to another months-old statement indicating that work was under way to ensure the company was in compliance with the president's executive orders.

"We are actively reviewing our policies and processes and taking the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the presidential executive orders for the work entrusted to us," said the Northrop Grumman statement. "Underpinned by our values, we hire, promote, and pay based on merit and performance, resulting in the best team to deliver for our customers."

A company spokesperson for BAE Systems told Blaze News, "As a federal contractor, we continuously evaluate our policies and programs to ensure continued compliance with all applicable legal requirements, including executive orders, and we will continue to hire, promote, and compensate based on merit."

The other companies did not respond by publication time.

The 1792 Exchange has invited any companies on its list to submit corrections to the data if they have taken meaningful steps to comply with Trump's executive orders.

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Boeing escapes prosecution for deadly 737 MAX crashes



Boeing and the Department of Justice reached a deal regarding two 737 MAX crashes that resulted in the deaths of 346 people.

Friday court filings revealed that Boeing has agreed to "pay or invest" over $1.1 billion, which includes a $487.2 million criminal fine, $445 million to the crash victims' families, and another $445 million on compliance, safety, and quality programs.

'Nothing will diminish the victims' losses, but this resolution holds Boeing financially accountable, provides finality and compensation for the families, and makes an impact for the safety of future air travelers.'

The agreement allows Boeing to avoid prosecution for the deadly 2018 and 2019 plane crashes.

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Crash site of Ethiopia Airlines on March 11, 2019. MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP via Getty Images

The DOJ stated, "Ultimately, in applying the facts, the law, and Department policy, we are confident that this resolution is the most just outcome with practical benefits."

Paul Cassell, an attorney for many of the victims' families, said, "Although the DOJ proposed a fine and financial restitution to the victims' families, the families that I represent contend that it is more important for Boeing to be held accountable to the flying public."

In a separate statement, Cassell called the deal "unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history."

He noted that the families plan to object to the non-prosecution deal.

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The crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 on March 12, 2019 in Bishoftu, Ethiopia. Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images

"Nothing will diminish the victims' losses, but this resolution holds Boeing financially accountable, provides finality and compensation for the families, and makes an impact for the safety of future air travelers," the DOJ stated.

In July, the company agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration after it allegedly "deceived" the FAA's Aircraft Evaluation Group "about an important aircraft part called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) that impacted the flight control system of the Boeing 737 MAX," according to the DOJ.

Cassell previously referred to the DOJ agreement as a "sweetheart plea deal" for Boeing.

Boeing did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

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Rand Paul: Trump’s Riyadh speech is historic, but Qatar’s $400M jet is trouble



In his May 13 speech at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh, President Donald Trump lauded the Middle East’s transformation. He credited regional leaders and the people for their sovereign development of cities like Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. It was these local efforts that made the difference, he said, not Western interventionists, whom he criticized for failed nation-building efforts in places like Kabul and Baghdad.

He then condemned Western lectures on governance, arguing that the region’s positive transformation was due to embracing local heritage and traditions, not external imposition.

“Peace, prosperity, and progress ultimately came not from a radical rejection of your heritage, but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same heritage that you love so dearly,” he said to a cheering crowd.

Glenn Beck says, “That part of that speech was as significant as the ‘Gorbachev, tear down this wall’ speech.”

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who joined Glenn on a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” agreed: “It’s incredibly significant to say we've developed these relationships not by bossing around the world, not by intervening, but by basically trading.”

However, he wasn’t as enthusiastic about Trump’s decision to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar as a temporary Air Force One.

“The Constitution says you can't take emoluments or gifts unless they're approved by Congress,” Paul told Glenn. Accepting the jet could still “set up the appearance of impropriety,” even with congressional approval, due to Qatar’s arms deals with the U.S.

“There's a potential that the administration's objectiveness will be clouded by a $400 million plane,” he explained.

Instead, he suggested Qatar sell the plane directly to the U.S. government for a negotiated price or return the jet to Boeing, who could then sell it to the U.S. government. Both of these are solutions that reduce scrutiny over Trump’s ties to Qatar.

However, even purchasing the plane poses ‘practical concerns,’ said Paul. For example, if the Boeing-contracted planes ordered in 2018 to replace the dated Air Force One jets were “within six months of being completed,” it might be faster to wait for them than to outfit the Qatari plane, which would need to be “stripped down on the inside [and] completely reconfigured,” potentially taking longer, Paul explained.

“We began our participation in and ended World War II in a quicker time than we have ordered that plane in 2018 to today, so I mean, what is Boeing doing?” asked Glenn.

To hear Paul’s answer, plus why he can’t support Congress’ current version of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” and what might be in store for Dr. Fauci regarding COVID investigations, watch the clip above.

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Trump tasks Musk with rescue mission to return American astronauts stranded at space station



President Donald Trump has tapped Elon Musk to head a rescue mission to return American astronauts from the International Space Station.

In June, NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams became the first people to launch to orbit inside a Boeing Starliner from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The pair of astronauts embarked on a 25-hour flight to the International Space Station.

'Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.'

Wilmore and Williams were supposed to be at the ISS for only eight days. However, Boeing's Starliner capsule had issues with the craft's propulsion system. Officials deemed it too dangerous for the astronauts to travel in the Starliner.

Williams and Wilmore are still abandoned at the space station, but Trump and Musk have said the astronauts will be saved.

Trump wrote on the Truth Social app, "I have just asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to 'go get' the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration. They have been waiting for many months on the Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!"

“The POTUS has asked SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the Space Station as soon as possible. We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long,” Musk wrote on the X social media platform on Tuesday.

Wilmore and Williams could return to Earth on SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, according to CNBC. The pair would return to Earth with fellow astronauts American Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

The departure from the International Space Station was scheduled for February, but it has been delayed.

In December, NASA said the SpaceX Crew-10 is targeting a launch from the ISS with the four astronauts "no earlier than late March 2025." The space agency said the delayed launch would give SpaceX more time to “complete processing” of the new passengers.

A spokesperson with NASA stated, "NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions."

NASA reportedly did not provide any new updates on the return of the astronauts and did not reveal if the comments made by Trump and Musk would accelerate the rescue mission timeline.

There are currently seven astronauts from around the world on the space station.

Earlier this month, NASA posted a YouTube video of the stranded astronauts at the International Space Station.

Then-NASA deputy chief Pam Melroy jokingly asked the crew, "So what you’re telling us is you’re not channeling ‘Cast Away’ and you don’t have a volleyball with a handprint on it that you call Wilson?”

Wilmore replied, “No, we’ve got a whole team up here so we’re not worried about that, and there’s a lot to do as well. ... We have tons of science experiments. ... We’ve got spacewalks coming up. It’s just been a joy to be working up here."

Williams and Wilmore are part of Expedition 72 — which began in September 2024 and ends in spring 2025 — to have astronauts "explore a variety of space phenomena to benefit humans on and off the Earth including pharmaceutical manufacturing, advanced life support systems, genetic sequencing in microgravity, and more."

The Boeing Starliner was developed under a more than $3 billion NASA contract under the space agency's Commercial Crew Program, according to Reuters.

The Starliner has allegedly had a history of uncrewed testing mishaps, several engineering challenges, and launch delays.

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