Current Events > Trump admin purges Smithsonian of ''woke'' content

(+) Yeah! (+)

Trump administration cracks down on content at Smithsonian Institution
The administration is scouring the Washington museums for LGBTQ+ and other "woke" content.

The White House announced on Tuesday a sweeping review of content at the Smithsonian museums, another flex by President Donald Trump in his effort to rewrite American history to align with his own version of it.

The vetting process will include scouring wall text, websites, and social media for LGBTQ+ and other woke content in an assessment of tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals, according to a letter sent by administration officials to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III.

Smithsonian museums have 120 days to adjust content that the administration finds problematic, replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate and constructive descriptions.

The administration has already stripped National Park Service histories of references to the LGBTQ+ community.

The announcement is just the latest attack on the Congressionally chartered and ostensibly independent institution, which is nonetheless funded almost entirely by the federal government.

Trump laid out his revanchist vision of American history in March, when he issued an executive order titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.

The order claimed that the Smithsonian had come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology and that it promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.

Last month, bills were introduced by Trumps allies in the House and Senate that would codify the executive order into law.

Museum staff and curators can expect on-the-ground oversight within the next 30 days, the letter stated, including walk-throughs of current exhibitions by administration officials.

Among the institutions dozens of facilities, eight museums are the first targets of Trumps content crackdown, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Museum of American History, and the National Portrait Gallery.

The National Portrait Gallery has already been a casualty in the presidents war on woke. Even after the Smithsonian shut down its diversity office in March, following Trumps diktat banning DEI efforts across the federal government, the president went after the Gallerys director, Kim Sajet, whom he accused of partisanship and being a strong supporter of DEI. She resigned in May after Trump attempted to fire her, an authority he doesnt have under the Smithsonians charter.

In July, artist Amy Sherald withdrew her planned exhibition at the Gallery after officials at the museum attempted to remove her provocative painting Trans Forming Liberty from the show. The large portrait depicts a Black trans woman in a blue gown holding a torch sprouting flowers in a pose reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty.

Also in July, The Washington Post reported that a temporary placard containing references to Trump had been removed from an impeachment exhibit at the National Museum of American History, as part of an internal Smithsonian content review prompted by Trumps earlier attacks on the institution.

The museum later updated the display to restore context about Trumps two impeachments, following outcry from members of the public and several Democratic leaders.

The Smithsonian has long been a target of the presidents allies in Congress. In 2023, Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) excoriated Secretary Bunch in a hearing, claiming sexual material in a virtual drag queen story hour hosted by the American Art Museum was evidence of the targeting of children by the Smithsonian.

A GOP press release on the hearing went further, calling drag the Lefts indoctrination of our children.

The administrations latest salvo in the culture wars directs the Smithsonian to provide materials within 30 days, including catalogs and programs for all current exhibitions, digital files of all placards and gallery labels, and proposals for exhibitions over the next three years, a period coinciding with the presidents final departure from the White House.

In addition to rewriting history at the Smithsonian museums, Trump has taken over Washingtons Kennedy Center as the chair of the Kennedy Center Board, where hes putting his own garish stamp on culture in the nations capital.

On a Wednesday visit to the arts center, he announced hell be hosting the Kennedy Center Honors himself this December, inducting a new class of honorees including Rocky star Sylvester Stallone, the metal band Kiss, and country music artist George Strait. He rejected other potential honorees as woke.

It's not hard for me to get upset. I'm upset. These people are book burners and destroyers of knowledge/critical thinking.

I really do want to ask a MAGAt supporter what's good about what he's doing here? I really do want to hear the excuses.

It's not hard for me to get upset. I'm upset. These people are book burners and destroyers of knowledge/critical thinking.

They are literally barbarians.

This really is the dumbest presidency of all American time.

O/U 3 months until they dynamite the AA museum?

It's going to take a fucking lifetime to put things back the way they were before this waste of life got put back into power.

my god and we're only 7 months in.

You know, it would be absolutely thrilling if maybe one supposedly independent American institution had the balls to actually stand up to the Trump administration instead of just bending over the instant he snaps his fingers.

I really do want to ask a MAGAt supporter what's good about what he's doing here? I really do want to hear the excuses.

If friggen only...

Trump can't purge what's on the Internet. The minute Republicans lose power, we can put it right back out there.

They are happy to see you upset

Trump can't purge what's on the Internet. The minute Republicans lose power, we can put it right back out there.

They're already trying to control the internet right now because of this fact.

I really do want to ask a MAGAt supporter what's good about what he's doing here? I really do want to hear the excuses.

I really do want to ask a MAGAt supporter what's good about what he's doing here? I really do want to hear the excuses.

*Trump annouces he is going to do horrible thing*
"You guys are just fear mongering. He'll never actually do it"
*He does it*
"You guys are being ridiculous, people will stop it"
*No one stopis it*
"You guys are such drama queens, it's not actually that bad"
*It's worse*
"You guys are doomsayers! It'll just be undone in a minute."
*It can't be undone*
*Trump annouces new even worse thing he's about to do.*

Repeat every week for the past decade now.

i wish people would stop acting like fixing this is just a simple flick of a switch

we can MAYBE preserve photos of of members of the LGBT community who served in the military

but their uniform that was on display once trump has it burnt its gone forever

and not every piece of information is digitized even today

and even if it is digitized what happens when those websites with it are shut down

what is happening is terrifying and acting like its no big deal is getting rid of the only tiny shred of defense we have

Do we know for certain the content is being burned? Not that I'm at all doubtful, but rather tentatively hopeful whomever ends up taking any of it down might have the wisdom to hold onto it until a time a voice of rationality might restore it.

You know, it would be absolutely thrilling if maybe one supposedly independent American institution had the balls to actually stand up to the Trump administration instead of just bending over the instant he snaps his fingers.

Yeah, I really want someone to tell Trump to his face to go fuck himself.

He's a blight on humanity.

"promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive" it says. That's rich. Everything this group of shitstains has done is harmful and oppressive.

seriously this

as ive said constantly

people think the constitutions is a magical artifact that will use its divine powers to stop trump

Coming soon to the Smithsonian :

"The evil Indian invaders swept down from their ships to try to murder the peaceful White Native Americans of the land who lived in harmony with nature but our White Ancestors held back the evil hoard to save the country!!"