Trump escalates attacks against Smithsonian museums, says there's too much focus on 'how bad slavery was' [View all]

Source: CNN Politics

Updated Aug 19, 2025, 3:57 PM ET
PUBLISHED Aug 19, 2025, 3:50 PM ET



President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against museums and alleged “WOKE” exhibits on Tuesday, saying “everything” is centered on highlighting negative aspects of American history, including “how bad slavery was.” “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“We are not going to allow this to happen, and I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made,” he added.

Trump’s comments come days after the White House announced an unprecedented, sweeping review of the Smithsonian Institution, which runs the nation’s major public museums. The initiative, a trio of top Trump aides wrote in a letter to Smithsonian Institution secretary Lonnie Bunch III last week, “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 said the review would focus on public-facing content, the curatorial process to understand how work is selected for exhibits, current and future exhibition planning, the use of existing materials and collections and guidelines for narrative standards.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/19/politics/trump-slavery-museum-smithsonian

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Waste. Fraud. Abuse.

But remember that the "only" thing that we are supposed to focus on is "Price of eggs", "Kitchen table issues", "Working class". "Racism" is supposedly "a distraction".