Trump's Culture War Targets America's Museums

GoldenBoy89 · Mar 29, 2025

Aryeh Jay said:
Around the world in 1860 world be the US, Brazil, Cuba, Porto Rico, and a handful of Dutch colonies. Most of the world abolished slavery decades earlier.

At least they were happy learning a trade.

Most of them didn’t need to fight a war over it either.

Hans Blaster · Mar 29, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
The order includes additional provisions seeking to reinstate public monuments, memorials and statues that were "removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology"

Welcome back, Confederate generals. Your value to this great nation (or at least the CSA) has been restored.

It looks like I'll have to keep Genl. Sherman as my avatar for a few more years...

essentialsaltes · Aug 1, 2025

wing2000 said:
The Administration is targeting the Smithsonian museums.

American history museum removes Trump's name from impeachment exhibit

(Reuters) - The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History has removed explicit reference to President Donald Trump from an exhibit about impeachment, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

The museum in Washington D.C. made the change as part of a review that it agreed to undertake following White House pressure to remove an art museum director, the Washington Post, which first reported the removal, cited a source as saying.

Facts don't care about Trump's feelings, but Trump can have facts removed from the Smithsonian.

essentialsaltes · Aug 1, 2025

Speaking of Trump's feelings and the Smithsonian...

The current controversy ... is a striking painting by African American contemporary artist Amy Sherald that reimagines the Statue of Liberty as a black transgender woman.

Earlier this month, Sherald, best known until now for her 2018 official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama, was advised that her work, Trans Forming Liberty, might upset US President Donald Trump – who in January issued an Executive Order recognising two sexes only – male and female – and therefore should not be included in her upcoming exhibition at the federally funded Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Rather than contemplate removing the work, Sherald decided to cancel the show altogether, citing "a culture of censorship".

essentialsaltes · Aug 3, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
American history museum removes Trump's name from impeachment exhibit

Trump will allegedly return to the impeachment display after the exhibit is updated in a few weeks. The Trump references were apparently a temporary addition to the previous display about Johnson, Nixon and Clinton, and now something more permanent is envisaged.

Smithsonian statement says the administration did not ask for any change or removal. [But of course the Administration has asked the Smithsonian to check all its content for bias.]

essentialsaltes · Aug 13, 2025

Stepping up the review of the Smithsonian.

White House orders review of Smithsonian museums and exhibits to ensure alignment with Trump directive

The White House is conducting a comprehensive internal review of exhibits and materials at the Smithsonian Institution – the organization that runs the nation’s major public museums – in an effort to comply with President Donald Trump’s directive about what should and shouldn’t be displayed.

The initiative, a trio of top Trump aides wrote in a letter to Smithsonian Institution secretary Lonnie Bunch III, “aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

The letter released Tuesday ... says the review will focus on public-facing content, the curatorial process to understand how work is selected for exhibit, current and future exhibition planning, the use of existing materials and collections, and guidelines for narrative standards.

The Smithsonian began a review of its own in June, and has repeatedly stressed its commitment to being nonpartisan. The institution told CNN in July that it was committed to an “unbiased presentation of facts and history” and that it would “make any necessary changes to ensure our content meets our standards.”

--

The [impeachment] exhibit now is set up in a way that places information about Trump’s two impeachments in a lower spot, with some changes to the placard’s text.

RocksInMyHead · Aug 13, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
Stepping up the review of the Smithsonian.

White House orders review of Smithsonian museums and exhibits to ensure alignment with Trump directive
The White House is conducting a comprehensive internal review of exhibits and materials at the Smithsonian Institution – the organization that runs the nation’s major public museums – in an effort to comply with President Donald Trump’s directive about what should and shouldn’t be displayed.

The initiative, a trio of top Trump aides wrote in a letter to Smithsonian Institution secretary Lonnie Bunch III, “aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

The letter released Tuesday ... says the review will focus on public-facing content, the curatorial process to understand how work is selected for exhibit, current and future exhibition planning, the use of existing materials and collections, and guidelines for narrative standards.

