If you thought 2025 couldn’t get dumber, congratulations—you have underestimated both Donald Trump and the art of cultural grievance politics. On August 19th, Trump logged onto Truth Social—the world’s least social social media—and declared that the Smithsonian museums were “OUT OF CONTROL” for doing the unthinkable: telling the truth about history. Specifically, he was incensed that they dared to suggest slavery was “bad.” Yes, you read that right. We’re apparently at the point where “slavery was bad” is now a controversial partisan statement.
Welcome to America, where the museums are out here fact-checking the Confederacy, and the President of the United States is throwing a fit like a toddler denied extra sprinkles on his ice cream cone.
Let’s unpack this circus, shall we?
Trump’s Beef with Museums: Because Paintings Hurt His Feelings
First, let’s state the obvious: museums exist to preserve and teach history, not to audition for a MAGA rally playlist. But Trump doesn’t see it that way. For him, a museum should be less “National Archives” and more “Mar-a-Lago gift shop.”
When he rails that the Smithsonian is “emphasizing the negative parts of American history,” what he really means is that any mention of slavery, Native genocide, Japanese internment, Jim Crow, or literally anything that wasn’t a fireworks display over Mount Rushmore, is “anti-American.” Because in Trumpworld, America is flawless except for the part where the 2020 election was “rigged.”
He wants the Smithsonian to be a theme park of national delusion. Imagine it:
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The Trail of Tears, rebranded as “The Great American Hiking Trip.”
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Slavery, reframed as “Unpaid Internships with Room and Board.”
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Watergate? Just “Nixon’s Networking Mishap.”
The man doesn’t want history; he wants propaganda. Which, come to think of it, explains why he thinks of himself as a historian every time he tweets out “Sir Stories.”
From Harvard to the Smithsonian: Trump’s Culture War on Reality
This is not Trump’s first rodeo in the “declare war on institutions of learning” circus. Earlier this year, his administration started withholding funding from universities like Harvard and Columbia unless they agreed to his demands: more White House control over admissions, fewer woke professors, and the ever-essential crusade against trans athletes.
And now, he’s importing the same playbook to museums. He’s literally bragging about instructing his attorneys to begin the “exact same process” he’s used on colleges. Because nothing screams “small government” like micromanaging what paintings go on the wall at the Air and Space Museum.
His March executive order demanded that the Smithsonian “overhaul its collection” to present a more “celebratory” view of America. Historians, curators, and basically anyone who can spell “Constitution” called it what it is: censorship with a MAGA hat on. But Trump, of course, insists it’s about patriotism. Because nothing says “love your country” like banning discussions of half its history.
Let’s Play a Game: What Would a Trump-Approved Smithsonian Exhibit Look Like?
Picture the National Museum of American History after a Trump “overhaul”:
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The Slavery Wing: A single painting of cotton fields, captioned, “Great job opportunities, plenty of sunshine.” Maybe a soundtrack of Lee Greenwood on repeat.
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The Vietnam Exhibit: Just a giant photo of Trump’s bone spurs with the label: “Heroism.”
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The Women’s Rights Section: A velvet rope blocking the entrance with a sign that says, “Ask Your Husband First.”
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The 9/11 Memorial: Replaced with framed tweets of Trump bragging that his building was now the tallest in Manhattan.
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The Civil Rights Exhibit: Recast as “Martin Luther King Jr. Would Have Voted Trump.”
The “Make America Great Again Museum” would be less about history and more about stroking Trump’s ego until the walls collapse.
Historians React: “Are You Kidding Me?”
Scholars have universally condemned Trump’s order, because, you know, they actually read books. Historians pointed out that presenting a “celebratory” version of history while ignoring slavery is like trying to review Titanic without mentioning the iceberg. Sure, you could focus on Leonardo DiCaprio’s cheekbones, but eventually you’re going to have to explain why everyone’s screaming in the water.
Trump doesn’t want nuance. He doesn’t want truth. He wants a storybook where America never did anything wrong, except maybe electing Joe Biden once. It’s not history; it’s bedtime fan fiction for the easily offended.
The Snarky Irony of It All
Here’s the delicious irony: Trump is attacking the Smithsonian for showing the “negative” parts of history at the same time that the Smithsonian just removed him from an impeachment exhibit. That’s right—Trump himself is literally a part of the “negative” history he wants erased. And the Smithsonian said it’s temporary. Which means he’ll eventually return to his rightful place next to Nixon, the Confederacy, and other “great patriots” who tried and failed to dismantle democracy.
This is peak Trump logic:
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Rage at history for being unflattering.
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Demand that museums be censored.
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End up becoming one of the censored figures himself.
You couldn’t script a better self-own if you tried.
The Real Agenda: Authoritarianism in a MAGA Hat
Let’s be clear: this isn’t just Trump being whiny. It’s part of a bigger authoritarian playbook. By controlling universities, museums, and cultural institutions, Trump is trying to control how Americans think about their country. It’s the same strategy used by every tinpot dictator who wants to rewrite the past so he looks like the hero instead of the buffoon.
Take away history, and you take away accountability. If kids never learn about slavery, Jim Crow, or January 6th, then suddenly those things can be minimized, excused, or repeated. If museums only show America as “perfect,” then the public never has the tools to ask why its leaders keep failing.
And that’s exactly the point. Trump doesn’t want an educated public; he wants a cheering section.
Trump’s America: A Theme Park of Lies
Imagine Trump’s dream America, where every museum exhibit is just a mirror with “YOU’RE A WINNER” written across it. The Holocaust Museum becomes “A Story of Strong Borders.” The National Museum of the American Indian becomes “Columbus Brought Pizza.” The Air and Space Museum? Just a shrine to Space Force and the “genius” idea of buying Greenland.
The Smithsonian, in his eyes, should be a carnival where kids ride the “Freedom Coaster” and buy MAGA plush toys in the gift shop. Truth is too messy. History is too real. Why wrestle with facts when you can invent myths?
Why This Matters (Even If It Feels Like a Joke)
Here’s the kicker: as absurd as this all sounds, it’s not funny. Trump’s executive orders have real teeth. Funding can be withheld. Exhibits can be altered. Scholars can be pressured. And when cultural institutions bend to political pressure, democracy gets weaker.
The Smithsonian is supposed to be the people’s museum—a record of America’s triumphs and tragedies, its victories and sins. If Trump gets his way, it will become nothing more than a campaign prop.
And once the past is rewritten, the future becomes fair game.
Final Thoughts: Trump Wants to Be the Exhibit, Not the Curator
At the end of the day, Trump doesn’t want to control museums because he cares about history. He wants to control them because he wants to be in them—forever. Preferably in the Hall of Presidents, preferably carved onto Mount Rushmore, and preferably without anyone mentioning that time he lost an election and tried to overthrow democracy.
But history doesn’t work that way. No matter how many executive orders he signs, no matter how many times he screams “OUT OF CONTROL” in all caps, the past remains the past. And no amount of censorship can change the fact that when historians write about this era, Trump will be remembered not as the man who saved America’s story, but as the man who tried to erase it—and failed.
Because unlike Trump, history has receipts.