The Smithsonian Under Siege: Trump’s Latest Assault on American History

The Smithsonian Museum of American History has long been a beacon of scholarship and objectivity. However, President Trump’s latest executive order seeks to change that by installing warning signs outside the museum, informing visitors that they will be subjected to “inaccurate information.” These signs point readers to locations and resources for “accurate information regarding America’s history,” but it is clear what this is really about: suppressing narratives that challenge Trump’s worldview.

Historians are quick to point out the irony in this move. The Smithsonian has a long tradition of presenting American history in its multifaceted complexity, from the struggles of Native Americans to the impact of slavery and racism. This approach has always been driven by scholarship, not ideology. Yet Trump’s order accuses the institution of peddling “social justice” and “radical transformation,” as if these were pejorative terms.

The White House report that preceded this order is telling in its language. It dismisses the Smithsonian leadership for not presenting American history as a “shared national inheritance.” In reality, this means Trump wants to erase any aspect of American history that makes him uncomfortable – and by extension, America itself.

This is not a new development. Trump’s efforts to “restore truth and sanity” to American history date back to 2025, when he issued an executive order aimed at scrubbing national parks and federally-managed lands of anything deemed “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.” National Park Service workers were tasked with reviewing every sign and brochure, as well as watching every film produced by the parks. The result was a sanitization of history that would have made even the most fervent propagandist proud.

The impact has been far-reaching. Native American histories have been erased or watered down in many national park exhibits. Trump’s ideological cleansing also extends to the military, where Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has barred military members from celebrating Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

In schools on military bases, hundreds of books have been removed from libraries because they promoted “gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.” This is exactly what Trump meant by his call for “truth and sanity” – suppressing any narrative that challenges his narrow vision of America.

The pushback has already begun. A federal judge ruled against Trump’s order in October 2025, demanding the return of books removed from school libraries. Now, with these warning signs outside the Smithsonian, we’re seeing another chapter in this never-ending culture war.

What does it say about America that its president feels the need to install warning signs outside a museum? That he believes the public can’t be trusted to think for themselves? Or is it something more insidious – an attempt to control the narrative, to dictate what Americans should and shouldn’t know about their own history?

Either way, this is a dark moment for American democracy. The Smithsonian may resist these signs, but the real battle will be fought in our minds. Will we let Trump’s ideology define how we think about America’s past? Or will we stand up for the kind of scholarship that allows us to grapple with complexity and nuance?

The stakes are high. As this drama unfolds, one thing is clear: the Smithsonian is just a pawn in a much larger game – a struggle for control over our collective memory.