‘A Welcome Relief’: Trump Signs EOs Targeting Anti-Semitism, CRT, Gender Ideology in Schools
It’s getting hard to keep up with the number of executive orders President Donald Trump has signed within his first two weeks in office — especially those that are marking significant strides in the fight against leftist ideologies. One of these battles includes the increased anti-Semitism seen on college campuses since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
In October 2024, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported a 200% increase of anti-Semitism in America, “compared to the same period the year before.” And truly, the numbers only revealed what was already obvious. Colleges across the U.S., including Ivy League schools, saw an explosion of anti-Israel protests. From campus encampments to the harassment of Jewish students and bystanders, it all begged the question: When will these schools finally choose to crack down on the anti-Semitism happening in their midst? In some ways, the question has gone unanswered. But President Trump isn’t waiting on schools to act and is instead taking matters into his own hands.
On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order that directly tackles anti-Semitism on campuses. Breitbart reported, “The order requires all executive agencies to identify ongoing actions against antisemitism, as well as actions that can be taken, within 60 days.” Additionally, “it directs certain agencies to push colleges and universities to monitor activities of ‘alien students and staff’ who are involved in antisemitic protests, so that they can be investigated and deported.” The order states it is meant to provide “interpretive assistance on the enforcement of the Nation’s civil rights laws to ensure that they would protect American Jews to the same extent to which all other American citizens are protected.”
Many expect this order to have a “big impact.” For instance, Alan Dershowitz, who has been described as a civil libertarian and prominent Jewish voice, celebrated the EO. He told Newsmax, “I’m glad that the president and the administration [are] taking action against non-American citizens who are not entitled to be in this country. They’re here as our guests, essentially with student visas, and they’re abusing it because so many of these anti-Israel demonstrations are, at their core, anti-American demonstrations.”
In addition to Dershowitz’s comments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly offered his gratitude to Trump for this recent move. On Thursday, Netanyahu posted on X, “On behalf of Israel and the Jewish people, I thank President [Donald Trump] for his executive order to fight antisemitism and support for terrorism on American campuses. Thank you, [president], for standing up for truth and justice.”
As far as cleaning up academic institutions goes, Trump didn’t stop at curbing anti-Semitism. For K-12 education, Trump signed an order that prohibits tax dollars from funding critical race theory (CRT) or gender ideology. The order describes the controversial teachings as “the indoctrination of children … in the classroom.” Allegedly, any school run by the Defense Department have 90 days to come up with a “strategy for ending” the indoctrination.
According to The Hill, “The order also reinstates the 1776 Commission Trump created in his first term, telling all executive agencies to ‘prioritize the advancement of patriotic education.’” Concerning radical gender ideology, the order also states that the U.S. attorney general must collaborate with state attorneys general and local district attorneys to “file actions against teachers and school officials who sexually exploit minors or practice medicine without a license through ‘social transition’ practices.”
Both of these recent EOs fulfill a promise Trump previously made, in which he stated he would “sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.” In celebration of these changes, Meg Kilgannon, Family Research Council’s senior fellow for Education Studies, commented to The Washington Stand, “President Trump’s executive order defunding schools that teach CRT and radical gender ideology is a welcome relief.”
“Parents send their children to school for academic instruction,” she added, “not to be indoctrinated in the latest social justice theories that contradict common sense. In particular, this EO provides relief to parents who risk being deceived by the local school if their child expresses gender confusion on campus.” Ultimately, “Social transition can no longer be practiced by teachers and school counselors unqualified to provide mental health therapy and certainly not without parental knowledge or consent.”
Concerning the anti-Semitism pushback, Kilgannon emphasized that “when foreign students insult the hospitality of the United States by harassing and even endangering Jewish students on campus, they forfeit the right to stay in the U.S.” She concluded, “We are grateful that President Trump understands this unique situation and addressed it.”
Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.