Brian Stelter melts down as Trump makes the Smithsonian great again

The left's "long march through the institutions" was a great success. Since the time that slogan was coined in the late 1960s, numerous businesses, churches, law enforcement agencies, schools, and other organizations have been transformed into incubators for radical activists and amplifiers for anti-Western campaigns.

The marchers have, however, been stopped in their tracks by President Donald Trump, who has supercharged conservatives' reconquest of American institutions and normalcy advocates' corresponding war on DEI, critical race theory, gender ideology, and anti-Semitism.

Liberals — including CNN's chief media analyst, Brian Stelter — appear concerned that the president might successfully liberate the Smithsonian in time for America's 250th birthday as part of this broader campaign.

How it started

The president issued an executive order on March 27 titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History."

"Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth," Trump wrote.

'Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination.'

"This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light," continued the president. "Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed."

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Photo by Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Trump blasted his predecessor's administration for advancing "this corrosive ideology" and identified several examples of the Smithsonian-housed anti-American propaganda at issue, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture's assertions that the nuclear family, rugged individualism, self-reliance, prioritization of work over play, emphasis on rational, linear thinking, punctuality, decisiveness, and a future-oriented outlook are "aspects and assumptions of whiteness and white culture in the United States."

"Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history," wrote Trump.

The president directed Vice President JD Vance, a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, to work with Lindsey Halligan, special assistant to the president, and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought to see to the removal of "improper ideology" from the Smithsonian Institution, its 21 museums and 14 education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

How it's going

The White House is presently whipping the Smithsonian into shape.

Halligan, Vought, and Vince Haley, director of the Domestic Policy Council, sent a letter to Smithsonian Institution secretary Lonnie Bunch III on Tuesday, noting that they will "be leading a comprehensive internal review of selected Smithsonian museums and exhibitions."

'It really is a colonoscopy of the Smithsonian.'

The first phase of this review concerns eight museums, including the National Museums of American History, Natural History, African American History and Culture, and the American Indian. Other Smithsonian museums will be assessed in the second phase of the review.

In their review, Trump's team will:

• "assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals" when it comes to public-facing content;
• interview curators and senior staff to "better understand the selection process, exhibition approval workflows, and any frameworks currently guiding exhibition content";
• review current and future exhibitions, especially those planned for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; and
• look to the development of consistent curatorial guidelines.

Halligan, Haley, and Vought also requested that the Smithsonian cough up an index of all permanent holdings as well as documents relevant to its 250th anniversary programming, current exhibition content, internal guidelines, governance, educational materials, external partnerships, grant data, and digital presence.

While the reviewers want some of these documents submitted within the next 30 days, the remainder need to be turned in by the end of October.

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Maansi Srivastava/Washington Post/Getty Images

By Dec. 10, the White House team wants the museums to begin "implementing content corrections where necessary, replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate, and constructive descriptions across placards, wall didactics, digital displays, and other public-facing materials."

The letter indicated that the purpose of this review is to "ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions."

Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Blaze News that "it really is a colonoscopy of the Smithsonian."

Gonzalez noted that in addition to glossing over or ignoring key aspects of what makes America exceptional, such as its recognition of natural rights, the Smithsonian continues to push leftist propaganda, engage in lies of omission, and glorify radicals such as Angela Davis.

Davis is a former Black Panther and recipient of the Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize who was once accused of supplying weapons to a black supremacist who went on to murder Superior Court Judge Harold Haley and two inmates.

"She's an awful person, but she gets four exhibits and Justice [Clarence] Thomas gets nothing," said Gonzalez.

PEN America, a liberal organization that has fought parents' efforts to keep LGBT propaganda out of the classroom, condemned the White House initiative.

"Telling the story of the United States must extend to the full and complex history of its past and present, including an honest assessment of wrongs and injustices, and a recognition of the never-ending project of creating a more perfect union," stated Hadar Harris, managing director of PEN America's office in Washington, D.C. "The administration’s efforts to rewrite history are a betrayal of our democratic traditions and a deeply concerning effort to strip truth from the institutions that tell our national story, from the Smithsonian to our national parks."

Brian Stelter asked CNN's remaining viewers this week, "Do you want Trump White House political appointees, political aides vetting the tone and the content and the framing of museum exhibits? That is the question on the table here."

Stelter suggested that some say the White House's initiative "sounds like a Stalinist purge — sounds like something out of history books about regimes trying to control information."

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller stated on Thursday, "The Trump Administration will proudly and diligently restore the patriotic glory of America and ensure the Smithsonian is a place that once more inspires love and devotion to this nation, especially among our youngest citizens."

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