Art is only free speech if Trump says so

In Donald Trump’s world, nothing says freedom like targeting art and museums.

In the wake of recent attacks on the Smithsonian’s choice to feature more than just straight, white artists, the White House has created a detailed list of artists it deems too woke. 

“This is ‘art’ from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery commemorating the act of illegally crossing the ‘exclusionary’ border,” a White House X account wrote alongside a painting by Rigoberto A. Gonzalez. 

“This is what President Trump means when he says the Smithsonian is ‘OUT OF CONTROL.’”

The painting in question features a realistic depiction of a family of four at the southern border wall as a mother, holding a baby in her arms, scales a ladder.  

But the White House didn’t stop there. 

In this June 25, 2018 photo, visitors sit near a print by Mexican-American, Los Angeles-based artist Ken Gonzales-Day, who was exhibiting his 2006 series "Erased Lynchings" at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, which shows a series of photographs of lynchings in which the victim has been digitally removed from the image.

In their attempt to drive home the right-wing talking point of how crazy and woke the Smithsonian truly is, officials created an entire webpage listing out each piece of art featured at the museum at one time or another that crossed some imaginary line. 

The list, it appears, only includes artists who depict people of color or queer individuals. And predictably, the administration made it a point to bash artists who featured immigrants as well. 

“A exhibit [sic] at the American History Museum depicts migrants watching Independence Day fireworks ‘through an opening in the U.S.-Mexico border wall’ and says America’s founders ‘feared non-White immigration,’” the White House wrote. 

It seems as if the administration takes issue with the statement that the founders painted non-white immigrants in a negative light. Then again, the Trump regime labeled Venezuelan immigrants with no criminal record as dangerous gang members before throwing them into a foreign prison that’s notorious for torturing inmates.

The artwork’s description also points out how Latin American immigrants are often labeled as “invaders.” And with an administration and president insistent on calling them “illegal aliens” while making sweeping generalizations that immigrants coming from the southern border are murderers and rapists, the shoe sure does seem to fit.

Related | How is the White House erasing history this week?

But it’s not just messaging on immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community that MAGA is fuming over. 

Trump’s minions also pushed to make sure that the Smithsonian wiped any mention of the president’s two impeachments from an exhibit. Public outcry and critical media coverage resulted in the exhibit being restored—but with new, softer language describing Trump’s transgressions.

If that’s not outrageous enough, Trump has also instructed the museum to downplay slavery’s role in American history

But turn back the clock just a few years to Trump’s first term as president, and remember how his administration was pointing fingers at the left for participating in censorship and “cancel” culture.

As always, the projection is strong with Trump and company. 

Top Trump aide: Who really cares about slavery?

A senior White House official thinks the Smithsonian museums are way too caught up on that whole slavery thing.

During a Wednesday appearance on Fox News, White House senior associate Lindsey Halligan discussed President Donald Trump’s push to make the renowned museums parrot his racist, revisionist history of the United States. After conceding slavery was “awful,” she quickly pivoted to underplaying it and chastising the museum.

“What I saw when I was going through the museums personally was an overemphasis on slavery. And I think there should be more of an overemphasis on how far we've come since slavery,” Halligan said. “Our country is a country of progress, and it's the greatest country in the world. And we should be able to take our kids, our students, through the Smithsonian and feel proud when we leave. There's a lot of history to our country, both positive and negative. But we need to keep moving forward. We can't just keep focusing on the negative.”

Halligan's "Don't Worry Be Happy"-style monologue echoes her boss’ insane remarks on social media, criticizing the Smithsonian for being “WOKE” and overly focused on “how bad Slavery was.” In July, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History briefly scrubbed mentions of Trump’s first two impeachments from an exhibit on presidential impeachments and resignations, though it later added them back in a strongly modified form. 

The White House also plans to rewrite history across the Smithsonian ahead of America’s 250th anniversary, which will be celebrated next year.

Similarly, under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Department of Defense has purged Black American military heroes from its websites.

The ongoing white supremacist project to rewrite history and underplay the significance of slavery—which dominated U.S. history and prehistory—is one of the administration’s most ignoble pursuits. It dishonors the hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers who gave their lives fighting for a more perfect democracy.

Trump commands Smithsonian to pipe down on ‘how bad Slavery was’

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump confirmed that he is going to force changes at the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., including removing exhibits that talk about the ills of slavery.

Trump made the comment in a Truth Social post, in which he said that changes to the museums are part of his war on "woke”—a term conservatives can’t even define but usually refers to their anger at anything that promotes equal rights for people of color, women, and the LGBTQ+ community. 

"The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of 'WOKE.' 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. 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," Trump wrote. "This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the 'HOTTEST' Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums."

“Whitewashing Black history” by Clay Bennett

Of course, slavery was objectively bad, and remains a stain in U.S. history. Millions of African Americans were enslaved in cruel conditions, finding themselves raped and beaten at the hands of the white slave owners who reaped the economic benefits of their indentured servants.

Indeed, the impact of slavery still hurts Black people in the U.S. today—with Black communities facing economic and educational inequities that trace back to slavery and Jim Crow segregation.

