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Trump executive order on Smithsonian targets funding for ‘improper ideology’ Trump executive order on Smithsonian targets funding for ‘improper ideology’
(about 13 hours later)
JD Vance to lead plan as Trump says there’s been ‘concerted’ effort to rewrite US history with ‘distorted narrative’JD Vance to lead plan as Trump says there’s been ‘concerted’ effort to rewrite US history with ‘distorted narrative’
Donald Trump revealed his intentions to reshape the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order on Thursday that targets funding to programs with “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology”. Donald Trump has ordered an overhaul to the Smithsonian Institution, claiming he will “eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology” from the world’s largest museum, education and research complex.
The president said there has been a “concerted and widespread” effort over the past decade to rewrite US history by replacing “objective facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth”. In an executive order issued on Thursday, the president said there had been a “concerted and widespread” effort over the past decade to rewrite US history by replacing “objective facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth”.
He signed an executive order putting JD Vance in charge of an effort to “remove improper ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution, including its museums, education and research centers and the National Zoo. The order directs JD Vance, the vice-president, to “remove improper ideology” from the Smithsonian’s museums, education and research centers and the National zoo.
Trump’s order specifically names the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Women’s history museum, which is in development. It also directs Vance to ensure that the American Women’s History Museum does not “recognize men as women in any respect”.
“Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn – not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,” the order said. In language that reflected Republican talking points often heard on rightwing news channels, Trump claimed the US had witnessed an effort to “rewrite history”.
Representatives for the Smithsonian did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. “Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed,” the president said.
The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex. It consists of 21 museums and the National Zoo. Eleven museums are located along the National Mall in Washington. Trump’s order pointed to an exhibit at the American Art Museum, titled: The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture.
The institution was established with funds from James Smithson, a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge”. Trump said the exhibit “claims that the United States has ‘used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement’”.
On Thursday, Trump also created the “DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force” by executive order. It will be chaired by Stephen Miller, the US homeland security adviser. He added that the exhibit “promotes the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct”. Trump complained that the exhibit uses the phrase: “Race is a human invention.”
According to the order, the task force will coordinate with local officials on such things as enforcing federal immigration law, including deporting people living illegally in the city, boost the law enforcement presence, and increase the speed and lower the cost of processing applications to carry concealed weapons. Trump also appeared to suggest that Confederate-era names and statues, many of which have been removed in recent years, could be reissued to parks and memorials.
The order also calls for removing graffiti and taking other steps to beautify the city. “The Order also directs the Secretary of the Interior restore federal parks, monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties that have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history or improperly minimize or disparage certain historical figures or events,” Trump said.
Trump has talked often about his desire to make the city safer and prettier. The Smithsonian Institution was established with funds from James Smithson, a British scientist who left his estate to the US to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge”.
On Thursday, Trump also created the “DC safe and beautiful task force” by executive order. It will be chaired by Stephen Miller, the US homeland security adviser.
According to the order, the taskforce will coordinate with local officials on such matters as enforcing federal immigration law, including deporting people living illegally in the city, boosting law enforcement presence, and increasing the speed and lowering the cost of processing applications to carry concealed weapons.