WASHINGTON — The White House lashed out against the Smithsonian Institution’s leadership Monday, accusing the network that runs 21 museums of “extreme political activism” and failing to celebrate America.
In a blistering 162-page report ordered by President Trump last year, the White House Domestic Policy Council concluded that the institute’s current leadership “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.”
“[National Museum of American History] NMAH, by the intention and at the direction of current Museum and Smithsonian leadership, has become subject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love,” the report said.
Critically, the report dropped on Independence Day, when Americans celebrated the country’s 250th birthday.
Some observers believe that the report could be a prelude to Trump attempting to significantly shake up the Smithsonian Institution’s leadership.
Trump had signaled in March of 2025 that he was keen on changing the institute, hoping to combat “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology” across its top museums.
The National Museum of American History drew particular ire from the White House, which accused it of minimizing the Founding Fathers and treating traditional patriotic narratives “with suspicion.”
Additionally, the panel underscored how Anthea Hartig, who has led NMAH since 2019, described history as a “prime tool of social justice” and noted how “we work to reframe the traditional celebratory narrative of U.S. history for visitors.”
“She claims to have had a personal head start “propped up as I was and I am by the cushions of whiteness and the pillows of the bourgeoisie,’” the report noted.
“Hartig believes the museum profession has ‘to figure out’ how ‘we’re going to’ ‘problematize‘ the ‘250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026,’ [and] that ‘loving America is very complicated.”
The panel further dinged the museum for removing “infinite richness” and “American history” from its mission statement.
The White House alleged that the museum has a policy of ensuring its exhibits tie into identity-related themes: “race/identity, gender/sexuality, climate change, immigration/migrations, economic inequality, technological change, and nationalism/globalism.”
“It’s hard to get out of the ‘America First’ mentality, and that’s—we didn’t talk much about that, but we wrestle—I wrestle—with that all the time,” Hartig explained about her approach to exhibits during a presentation to history students.
She suggested exhibits should include “the entirety of the Americas, not just our part of North America.”
The domestic policy council cited several lectures Hartig previously gave, claiming that he was advocating on behalf of illegal immigrants. It tore into the museum’s “Girlhood (it’s complicated) exhibit and blasted its anti-racism displays.
“In short, NMAH’s repeated message to young visitors is: ‘Be a social and political activist,’” the report jabbed.
A Smithsonian spokesperson rejected those complaints and insisted to The Post that its museums are non-partisan.
“For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so,” the spokesperson said.
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