The Smithsonian put in front of the 250th anniversary of the USA

UNITED STATES. The United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its birth on July 4, 2026 and Donald Trump hears that these festivities consecrate his crusade against the “Woke” movement in favor of the glorification of “traditional American ideals”. Upon his arrival at the White House, he signed a series of decrees to put an end to the programs of “diversity, inclusion, equity” (DEI) in the federal administrations and indirectly among the suppliers of these administrations.

A few days later, the Smithsonian Institution, a federal complex of 19 museums mainly installed in Washington DC had to close its office. In March, a new presidential decree leads a charge this time directly against the Smithsonian accused of being for a few years, examples in support, “Under the influence of a cliting and racial ideology”. Trump requests that his representatives on the board of directors of the Smithsonian make sure “To eliminate any inappropriate ideology” and asks the congress to prohibit any financing of exposure or programs “Which degrade common American values”.

But as it does not seem to go quickly enough to Trump’s eyes, it announces, on August 12, that it will audit the content of the associated exhibitions and supports of the Smithsonian. The institution has 30 days to make these materials available to the administration and 120 days to modify what does not comply. And so that no ambiguity remains on what is not in accordance with, the White House published on August 21, a text entitled “President Trump is right with regard to the Smithsonian”, in which 22 facts illustrate the “Drifts”. This ranges from the highlighting of the rainbow flag (symbol of the LGBT community) at the National Museum of American History, to an exhibition of Latinos with disabilities, including an artistic manifestation devoted to a representation of the statue of freedom holding a tomato in its hand rather than the torch (?) Or a painting showing the illegal crossing of the border (see Ill.). By the way, Trump takes the opportunity to settle his accounts and condemns an animation presented in one of the museums which retraces the career of Anthony Fauci, chief of the crisis cell for the COVID-19, with which he was in deep disagreement.

Trump does not directly control the Smithsonian, but he has a formidable lever via the financing of the institution, including 62 % of the billion dollars in its annual budget come from public funds. Many voices have been raised across the Atlantic to denounce this interference of its administration in the programming of the Smithsonian. But the recent example of the universities of Columbia and Harvard, forced to make concessions to save part of their federal funding, shows that the Smithsonian is not able to resist. Trump had lunch on August 28 with its director Lonnie G. Bunch III. A way to show his public opinion that he respects an appreciated institution, but we can easily imagine the threatening words of the president between pear and cheese.