The Smithsonian began a review of its own in June, and has repeatedly stressed its commitment to being nonpartisan. The institution told CNN in July that it was committed to an “unbiased presentation of facts and history” and that it would “make any necessary changes to ensure our content meets our standards.”

--

The [impeachment] exhibit now is set up in a way that places information about Trump’s two impeachments in a lower spot, with some changes to the placard’s text.

Anything found to be counter to the administration's priorities will be tossed down the memory hole.

wing2000 · Aug 14, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
Stepping up the review of the Smithsonian.

White House orders review of Smithsonian museums and exhibits to ensure alignment with Trump directive
The White House is conducting a comprehensive internal review of exhibits and materials at the Smithsonian Institution – the organization that runs the nation’s major public museums – in an effort to comply with President Donald Trump’s directive about what should and shouldn’t be displayed.

The initiative, a trio of top Trump aides wrote in a letter to Smithsonian Institution secretary Lonnie Bunch III, “aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

The letter released Tuesday ... says the review will focus on public-facing content, the curatorial process to understand how work is selected for exhibit, current and future exhibition planning, the use of existing materials and collections, and guidelines for narrative standards.

The Smithsonian began a review of its own in June, and has repeatedly stressed its commitment to being nonpartisan. The institution told CNN in July that it was committed to an “unbiased presentation of facts and history” and that it would “make any necessary changes to ensure our content meets our standards.”

--

The [impeachment] exhibit now is set up in a way that places information about Trump’s two impeachments in a lower spot, with some changes to the placard’s text.

I hope the Smithsonian carefully documents any content that is removed during the Trump regime.

essentialsaltes · Friday at 10:15 AM

essentialsaltes said:
Stepping up the review of the Smithsonian.

White House orders review of Smithsonian museums and exhibits to ensure alignment with Trump directive

White House lists 20 objectionable Smithsonian exhibits, artworks

The decision to highlight more than a dozen exhibits and artworks as “woke” comes after Trump criticized the history museum for its depiction of slavery and its impact on Black Americans.

Many items featured on the White House list coincide with an articlepublished by The Federalist last week that called out the Smithsonian for “anti-American propaganda.”

The list itself

--

One item on it:

The National Museum of the American Latino describes the post-Mexican-American War California describes a “Californio” family losing their land to American “squatters.”

This is absolutely a thing that happened. Spanish land grants were not necessarily recognized and many Californios had their land stolen. Also, the description here is not very adequate. Squatter was the term used at the time, and comes from a title of a book published in the 19th century that is part of the exhibit on the printing press in the 1800s.

Likewise, the claim that the exhibit frames the "Mexican-American War as “the North American invasion” that was “unprovoked and motivated by pro-slavery politicians.”" leaves out the crucial context in the actual exhibit.

the Mexican-American War (1846–1848)—known by Mexicans as the North American Invasion. U.S. public opinion was divided over the war, with many considering it unprovoked and motivated to by pro-slavery politicians.

wing2000 · Friday at 11:11 AM

Well, you know, we can't offend the fragile white man in 2025.

Sif · Friday at 11:33 AM

For some reason this quote from George Orwell's 1984 came to mind: "Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia."

Hans Blaster · Friday at 12:16 PM

essentialsaltes said:
Likewise, the claim that the exhibit frames the "Mexican-American War as “the North American invasion” that was “unprovoked and motivated by pro-slavery politicians.”" leaves out the crucial context in the actual exhibit.

the Mexican-American War (1846–1848)—known by Mexicans as the North American Invasion. U.S. public opinion was divided over the war, with many considering it unprovoked and motivated to by pro-slavery politicians.

The whole bullet point from the WH includes the "Texas Revolution":

The National Museum of the American Latino characterizes the Texas Revolution as a “massive defense of slavery waged by ‘white Anglo Saxon’ settlers against anti-slavery Mexicans fighting for freedom, not a Texan war of independence from Mexico,” and frames the Mexican-American War as “the North American invasion” that was “unprovoked and motivated by pro-slavery politicians.”

Who does the WH think settled Texas from outside and why? It was slave drivers and others from the old SW (Miss, Ala, Tenn). It wasn't the Germans. German colonies started *after* Texas "independence".

