'It reminds you of a fascist state': Smithsonian Institution braces for Trump rewrite of US history

[erronis]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/30/smithsonian-institution-trump-executive-order

Normally staid historians sound alarm at authoritarian grasping for control of the premier US museum complex

n a brightly lit gallery, they see the 66m-year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex. In a darkened room, they study the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem. In a vast aviation hanger, they behold a space shuttle. And in a discreet corner, they file solemnly past the casket of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman in the US south.

Visitors have come in their millions to the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s biggest museum, education and research complex, in Washington for the past 178 years. On Thursday, Donald Trump arrived with his cultural wrecking ball.

The US president, who has sought to root out “wokeness” since returning to power in January, accused the Smithsonian of trying to rewrite history on issues of race and gender. In an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”, he directed the removal of “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology” from its storied museums.
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The move was met with dismay from historians who saw it as an attempt to whitewash the past and suppress discussions of systemic racism and social justice. With Trump having also taken over the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, there are fears that, in authoritarian fashion, he is aiming to control the future by controlling the past.

. . .

[2naSalit]

1. They should simply refuse.

I'm really anticipating the day that we the little people break out the pitchforks and use them.

[Irish_Dem]

2. They cannot refuse. Trump sends in the FBI and DC police who draw their guns

So Trump forces federal officials to comply at gunpoint.

[CanonRay]

3. Bet Emmet Till's coffin winds up in the basement

DEI doncha know.

[Solly Mack]

4. ...

[dweller]

5. So sick

of this f’n petty tyrant … what’s next ? He goes to Hollywood to destroy any film not fitting his ideological perversions ?
Will he find his Leni Riefenstahl to make a glorious rendition of January 6 -A Day of Love ?

🤬



✌🏻

[TheBlackAdder]

6. Cruise the dumpsters, we might be able to score Ameria Earhardt's cross Atlantic Ocean plane.

I'm saying this as a jest, but the Smithsonian has scores more items in non-public warehouses that will probably be stolen.

[calimary]

7. Hope all the important documents are locked away.

And totally unreachable by these goons.

There are, fortunately, MANY MANY copies and commentaries of all kinds. These goons will never find them all.

And THAT’S the priority for ALL of us right now.

[flashman13]

8. The Smithsonian is not a part of any of the 3 branches of government. It is governened by a Board of Regents.

Trump does not have the authority to dictate to the Smithsonian.

I am going to post this exert from the Smithsonian's website.

The Smithsonian Institution is a trust instrumentality of the United States, lawfully created by Congress in 1846 to exercise the authority of the United States in carrying out the responsibilities Congress undertook when it accepted the bequest of James Smithson "to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." Congress delegated the authority and responsibilities of the United States to the Smithsonian Board of Regents, initially comprised of fifteen members. The Board of Regents now has seventeen members: the Chief Justice, the Vice President, three members of the Senate, three members of the House of Representatives, and nine citizen members appointed by Joint Resolution of Congress.

Go screw yourself Donny.