President Donald Trump has directed his legal team to begin reviewing museums across the country, warning that institutions like the Smithsonian have become vehicles for left-wing ideology rather than places to honor America’s achievements.
In a Tuesday post on Truth Social, Trump said museums are the “last remaining segment of ‘WOKE.’”
The president vowed to hold them accountable in the same way his administration has forced colleges and universities to roll back ideological indoctrination.
“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL,” Trump wrote.
“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.”
Trump pledged that attorneys will comb through museum content to launch a process similar to his administration’s higher education reviews, where federal funding was withheld from universities that refused to comply with federal law.
“This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE,” Trump declared.
On August 12, the White House sent a formal letter to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III announcing an internal review of exhibits, online content, and educational materials.
The review follows Trump’s March executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
The order explicitly warned against museums being hijacked by what Trump called “divisive, race-centered ideology.”
In the order, Trump praised the Smithsonian as once being a symbol of American excellence but said that in recent years it has promoted narratives portraying “American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”
“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,” Trump wrote.
The White House outlined that the Smithsonian review will cover both physical exhibits and digital platforms, assessing whether content aligns with American ideals and the nation’s record of progress.
The letter emphasized that the process would be “constructive and collaborative,” not interfering with curators’ day-to-day work but ensuring museums meet their responsibility to present accurate and inspiring history.
“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,” the administration stated.
Among the institutions slated for review in the first phase are:
• National Museum of American History
• National Museum of Natural History
• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• National Museum of the American Indian
• National Air and Space Museum
• National Portrait Gallery
Additional museums will be reviewed in a second phase.
The move comes after Trump successfully pushed universities to roll back DEI programs and speech codes that violated federal guidelines.
The campaign included withholding funds from noncompliant institutions.
Now, his administration is extending that scrutiny to museums, signaling that no federally supported cultural institution will be exempt from accountability.
For Trump, the effort is part of a broader mission to protect American heritage from ideological capture.
As he put it in his Truth Social post, museums should showcase the nation’s “success, brightness, and future,” not serve as platforms for grievance and revisionist history.
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