President Trump recently signed Executive Order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” taking aim at the Smithsonian museums for curating exhibits that twist and disparage American history.
The order states:
[T]he Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.
The statement is obviously true to anyone who has walked into a Smithsonian recently. The order cites as evidence an exhibit mounted recently by the Smithsonian American Art Museum entitled “The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture,” which asserts that “[s]ocieties including the United States have used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.”
It could have cited many more; the fixation on identity runs throughout the Smithsonian.
The Women’s History Museum has an internship entitled “Because of Her Story,” one of whose projects is called “Engaging Marginalized Genders in STEM Learning” and asks applicants, “Are you passionate about promoting diversity and inclusivity in STEM education?”
An exhibit at the National Museum of American History called “Entertainment Nation” is relentless. One display on immigration reads, “in solidarity with the Latinx community, the Phoenix Suns basketball team challenged Arizona’s new immigration law on the court,” because “in 2010 Arizona empowered police to question anyone on their immigration status, in effect targeting any Spanish-speaking person with brown skin.” The exhibit features special jerseys worn by the local team as a protest.
[RELATED: ‘Linguistic White Supremacy’: The Left’s New Crusade Against the English Language]
Another display contains a costume from the 2017 series The Handmaid’s Tale. The accompanying text proclaims, “The show became a platform for conversations about women’s political—and sexual—rights, and it raised a question: How far will patriarchy push women before they start a revolution?”
A display of Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad’s mask and head covering states, “In the summer of 2016, presidential candidate Donald Trump and cable news pundits rekindled a post-9/11 debate about the loyalty of Muslim Americans.” Muhammad’s mask, which featured stars and stripes, was held up as an act of political resistance. There’s a discussion of old American circuses, too, which sounds like a fun activity for families, but it’s not. According to the curators, with their exotic animals, circuses “expressed the colonial impulse to claim dominion over the world.” Throughout the exhibit, the Spanish language is used, on equal footing with English. People from around the world, speaking many different languages, visit the Smithsonian every year and are accommodated with museum guides in their language of choice. It is clear why Spanish is featured so prominently: to express the Smithsonian’s anti-colonial principles.
Open the Books acquired a list of the exhibit’s curatorial team. One of them has a prominent social media presence, Ryan Lintelman, who expresses his abhorrence of the Trump administration and appreciation for “diversity, equity, and inclusion” ideology repeatedly on his BlueSky account. Lintelman took a “restorative day” of “self care and community” after Trump won last November. It is no surprise that what should have been an informative and fun exhibit on American entertainment is a tiresome lecture on privilege, power, and the virtue of left-wing idols.
No more of that, the order decrees.
From now on, the Smithsonian and other Federal sites with a historical purpose will present “solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage.” Trump’s EO will “prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
The Smithsonian gets roughly $1 billion yearly from Congress to run 21 museums, a zoo, and nine research facilities. Most museums are in Washington, D.C., attracting millions of people a year who are interested in American history and culture. While opponents claim Trump is gutting these museums, he’s saving taxpayers from partisan lectures funded by their own paychecks. This EO will breathe new life into these exhibits and renew excitement in the museums.
Image: “National Museum of American History” by Another Believer on Wikimedia Commons
“How far will patriarchy push women before they start a revolution?”
How far will DEI push men before they start a revolution?!?
If the question is to be asked, this is the one that ought to be asked…