Trump executive order on Smithsonian targets funding for programs with ‘improper ideology’

 The exhibit further claims that “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism” and promotes the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct, stating “Race is a human invention.”

Trump is now on record as saying that race is not a social construct, but rather a biological reality. That puts him squarely in line with a group of people who can be described as "race realists" , in other words the people who promote the use of IQ to create a racial hierarchy. 

... just like his hero did in back in germany in the 30's.

Soon our kids will be taught that Jefferson Davis was a civil rights leader. 

Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History – The White House

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section   1 .    Purpose and Policy .   Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.  This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.  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.  Rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame, disregarding the progress America has made and the ideals that continue to inspire millions around the globe.

The prior administration advanced this corrosive ideology.  At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — where our Nation declared that all men are created equal — the prior administration sponsored training by an organization that advocates dismantling “Western foundations” and “interrogating institutional racism” and pressured National Historical Park rangers that their racial identity should dictate how they convey history to visiting Americans because America is purportedly racist. 

Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.  This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.  For example, the Smithsonian American Art Museum today features “The Shape of Power:  Stories of Race and American Sculpture,” an exhibit representing that “[s]ocieties including the United States have used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.”  The exhibit further claims that “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism” and promotes the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct, stating “Race is a human invention.”

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has proclaimed that “hard work,” “individualism,” and “the nuclear family” are aspects of “White culture.”  The forthcoming Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum plans on celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women’s sports.  These are just a few examples.

It is the policy of my Administration to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing.  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.

To advance this policy, we will restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness –- igniting the imagination of young minds, honoring the richness of American history and innovation, and instilling pride in the hearts of all Americans.

Sec .   2 .    Saving Our Smithsonian .  (a)  The Vice President, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Lindsey Halligan, Esq., shall work to effectuate the policies of this order through his role on the Smithsonian Board of Regents with respect to the Smithsonian Institution and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo, including by seeking to remove improper ideology from such properties, and shall recommend to the President any additional actions necessary to fully effectuate such policies.

(b)  The Vice President and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall work with the Congress to ensure that future appropriations to the Smithsonian Institution:

(i)   prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy; and

(ii)  celebrate the achievements of women in the American Women’s History Museum and do not recognize men as women in any respect in the Museum.

(c)  The Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the Interior shall take any other measures within their authority to promote the policy of this order.

(d)  As appropriate, the Vice President shall, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Lindsey Halligan, Esq., work with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate Majority Leader, to seek the appointment of citizen members to the Smithsonian Board of Regents committed to advancing the policy of this order.

Sec .   3 .    Restoring Independence Hall .    The Secretary of the Interior shall provide sufficient funding, as available, to improve the infrastructure of Independence National Historical Park, which shall be complete by July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Sec .   4 .    Restoring Truth in American History .

(a)  The Secretary of the Interior shall:

(i)    determine whether, since January 1, 2020, public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction have been removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology;

(ii)   take action to reinstate the pre-existing monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties, as appropriate and consistent with 43 U.S.C. 1451   et seq. , 54 U.S.C. 100101   et seq. ,and other applicable law; and

(iii)  take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.

Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. 

I love how they call everything by the names of what they are themselves trying to achieve.

[deleted][✘]

Angry Old White Christian Man Syndrome?

I don't think AOWCMS is going to catch on.

Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History – The White House

More bizarre and self oblivious words have never been spoken by an American president. 

The order also calls for improvements to Independence Hall in Philadelphia by July 4, 2026, in time for the   250th anniversary   of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

OH THE HORROR!!!!!!!

Did someone take issue with that? The rest of the directives are 1984 echoes.

The fact it's rolled up in a "but Trruuummmmppppp" whining article, I imagine there are some that would.

This is the most openly anti-diversity proclamation I've ever seen.  Mao would be proud of him. 

... 'hopefully' you have a stronger suit to play than your imagination, the Muses can get quite bitchy about an overplayed hand.

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  The "but Trruuummmmppppp" whining getting tiresome.

No one forced you to look.

The "but Trruuummmmppppp" whining getting tiresome.

As does the vapid acceptance for whatever brutish thing he does. But hey you can always trumpet the renovations along with those at the Kennedy Center as 'infrastructure week redux'.

Don't we all bleed red? Isn't everyone's organs in the same place? Don't we all walk on 2 feet? Race is a human construct

Everybody is pink, on their insides...

Democrats politicize something using tax payer dollars. 

republicans notice and try to depoliticize it.

Democrats throw a tantrum about republicans being divisive snd  politicizing something.

the same story for the last 30 years

(i)    determine whether, since January 1, 2020, public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction have been removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology; (ii)   take action to reinstate the pre-existing monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties, as appropriate and consistent with 43 U.S.C. 1451   et seq. , 54 U.S.C. 100101   et seq. ,and other applicable law; and

Trump wants the Dept Of The Interior to reinstall Confederate statues. Please dont make us all laugh by claiming that is not political.  He's about a half step away from banning Black History from every school. This is a man that thought Frederick Douglas was alive 135 years after he died. He is an historical ignoramus and you know it. 

