‘The Gaslighting Is So Far Over the Top’: White House Official Uses Distorted Numbers to Justify Trump’s Whitewashing of the Smithsonian
President Donald Trump’s PR flack is trying to whitewash the president’s executive order to overhaul the Smithsonian Institution and rid it of “race-centered ideology” to reflect a more positive image of American history.
In an interview on Newsmax, former Florida property lawyer and current assistant to the president for domestic policy and the special assistant to the president and senior associate staff secretary, Lindsey Halligan, said the Smithsonian “should reflect American exceptionalism.”
“The president wants to see more positivity and more patriotism,” Halligan explained.
‘We live in the greatest country in the world and our Smithsonian Institution, which is really the foundation of our education system as a whole and is over 70 percent funded by taxpayers, should reflect American exceptionalism … 98 percent of the population should not be forced to accommodate or adjust their morals to make less than 2 percent of the population comfortable,” Halligan pontificated.
A clip of Halligan’s interview has gone viral, creating a social media uproar.
“Let me translate this for you. ‘More positivity and patriotism’ means ‘stop mentioning slavery and all the other bad stuff we did.’ ‘Adjust their morals’ means ‘confronting any uncomfortable fact.’ And ‘less than 2% of the population’ means ‘anyone who isn’t a straight, white, Christian Republican,’” Projekt Europa posted on X.
“Where are they getting these numbers? Only 2% of the country wants a factual representation of American History? The gaslighting is so far over the top, they’re not even trying to make an argument that could be viewed as rational,” this X user fumed.
“They’re gonna replace everything at the Smithsonian with Trump portraits, aren’t they?” Akash Maniam joked in an X post.
“Translation: We no longer want anyone to discuss slavery, Jim Crow, etc. and its effect these United States,” social media user TD McClellan pointed out.
X user Rod Delph summed it up neatly: “It’s racism and that is actually very American, unfortunately.”
Over the past weeks, Trump has amplified his attacks on the Smithsonian, the world’s largest museum, education and research complex. It boasts 21 museums, 14 education and research centers and the National Zoo.
In his most recent rant over the museum system, Trump took to his Truth Social platform, claiming that the Smithsonian was “OUT OF CONTROL” for displaying the negative parts of American history, including “how bad slavery was.”
“The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of “WOKE,” Trump complained, suggesting he might go after other museums around the country.
“President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable,” the White House said in a statement to NPR. “He will start with the Smithsonian and then go from there.”
Trump issued an executive order in March demanding that the Smithsonian revamp its exhibits by focusing on a more positive view of American history. Critics have quickly raised the red flag, warning that the president is trying to rewrite and censor the past.