US telcos are readily doing away with their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to gain the approval of the Trump administration and push ahead with various pieces of M&A. Verizon, a strong advocate of DEI practices, is the most recent to give up the ghost. It is a very different tale in Europe, where the European Commission is begging for the consolidation of its telcos, to little avail. To put it crudely, cold hard capitalists in the US may be ready to do away with their DEI principles for the next deal, but the Europeans are in a much more cautious position. The European Commission is desperate to see M&A. It believes that this is the path to build…