Trump Goons Issue Bonkers New Threat in Smithsonian War

Jonathan Ernst / REUTERS The Trump administration has escalated its attempt to micromanage the Smithsonian’s curation of American history by threatening to withhold support from federal agencies.

In a letter Friday to the institution’s Board of Regents, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley griped about “an ideological agenda that seeks to transform both the Smithsonian and the country,” saying administration officials “cannot in good conscience continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership” by “loaning artifacts for exhibits, enabling procurement processes, and making discretionary grants.” Burgum and Haley take issue with the National Museum of American History’s Interpretive Plan, which they say “illustrates how Smithsonian and NMAH leadership has sanctioned a radical institutional ideology to permeate NMAH operations.” “The Interpretive Plan instructs Museum staff to, ‘whatever the topic,’ tie everything to ‘the core issues of our time,’ namely, ‘race and identity,’ ‘gender and sexuality,’ ‘environmental change,’ ‘immigration and migrations,’ ‘economic inequality,’ ‘technological change,’ and ‘nationalism and globalism,’ stating that ‘To do anything less is to shirk our commitment to relevance,’” they write.

That is “alarming,” they claim, and is reflected in educational materials, exhibit language, and “sending Museum staff to Mexico to interview deported illegal aliens,” for instance.

The Daily Beast has contacted the Smithsonian, the White House and Interior Department for comment.

A Smithsonian spokesperson declined to comment to The Washington Post .

The administration’s threat is the latest in a series of attacks on the Smithsonian that began last March, when Trump signed an executive order with the stated goal of “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” In July, the White House released a 162-page report titled “Saving America’s Story,” in which it accused the “radical activists” in charge of the Smithsonian of moving “from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.” It pointed to alleged “anti-White activism,” “illegal alien activism,” and “transgender activism.” Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, 73, rejected the report’s characterization.

The White House’s report “is not a fair characterization of the work and totality of the National Museum of American History,” Bunch told staffers in an email obtained by the Washington Post.