President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at removing what he calls "divisive, race-centered ideology" from Smithsonian museums. The order targets critical race theory and similar concepts, asserting that these ideas have no place in the nation’s cultural institutions. Trump’s move is positioned as an effort to ensure that the Smithsonian remains a place for educational enrichment, free from political agendas that push for division and promote racial discord.
This week, Trump targeted the “improper ideology” found at Smithsonian museums, blaming the Biden administration for implementing “corrosive ideology” at museums such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The exhibit claims that “hard work,” “individualism,” and “the nuclear family” are part of a “white culture.”
The Executive Order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to determine whether any “public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties” were “removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology” during the Biden administration. It also states that the shift has “promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”
The “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” order states that the revision of history that portrays America’s legacy of advancing liberty and individual rights is flawed and oppressive. Trump’s order argues that such revisions deepen societal divides, promote national shame, and ignore America's progress and the ideals that still inspire people worldwide.
For instance, the Smithsonian American Art Museum currently features “The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture,” an exhibit representing that “[s]ocieties including the United States have used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.” The exhibit claims that “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism,” promoting the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct.
Trump directed Vice President JD Vance to lead the effort to “remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage.” He will appoint board members who are “committed to advancing the celebration of America’s extraordinary heritage and progress.”