Great.  I do hope they put the statues back up.  The statues  are indeed about historical figures in history, no one said they were about perfect people.  Just because a bunch of liberals decided it was time to be offended (after 100 years in some cases) they should not be allowed to change history or dictate statues,  the names of schools, sports teams, army bases etc. just because it offends their delicate sensibilities.

The Confederacy was the first white supremacist nation in world history. Dont take my word for it, the vice president of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens, bragged about it. 

Do you have any idea what the Lost Cause movement was ? 

Let's celebrate slavery!!!!

Sure.  Doesn't change the facts in my comment

Go ahead.  That has nothing to do with my comment.  Next I expect the racist  accusation.  Please don't let me down.

The Confederacy was the first white supremacist nation in world history.

Thank you Democrats.

Alexander Stephens

Poliltical party

• Whig (1836 - 50)

• Union (1850 - 54)

• Democrat (1854 - 61, 1865 - 83)

en.wikipedia

Look at that...the party of racism (Democrat) lineage.

Do you have any idea what the Lost Cause movement was ? 

Democrats.

Historically accurate but culturally obtuse.

but culturally obtuse.

Not my problem to work through.

[deleted] [✘] Lack of historical definition (i.e. what happened and when it happened) is just what the Trump Administration is going for.

[deleted][✘]

“Not my problem to work through.”

Sadly, the trumpist mantra.

Context? Facts? Unintended consequences? Merely impediments that can be overcome by pointing a crooked finger at anyone or anything else. 

The statues  are indeed about historical figures in history

Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss is a historical figure, there's a nice empty spot at Auschwitz right behind Canada House and another at the gates of Birkenau. Hey, maybe Jon McNaughton is also a sculptor. 

Where were their  statues that were taken down in the US?

they should not be allowed to change history

So, first of all, the history of slavery, Jim Crow discrimination, and white supremacy - as well as the struggle to overcome those things - is the history of the United States.

or dictate statues,  the names of schools, sports teams, army bases etc. just because it offends their delicate sensibilities.

You might not be aware of this, but some of those things were put in place specifically to offend people and advance white supremacy.

"These statues were meant to create legitimate garb for white supremacy," Grossman said. "Why would you put a statue of Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson in 1948 in Baltimore?"… Thousands of Marylanders fought in the Civil War, as NPR's Bill Chappell noted , but nearly three times as many fought for the Union as for the Confederacy.

Still want to advocate for these things?

You might not be aware of this, but some of those things were put in place specifically to offend people and advance white supremacy.

And it only took 100 years for it to offend people, many of them that didn't even actually ever see them.

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And it only took 100 years for it to offend people

It would save us all time if people googled a claim before making it. Your claim here is an example of what I mean. It took me 10 seconds to find out that Robert E Lee, himself opposed confederate statues.

Robert E. Lee opposed Confederate monuments

In his writings, Lee cited multiple reasons for opposing such monuments, questioning the cost of a potential Stonewall Jackson monument, for example. But underlying it all was one rationale: That the war had ended, and the South needed to move on and avoid more upheaval. “As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated,” Lee wrote of an 1866 proposal, “my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; [and] of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour.”

Others have also been objecting for 100 years and more.

Black Protesters Have Been Rallying Against Confederate Statues for Generations

Frederick Douglass called them “monuments of folly,” and when the enormous statue was unveiled to Robert E. Lee in Richmond in 1890, an African American journalist criticized the effort to honor a man who had “bound himself under oath to support and . . . extend the accursed institution of human slavery.” Today’s Black-led movement to tear down Confederate idolatry also mirrors the case, 55 years ago, when, in 1966, young protestors in Tuskegee, Alabama, exacted their frustrations on the town’s Confederate monument when a white man was acquitted of murdering 21-year-old Sammy Younge, Jr.

Historically accurate but culturally obtuse.

When I lived in SC all of the butt hurt white people were Republicans still fighting the lost cause.

When I got to know the towns history, it turns out that all of the original inhabitants left for Texas and Oklahoma before the Union Army arrived and only one family returned to pick up the pieces.

When I got to know some of the neighbors they all sheepishly admitted that their grandfathers and in some cases grandmothers were carpetbaggers from the Great Lake's states.

Everyone else were white military veterans who more or less inherited the sense that they lost something.

The black veterans just shook their heads and said thank God they have military pensions.

Look at that...the party of racism (Democrat) lineage.

Got anything from this millennium? 

republicans notice and try to depoliticize it.

MAGA already banning "Degenerate Art" huh?

The pussy grabbing Degenerate in Chief is calling the shots.

Attacking the arts and humanities, literature and education, judicial precedents and health services…all in the name of police state policies couched in intellectual and moral vacuousness is the dark ages revisited.