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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJD Vance is now in charge of making museums racist
President Donald Trump launched a new attack on a revered American institution on Thursday night—a habit of his—with an executive order instructing Vice President JD Vance to begin purging the revered Smithsonian Institution of exhibits that do not align with Trump’s vision of white male supremacy.
The Smithsonian is a group of museums mostly located in Washington, D.C., and a zoo that are revered and respected around the world for preserving American history and culture. The attractions are one of the crown jewels of America’s capital city and one of the primary reasons more than 25 million people visit Washington each year.
Trump wants to change that.
In his executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” Trump falsely argues that the Smithsonian is part of a “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/28/2313070/-JD-Vance-is-now-in-charge-of-making-museums-racist?detail=emailrecap

Paladin
(30,062 posts)I'm sure he's happy; it's the rest of our country that's fucked...
LetMyPeopleVote
(161,471 posts)The directive accused the Biden administration of using the Smithsonian to advance what it described as a “corrosive” ideology.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3llguot65zs2k
What could possibly go wrong?
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-order-targets-improper-ideology-smithsonian-institution-rcna198535
As the week neared its end, one specific museum — by some measures, the nation’s most famous — was apparently on the president’s mind. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday taking aim at the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers. Trump directed Vice President JD Vance to eliminate ‘improper, divisive, or anti-American’ ideology from programs at the Smithsonian Institution, which receives federal funding.
The same order accused the Biden administration of, among other things, using the Smithsonian to advance what the Republican president described as a “corrosive” ideology.
How does the White House define words such as “improper,” “divisive,” “anti-American” and “corrosive” in an ideological context? The order didn’t say. Presumably, Trump knows it when he sees it.
He went on to characterize the Smithsonian as an institution that was “once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement” — before it fell victim to a nefarious ideology that Trump considers “divisive.”.....
It comes on the heels of Trump’s recent takeover of the Kennedy Center, part of which included his desire to see the arts institution put on productions in line with his cultural vision.
Perhaps the president can expedite matters by creating some kind committee to examine content he considers un-American?
The title on the White House’s order said the directive is intended to restore “sanity to American history.” Given the circumstances, “sanity” is not the word that comes to mind.
royable
(1,424 posts)With diversity comes strength.
GiqueCee
(2,112 posts)That evil sonofabitch has NO right to dictate the nature of its exhibits. And if they cave in to his bigoted whims, I will end my support and cancel my subscription. I almost wish there was an omnipotent Sky Daddy, so he could cancel Trump's membership in the human race.