OAN Staff Abril Elfi and Brooke Mallory
10:46 AM – Tuesday, August 19, 2025
President Donald Trump has ordered a review of the Smithsonian museums to examine prevailing “woke” ideologies in their exhibits and presentations. This comes as part of a broader cultural initiative to bring back national pride by uplifting American history being presented in federal institutions.
On Tuesday, President Trump posted on Truth Social saying that he intends to broaden the review of the Washington-based Smithsonian.
“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,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
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“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 added. “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.”
The Smithsonian is a federally-funded trust that operates independently of the government and runs 21 museums, 14 research centers and the National Zoo.
In March, Trump signed an order aimed at removing “anti-American ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution and restoring monuments that were removed during the past five years.
The executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” directs Vice President JD Vance to remove “improper partisan ideology” from the Smithsonian, which the order argues has promoted the idea that American history is “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”
The order states that one aspect of this “anti-American ideology” the administration plans to address is how the Biden Administration supported training by an organization that pushes for undermining “Western foundations” at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, where Park Rangers were told their own personal racial identity should govern how they interpret history to tourists.
The order also addresses the American Art Museum, which is currently featuring an exhibit that argues sculpture has been used to promote scientific racism and that the United States has historically relied on race to uphold systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement. These claims are all based on far-left political ideologies.
Additionally, several more facets of this “anti-American ideology” will be addressed, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which has proclaimed that “hard work,” “individualism,” and “the nuclear family” are aspects of toxic “White culture.”
The order directs Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to identify monuments under federal control that were torn down to “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history” and “take action to reinstate” them.
Burgum is tasked with ensuring that current monuments “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.”
One supporter of the Smithsonian review is Tim Graham, the director of the company Media Research Center. He argued in a Townhall article that questioning the Smithsonian’s content is not extremist, but expresses a widely held sentiment. He also criticized liberal elites who resist voter input on historical narratives, suggesting that “Trump’s review of the contents has majority support as a fine idea.”
Recently, a National Review commentary piece also highlighted how the Smithsonian had tilted toward a narrative of systemic oppression and victimization. The piece suggests a corrective shift toward a more balanced portrayal of Western civilization and America’s achievements, for which there are many.
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