What's more, other parts of Trump's idiotic Truth Social post are also false, as Smithsonian museums absolutely do feature success stories. Not to mention, Trump's claim that the museums do not contain anything about the future is also absurd, as history museums by definition focus on history, which by definition is in the past.

Ultimately, Trump’s vow to be the arbiter of what is included in Smithsonian museums is the latest way Trump is trying to rewrite history—and make the entire country view America through his racist and egomaniacal lens.

Since his first term in office, Trump has tried to whitewash the United States’ history, including when in 2020 he announced that he was creating the 1776 Commission in order to make sure kids were not being taught that the United States is “an irredeemably and systemically racist country.” The 1776 Commission ended up releasing a report in January 2021, right before Trump was booted from office, that the American Historical Association said amounted to “a screed against a half-century of historical scholarship.”

Related | What Republicans really mean when they say ‘woke’

After taking office again in 2025, Trump quickly went to work to whitewash history, including stripping mentions of diversity and equity from government websites, which led to irrational things like the removal of photos of the Enola Gay B-29 bomber because it contained the word “gay.” A Defense Department tribute to Jackie Robinson, an Army lieutenant who became the first Black man to play Major League Baseball, was also removed. Additionally, articles about the Navajo Code Talkers, who in World War II used their native language to create a code that the Nazis could not understand that helped the Allied forces communicate battle strategy, were removed from the Defense website.

Trump also signed an executive order that deemed books that tell the story of slavery to be filled with “corrosive ideology,” and ordered them removed from the Smithsonian Institution and the national park system. And the Smithsonian changed an exhibit on presidential impeachment to make Trump's two impeachments look less damning.

Meanwhile, Trump is also attacking universities, threatening to pull funding if they do not bend to his will on everything from hiring decisions to admissions policies.

Trump during his first run for office declared that he “loves the poorly educated.” Now, he’s trying to ensure everyone in the U.S. is poorly educated, taught only his false and whitewashed view of history.

How is the White House erasing history this week?

The White House is reportedly launching a sweeping review of Smithsonian museums to make sure they align with President Donald Trump’s sanitized version of U.S. history.

The news comes via a bombshell Wall Street Journal report, which details the White House’s push ahead of America’s 250th anniversary, which will be celebrated on July 4, 2026. In a letter to Smithsonian secretary Lonnie Bunch, three senior White House officials demanded that the museums embody “unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story” in line with Trump’s March executive order on “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

Trump’s crusade to rewrite history will leave no stone unturned. The Journal reports that everything—from exhibition text and digital content to curatorial decisions, collection management, and artist funding—will be scrutinized.

The letter was signed by White House senior associate Lindsey Halligan, Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley, and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought. And it calls for replacing “divisive or ideologically driven” language with “unifying, historically accurate” materials.

“This is about preserving trust in one of our most cherished institutions,” Halligan told The Journal. “The Smithsonian museums and exhibits should be accurate, patriotic, and enlightening—ensuring they remain places of learning, wonder, and national pride for generations to come.” 

People wait in line to enter the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, in 2017.

But this is a hard sell given Trump’s track record. His administration has aggressively purged diversity, equity, and inclusion content from federal websites, erasing mentions of Navajo Code Talkers from the Defense Department’s websites, and deleting tributes to Black, Hispanic, and female service members from the Arlington Cemetery website.

The White House’s latest Smithsonian effort takes place amid other recent controversies at the storied museum. In July, the museum removed a temporary installation referencing Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit that also displayed artifacts related to the impeachments (or resignations) of former Presidents Bill Clinton, Andrew Johnson, and Richard Nixon. After facing public condemnation, the placards were restored, though with softened text and a less prominent placement.

And this is all part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to reshape history. Last week, the National Park Service announced it would reinstall a statue of Confederate General Albert Pike in Washington, D.C.—a man who advocated expelling free Black people from Arkansas—after protesters toppled it in 2020. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed monument removals as the work of “woke lemmings.”

The Journal reports the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents has agreed to a full review of its museums and zoo to root out supposed political bias. But Trump’s executive order accuses the institution of pushing a “divisive, race-centered ideology” that paints American and Western values as harmful. Vice President JD Vance, a board member, has been tasked with helping block funding for exhibitions that clash with Trump’s racist agenda.

The White House’s Smithsonian review will focus on eight museums in D.C., including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Portrait Gallery. In other words, expect more women and people of color to be targeted.

The process is slated to wrap up in early 2026, just in time for Trump to claim victory over “wokeness” during the anniversary celebrations.

It’s a stark example of how far Trump and his allies will go to purge anything remotely inclusive from America’s cultural memory. But this isn’t about “restoring truth”—he wants to rewrite it altogether.

Trump’s demand the Smithsonian erase history is equal parts terrifying and pathetic

If you’re planning a trip to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, make sure to check out “The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden,” which will teach you about all the presidents who were impeached or resigned in lieu of impeachment. So there’s Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and … huh, that’s it. 

Yes, if you look for information on President Donald Trump’s two first-term impeachments, you won’t find it in this exhibit. The Smithsonian removed them in July.

