United States President Donald Trump said that hiring in the US will be based on merit and the country "will no longer be woke".
"We have ended the tyranny of the so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government, the private sector and the military and our country will be woke no longer," Trump said in his first address to Congress after returning to power for the second term.
"Our country will be woke no longer. 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 skills and competence, not race or gender," he said, in an all-out attack against wokeism. "Wokeness is trouble, wokeness is bad, it's gone and we feel so much better for it, don't we?" he said.
Trump said his administration also dismissed Biden-era lawsuits against police and fire departments that were portrayed as racist for using writing tests, physical exams, and credit checks in their hiring processes.
Listing multiple diversity programmes funded by the US in several parts of the world and launching a no-holds-barred attack on the Joe Biden regime, Trump said the country had suffered its worst inflation in 48 years and his top priority was to rescue the economy.
Less than two months in the top post, the 78-year-old said he is "just getting started" and that "America is back".
"Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America. From that moment on it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country," he said.
"We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started. Our spirit is back, our pride is back, and our confidence is back and American Dream is surging bigger and better than ever before. The American dream is unstoppable and our country is on the verge of a comeback, the likes of which has never witnessed and perhaps will never witness again," he added.
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