White House alleges Smithsonian promotes

A new White House report claims that the Smithsonian Institute, notably the National Museum of American History, is full of radical activists who can’t be trusted, hinting that President Donald Trump might appoint his own group.

The report, issued by the White House Domestic Policy Council on July 4, is in line with Trump’s efforts to reshape the cultural and historic establishments in Washington, D.C. Earlier this 12 months, Trump had hinted at his intention to make adjustments at the Smithsonian with an govt order, aimed at cutting funding for packages selling “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.”

“The Smithsonian Institution, and the National Museum of American History in particular, under its current leadership and current interpretive ideology, cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic,” read the report, overseen by a former Trump speechwriter.

“As this report shows, confirmed in the words of Museum leadership, this ideological capture has moved the Museum’s mission away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.”

According to the report, an inside anti-racist toolkit produced in 2019 for employees of the National Museum of the American Indian is evidence of how the Smithsonian goals to “transform” museums into anti-white establishments.

Lonnie Bunch is the Smithsonian’s first African American to lead the establishment. In an unrelated interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Bunch said “the notion of being a more perfect union, not the perfect union, is really what motivates me.”

“I think what I want people to understand is that there is a responsibility to continue to make those aspirations available, accessible, meaningful to a whole range of people,” Bunch continued. “And that, in essence, America’s greatest strength, it’s not running away from its history, but it’s understanding how that history shaped us and continues to shape us.”

Trump’s efforts to drive adjustments at the establishment are his latest transfer to remodel cultural pillars of society, such as universities and artwork, that he considers out of step with conservative ideologies.

The president put in himself as the chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the objective of overhauling it with his own handpicked board. He tried to add his title to the building, but a federal choose later ordered the signage to be eliminated.

The Trump administration also compelled Columbia University to make a number of coverage adjustments by threatening to withhold a number of hundred million {dollars} in federal funding. The president has been accused of whitewashing the historical past of slavery after imposing a number of adjustments on historic websites exterior of Washington, including the home of former President George Washington.

Advocates, lecturers, and officers have expressed concern that the adjustments in Trump’s orders may painting a historical past that downplays American atrocities in favor of a more triumphant view. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro accused Trump and his allies of attempting to “rewrite history.”

“There’s not one individual narrative that a president gets about our history,” Shapiro told GWN. “And any president should want to make sure that that full history is shared, that the American people are able to draw their own conclusions.”

He added, “If we understand where we came from, we’re going to have a better path forward.”

However, Trump’s Domestic Policy Council disagrees, writing in its report that the National Museum of American History “confronts visitors with materials intended to undermine faith in American institutions and the longstanding shared ideals of the American people.”

“We must be committed to restoring truth and sanity in how American history is presented and taught.”

To fulfill Trump’s order, which he called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” the review discovered that the museum, “by the intention and at the direction of current Museum and Smithsonian leadership, has become subject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.”