The renowned museum told NPR it would put them back one day. Sometime in the future. It wouldn’t share a timeline.

It happened. Twice.

Until that day, if it ever comes, the Smithsonian is a part of Trump’s rewriting of history, one that treats his presidency like an unvarnished success, a testament to the greatness of the man himself.

Though the administration very likely forced this removal, the Smithsonian spokesperson is still obliged to pretend this is just a normal thing, no big deal, just regular museum stuff where you have to roll back history 18 years, you know? 

“Because the other topics in this section had not been updated since 2008, the decision was made to restore the Impeachment case back to its 2008 appearance,” the museum said in a statement.

You see, they can’t include Trump’s impeachments because it’s just so much work to update things, per the administration’s statement to NPR: “A large permanent gallery like The American Presidency that opened in 2000, requires [a] significant amount of time and funding to update and renew. A future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments.” 

That explanation might be a little less transparently bullshit if Trump’s twin impeachments hadn’t been included in the exhibit since September 2021. 

If you ask the White House, they will explain to you that this is really all about returning America to its former glory and, of course, eradicating forbidden diversity. Per White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, for too long, the Smithsonian “highlighted divisive DEI exhibits which are out of touch with mainstream America,” and that the White House is “fully supportive of updating displays to highlight American greatness.” 

It’s not just that the administration wants to remove negative history about Trump, though that is a driving force. It’s also about wanting the Republican Party, the federal government, and everyone else to display constant fealty to Trump. That’s why you see GOP proposals to put him on the $100 bill and on Mount Rushmore, to rename parts of the Kennedy Center after him and his wife, and to rename the Washington subway system the “Trump Train.”

But it also extends beyond Trump. They want to rewrite American history more broadly so that it panders to those like Trump and his ilk: white, straight, cis, conservative, rich. Vice President JD Vance has been empowered to purge museums of anything that doesn’t align with Trump’s view of American history as an unbroken success story. Trump’s team has demanded that museums and the national parks remove anything that’s supposedly divisive, which broadly translates to things that make white people sad. 

It used to feel like saying Trump wanted to memory-hole the history he doesn’t like was a bit of a stretch. These days, though, if anything, it may be an understatement.

Democrat Congressman Donates Suit He Wore During Capitol Riot To Smithsonian

Democrat New Jersey congressman Andy Kim announced that he is donating the suit he wore during the Capitol riot on January 6th to the Smithsonian Museum, saying it is a symbol of “resilience and hope” for some people.

The move was accompanied by several melodramatic statements on social media.

Representative Kim had been photographed picking up litter left behind during the riot.

“It really broke my heart and I just felt compelled to do something … What else could I do?” Kim told the media at the time.

The Democrat congressman explained his actions during a lengthy Twitter thread where he claimed he was donating the blue suit to the Smithsonian because the events of the one-time protest “must never be forgotten.”

RELATED: Boos Rain Down As Jim Acosta Shouts At Trump, Asking If He’ll Apologize For January 6

Democrat Donates Suit To Smithsonian

While Democrat congressman Andy Kim said his actions that day in cleaning up the Capitol were “unremarkable,” it is clear he finds his donation to the Smithsonian to be extraordinarily remarkable.

“The suit still had dust on the knees from Jan 6,” he tweeted, indicating he had worn it again to cast a vote for impeachment. “I wore it so I would have no doubt about the truth of what happened.”

Kim went on to tell followers that he “hid” the suit in his closet because it only brought back “terrible memories” of that day.

“People wrote saying the blue suit gave them a sense of resilience and hope,” Kim claimed.

The Democrat went on to claim he suffered from the incident well after the fact, even being forced to pull his car over later in January to sob uncontrollably.

“The Smithsonian called later in January,” he said. “Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about how the day would be remembered as I was still living it.”

“In fact, after the call, I had to pull over on the side of I-95 as I started to tear up uncontrollably while driving home,” he claimed in an AOC-esque recollection of the protest.

“I was still not ok,” he said.

RELATED: Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger Only GOP To Vote For Committee To Investigate Capitol Riot

Kim Likes To Embellish

The Democrat’s story of wearing his suit during the Capitol protest isn’t the first time he’s shown a flair for the dramatic.

In 2018, he was caught embellishing his resume by claiming he worked under a Republican president as a national security officer while he worked at an entry-level position.

Kim, in a campaign ad, claimed that he “worked under both Democratic and Republican Administrations” in an effort to claim bipartisanship.

He was trying to show he could work with Republicans because he was running in a district that voted for Donald Trump in 2016.

The Washington Post called Kim out for his exaggeration.

The House of Representatives voted last week to create a select committee to probe the January 6 Capitol protest by a vote of 220-190.

The committee will be under the control of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and will feature a 13-member panel, eight of whom will be chosen by Pelosi, five of whom will be selected by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

Aside from Andy Kim and his Capitol protest suit, several Democrats have played up the severity of the events of January 6th.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claims she was almost murdered that day and admits she is in therapy because of it.

President Biden declared the events to be “the greatest assault since the Civil War on the Capitol.”

 

 

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