Museums are beacons of cultural and societal history, whether locally, nationally or globally. They are indispensable landmarks of the peoples’ collective pasts, showcasing the good and bad, the morally right and wrong, and the lessons that future generations can (and should) learn from, no matter how hard confronting the past can be.
But the current president does not believe in a history showcased in the Smithsonian museums that is not in his favor.
Earlier this week, the Trump Administration and White House called for a complete and “comprehensive internal review” of Smithsonian exhibitions in a letter sent to Smithsonian Institution secretary Lonnie Bunch III. The letter directs Secretary Bunch to conduct the review in compliance with the administration’s directive to display exhibits that fit the “American ideal” 一 also known as Trump’s version of American history.
The letter states: “This initiative 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.”
It also states that, in efforts to mark America’s 250th birthday next year, the museums should “begin implementing content corrections where necessary, replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate, and constructive descriptions across placards, wall didactics, digital displays, and other public-facing materials,” within 120 days.
In this case, “divisive or ideologically driven language” can very well be interpreted as anything anti-White Christian America (i.e., “woke”), meaning people may see changes in how the country’s history with slavery, civil rights, suffrage and more are discussed and showcased.
This marks Trump’s latest attempts to erase America’s ugly, corrupt and racist past under the guise of domestic unification and national pride, as well as another step towards an America being watched by Big Brother and his cult-like following.
The administration’s efforts to correct the language used to describe and explain history and theory, not only here with the Smithsonian museums but on numerous official government websites and within higher education research, is only a drop in the larger pond of moves that Trump and his bandwagon have made that make modern America feel more like Orwell’s Oceania.
The Administration, since Trump came into power this past January, has already made moves on at least five key governmental shifts to an Orwellian future, not including this effort to rewrite and undermine American history.
They have weakened numerous democratic institutions like the election system and organizations like USAID; they are grossly and unabashedly tearing away at the government's checks and balances through the Supreme Court and Congress’s bolstering of the executive branch and excessive military use; the violent suppression of peaceful protestation and free speech; DOGE’s numerous takeovers of federal agencies to surveil the public and their personal information; and the spread of harmful misinformation through the guise of combatting “wokeness.”
What’s next? Will a Ministry of Love be introduced in Washington where those who oppose Big Brother are shown his and The Party’s love, only to never be seen again? Will the non-white population become “unpersons” whose existences will be wiped from all records?
Only time and Big Brother will tell.