Donald Trump on Friday ordered the installation of signs in front of a large public museum in Washington to warn visitors that it contains, according to the American president, bad information about American history.
This decree targeting the National Museum of American History constitutes another example of Donald Trump’s attempt to take ideological control of federal cultural institutions, accused by the American right of conveying an overly progressive world vision.
The president’s executive order Friday directs federal government officials to install “temporary signs” on exterior walkways leading to the museum to “warn visitors that the museum’s exhibits need to be renovated” to show “correct information about American history.” »
This decision is based on a recent report from the White House which, underlines the decree, “demonstrates that the leaders of the Smithsonian”, the venerable federal institution which manages this museum, “see American history as a tool of primary importance for disseminating ideas of social justice and a radical transformation of our society. »
This 162-page document published in March also accuses the museum of not sufficiently emphasizing “the central role of the Christian faith” in American history. “White Americans, men, and Christians are routinely denigrated as the embodiment of oppressive structures,” he also wrote.
A Republican lawmaker recently accused the museum of having “been infected by woke ideology,” a term used pejoratively by conservatives to denounce progressive and inclusive policies.
Last summer, Donald Trump asked the courts to investigate museums that he accuses of being “woke”, particularly concerning the history of slavery.
He also fired, in May 2025, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, another major museum in the American capital, with the same type of grievance against her.
