US President Donald Trump has intensified his attempts to remove content from cultural institutions that opposed his political agendas, claiming museums were too focused on highlighting negative aspects of American history, including “how bad slavery was.”
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump directed his attorneys to conduct a review of museums, comparing the effort to his crackdown on universities across the country.
“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” Trump wrote.
He was referring to the Smithsonian Institution, an independent organization that operates 17 museums, galleries and a zoo located across the US, which receives public funding.
The remarks follow the White House’s recent announcement of a broad, unprecedented examination of the federally-run Smithsonian museums. The stated goal of the initiative is to guarantee that the institutions’ content supports the US president’s call to “celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
The White House has asked the Smithsonian to provide a wide array of materials, from internal emails and memos to digital copies of all placards and gallery labels currently on display.
According to Janet Marstine, an expert in museum ethics, the requirements issued by the Trump administration “set the Smithsonian up for failure.”
“Nobody could provide those kinds of materials in such a comprehensive way, in that short amount of time, and so it’s just an impossible task,” she added.
A White House official, asked about the attorney review process Trump described, said the US president “will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable.”
Woke is an adjective derived from African-American English used since the 1930s or earlier to refer to awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination, often in the construction stay woke.
The Trump administration’s push to link federal cultural funding to its ideology had a national impact, with agencies revoking millions in grants this year. This affected local museums, libraries, arts programs, and academic research across the country.
Earlier this year, through an executive order, Trump tasked Vice President JD Vance with cutting federal funding for museum displays opposing his administration’s views. He also appointed Lindsey Halligan, a former lawyer from his personal legal team, to help root out “improper ideology” at the institution.
”Museums in our nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to divisive narratives,” the executive order said.
The move against the Smithsonian is part of a broader pattern for Trump, who has repeatedly sought to leverage federal power to force educational and cultural institutions to conform to his political agenda.
His administration has moved to strip funding from universities over issues like alleged anti-Semitism and non-compliance, freezing billions from Harvard and securing a $220 million settlement from Columbia.