Trump’s new executive order targets what he describes as a spread of “divisible, racially ideology” at museums.
President of the United States Donald Trump has announced plans to remove what he describes as “corrosive” anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian Association, the world’s largest museum facility.
In one of his latest executive orders, signed Thursday, entitled “Regaining Truth and Sanity in American History,” Trump was in charge of overseeing Vice President J.D. Vance’s changes to “return the Smithsonian facility to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness.”
“The Smithsonian Association has been under the influence of divisive, racially ideologies in recent years,” Trump’s executive order said.
The exhibit at the American Museum of Art and the National Museum of African American History and Culture was one of the Smithsonian institutions chosen in Trump’s order to promote “a tale depicting American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”
“The museums in our nation’s capital should be a place for individuals to learn, and should not be exposed to the divisive narratives that distort ideological indoctrination or our shared history,” the executive order said.
The Washington, D.C.-based agency includes 21 individual museums and a National Zoo. Most popular are the National Museum of Natural History and the Museum of American History. Vance is a member of the Smithsonian Institute’s Board of Directors.
“It is my administration’s policy to restore a federal site dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to a sturdy and uplifting public monument that reminds Americans of our extraordinary heritage and reminds us that we are ignoring consistent progress to become a more perfect union, and that we are ignoring records that have advanced freedom, prosperity and human prosperity,” says Order.
The move against the Smithsonian follows a similar one by Trump in February, overhauling programming at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Similarly, the President was appointed chairman to oversee change.
Since taking office in January, Trump has reversed policies in favour of “diversity, equity, inclusion” (better known for the acronym Dei).
Trump and other Republicans also want to reverse the spread of “critical racial theory.” This explores how racism is unique to American institutions. This theory has gained mainstream acceptance in recent years, particularly at museums and university campuses, following the major racial calculations that occurred in 2020 when police killed George Floyd, a black American man.
Under Trump’s executive order, the Smithsonian will be banned from hosting or funding exhibits that “share American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs and ideologies that are certainly federal law and policy.”
The Women’s History Museum, still under development, was also prohibited from holding exhibitions celebrating trans women.
The executive order called for the restoration of “a federal site dedicated to history, including parks and museums.” It suggests that hundreds of Confederate monuments and symbols have been defeated since 2020 in some parts of the United States.
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