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White House: Smithsonian unworthy US stewards
A White House report accused the museum of painting an insufficiently ‘patriotic’ view of the United States
President Donald Trump’s Domestic Policy Council late Saturday issued a report criticizing the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution, and especially the National Museum of American History, for allegedly painting an insufficiently positive and “patriotic” view of the U.S. and its founding.
The Smithsonian leaders “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying and worthy of our great republic,” the report said.
Who said what
The Smithsonian “has long been regarded as independent of the executive branch,” The New York Times said, but Trump has tried to exert control over the world’s largest museum institution for more than a year. The report “comes in the midst of Trump’s aggressive campaign to overhaul some of Washington’s most sacred cultural and historic institutions,” The Associated Press said, and it indicates he “may be preparing to install his own team.”
Lonnie Bunch, the Smithsonian’s first Black leader, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday he was motivated by the “notion of being a more perfect union, not the perfect union,” and by the “responsibility to continue to make those aspirations available, accessible, meaningful to a whole range of people.”
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“For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so,” a Smithsonian spokesperson said in a statement.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
