After neo-Nazis rioted in Charlottesville in 2017, the head of diversity at the Department of Veterans Affairs wanted to strongly condemn it. She was blocked by a top Trump appointee in the department, as Trump himself was both-sidesing white supremacist violence.
Georgia Coffey, the deputy assistant secretary for diversity and inclusion at the time, drafted remarks saying that Charlottesville was “a tragic reminder that our work in civil rights and inclusion is not finished,” and highlighting federal anti-discrimination policies. She was told that John Ullyot, the assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs, “does not want to post the message.” Coffey pressed the issue, and Ullyot tried to get her to water down her message. She pushed back again. In the end:
Coffey’s staff worried that she would get in trouble if she disregarded Ullyot’s guidance, according to other emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group that first publicized the episode last year. The staff suggested that she should tone down her remarks, but Coffey declined. She posted the full remarks under her name in the monthly newsletter posted online by VA’s diversity office. Agency officials removed it and reprimanded her. She retired soon after.
They reprimanded the diversity and inclusion officer for pressing for diversity and inclusion in the wake of white supremacist violence. That doesn’t say anything we didn’t know about the Trump administration, but it’s a good one-sentence summary of where they stand.