SavedByGrace3 · Friday at 1:46 PM

wing2000 said:
Well, you know, we can't offend the fragile white man in 2025.

I think this is a simplistic, if not racist, view. We don't need to change history or mutate our culture into something it is not, especially on the taxpayer's dime. I do not want my taxes going into an institution that warps reality and portrays me as something evil. It is not fair, and it is not true. Hate is wrong in any context.

RocksInMyHead · Friday at 1:51 PM

SavedByGrace3 said:
I do not want my taxes going into an institution that warps reality and portrays me as something evil.

The fact that you think that talking about something negative in our country's past portrays you as evil in the present is telling.

wing2000 · Friday at 2:34 PM

SavedByGrace3 said:
I think this is a simplistic, if not racist, view. We don't need to change history or mutate our culture into something it is not, especially on the taxpayer's dime.

Nobody is "mutating our culture."
Nor is anyone "changing history."

SavedByGrace3 · Friday at 2:36 PM

wing2000 said:
Nobody is "mutating our culture."
Nor is anyone "changing history."

Not for a lack of trying. Happily, they are failing and doing that well.

durangodawood · Friday at 2:39 PM

History should make us feel good and reinforce loyalty to the state.

SavedByGrace3 · Friday at 2:44 PM

durangodawood said:
History should make us feel good and reinforce loyalty to the state.

It should at least be true. We have plenty to be ashamed of. But some want to diminish the good and exaggerate the bad. Just tell it like it is. We don't need to warp it for the benefit of current political winds.

ThatRobGuy · Friday at 3:52 PM

This is one of those unfortunately casualties of a culture war.

Under normal circumstances (I'll call "normal" 2013 and before because that was the last time I remember things being somewhat normal)

People didn't seem to have many objections to hearing about bads with the goods in terms of our history.

However, when there's a concerted effort to spend 10 years throwing the bads in everyone's faces across a multitude of mediums and injecting it into every discourse and dialog...people will eventually have some backlash against things they would have otherwise not minded.

Or to put it in more lay terms, there are some people who will have the reaction of:
"Y'know, my kids get to hear about how terrible Westernized white people are on TV shows, movies, music, commentary shows, social media, I'd like to be able to take my kids somewhere to learn about the good things about the country and the history"

...and the real irony in all this?, is that the conversations that are presented as "we need to have a honest no holds barred, no-nonsense conversation about slavery and its impact" often exclusively fixates on the historical sins of the one and only culture (Westernized/Euro) that doesn't still actively practice it.

Various forms of slavery (sex slavery, forced labor) still exist for 50 million people across ~150 different countries (in South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe)

durangodawood · Friday at 4:25 PM

ThatRobGuy said:
...and the real irony in all this?, is that the conversations that are presented as "we need to have a honest no holds barred, no-nonsense conversation about slavery and its impact" often exclusively fixates on the historical sins of the one and only culture (Westernized/Euro) that doesn't still actively practice it.

Various forms of slavery (sex slavery, forced labor) still exist for 50 million people across ~150 different countries (in South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe)

Making it legal that people could be property, and having that as the main economic basis for a whole region, and fighting a huge horrible war to maintain that setup really is another level. And then how such vicious racism persisted for so long afterward.

The whole matter (including the long grinding fight for justice) truly was defining for the character of our country in a way that these other "various forms" generally arent for other countries.

Trump's Culture War Targets America's Museums

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American history museum removes Trump's name from impeachment exhibit​

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American history museum removes Trump's name from impeachment exhibit​

Fact-Based Lifeform

White House orders review of Smithsonian museums and exhibits to ensure alignment with Trump directive​

God is innocent; Noah built on a floodplain!

White House orders review of Smithsonian museums and exhibits to ensure alignment with Trump directive​

E pluribus unum

White House orders review of Smithsonian museums and exhibits to ensure alignment with Trump directive​

Fact-Based Lifeform

White House orders review of Smithsonian museums and exhibits to ensure alignment with Trump directive​

White House lists 20 objectionable Smithsonian exhibits, artworks​

E pluribus unum

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