Meanwhile, in North Korea…
A review of museums.
Via The Hill: White House launches review of Smithsonian museums.
White House officials are launching a review of some of the Smithsonian’s museums aimed at ensuring “alignment” with President Trump’s “directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
The notion that national museums should conform to the President’s specific priorities is dictator shit, full stop (perhaps I am weary, but that seems the most technically accurate term for this stuff).
A Tuesday letter to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch was signed by the Domestic Policy Council’s Vince Haley, White House senior associate staff secretary Lindsey Halligan and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, The Wall Street Journal reported. The review outlined in the letter, Halligan told the paper, “is about preserving trust in one of our most cherished institutions.”
Well, this strikes me as a great way to damage trust and to undermine institutions that will no longer be as cherished.
And why in the world is the OMB Director involved?
In March, Trump signed an executive order that accused the Smithsonian Institution of being influenced in “recent years” by “a divisive, race-centered ideology.”
“This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive,” the order said, part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to roll back former President Biden-era initiatives that promoted diversity, equity and inclusion.
Translation: don’t talk about the bad stuff in regards to racial and ethnic groups.
********************@
I didn’t care about Bush’s, Obama’s or Biden’s views on American history and I sure as sh-t don’t care about Trump’s. Are we going to re-curate the entire Smithsonian every time we have a new president. This is insanity.
Get. Back. In. Your. Lane!
Another example of the influence of a guy (Trump) “who doesn’t know anything about anything,” and wants his brand of ignorance to flourish. The “aligns with the president’s directive…” crap is straight out of the Unitary Executive/Project 2025 playbook. At least in this instance, Vought put his name on his machinations. Trump doesn’t have the intellectual horsepower to conceive this stuff, but Vought does. What Trump and Vought and the odious Steven Miller have in common is their lack of a moral compass.
@Joe:
No, the Fifth Reich* will last a million years.
*Fourth Reich is already taken
Maybe they have already done this but I’m waiting for a Soviet-style political officer placed within each organization and especially in the military.
That’s a lot of words to [mis]characterize what is essentially pro-MAGA propaganda. We’ll have to ignore that Trump will be defining what is divisive and partisan when his entire MO is to divide in a partisan way.
This is Newspeak – pure and simple. Perhaps this series should be named Meanwhile in Oceania.
@Scott:
That’s DOGE.
If you ask me, Vought aims to also remove any mention of evolutionism as settled science from the Smithsonian. I don’t think Trump cares about this at all, but I expect Vought does, and so does Stephen Miller.
In fact, I think there’s a sort of sincerity in the phrase of “reestablishing trust in institutions” that’s based on “They have to stop telling me I’m wrong about creationism. I can’t trust someone who thinks creationism is wrong.”
(I’m pretty clear that Museum of Natural History has (had?) nothing good to say about creationism.)
Seriously, I think they believe that. The entire government has been captured by people that think that government should reflect their personal religious beliefs.
@Charley in Cleveland:
“What Trump and Vought and the odious Steven Miller have in common is their lack of a moral compass.”
Trump may have no moral compass. Vought and Miller do. It’s just pointed entirely in the wring direction.
@Jay L. Gischer:
Which creationism? Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Mayan, etc? There are plenty of myths that predate the book of Israelite myths, some by millennia. me, I favor an obscure one where the primordial god, Atum, masturbates himself into existence. I’d love a Smithsonian exhibit of that Holy Creation.
Does he have NOTHING ELSE TO DO?
Also, IIRC the Smithsonian is not part of the executive branch. I hope (against hope) that they tell him that they are looking into it and will have some decisions “in two weeks.”
@Jay L. Gischer:..The entire government has been captured by people that think that government should reflect their personal religious beliefs.
Democrats in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, aka the United States Congress, should lobby to force the Creation Museum* in Petersburg, Kentucky add a display of the scientific theory of evolution and natural selection to their exhibition .
You know, what’s fair is fair, tit for tat, level playing field and all that.
*Anyone can Google this. It’s just too stupid to provide a link.
Bad Young Earth Creationist apologetics
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
The first word in that sentence is redundant.