Trump's cultural purge comes for museums

The Smithsonian is the latest target in Trump's cultural warfare against reality itself

I cannot count how many times we’ve had people say we were overreacting when we predicted Trump would be a fascist dictator on Day One. “Oh no, he’ll never go THAT far” they said. “The Constitution will protect us” they said.

Oh really?

Well now we’ve reached the point that every nascent fascist dictatorship reaches: the desire and willingness to purge “improper ideologies” from museums and cultural institutions so that only RightThink ideologies may be portrayed.

First it was the Kennedy Center, which Trump famously MAGAfied by putting himself in charge then replacing the entire board with loyalists. Shows have since either been cancelled for being too “woke” or cancelled by the artists who no longer wish to perform for fascists. Ticket sales have plummeted and patrons are cancelling their season passes.

But hey, at least Trump got to have his “Don’t cry for me, America” moment.

Not satisfied to ruin well known and hallowed performance halls, Trump just issued another of his famous Royal Decrees Edicts Executive Orders instructing his underling Couchface McGee JD Vance to attack the famous Smithsonian for WrongThink.

From Politico:

Vice President JD Vance has a new job: erasing what the White House considers “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian, a task that allows him to cast aside the progressive ideas he has decried since long before he was elected to public office.

The vice president, who sits on the museum network’s board, has been tasked with slashing funding for exhibits or programs that promote “ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy,” including those that recognize trans people, “degrade shared American values,” or “divide Americans based on race,” according to an executive order President Donald Trump signed behind closed doors on Thursday.

I mean if that doesn’t just send a cold chill up your spine you’re probably comatose right now. Let us know if you need help feeding your pets. We’ve got you.

We know how much MAGA snowflakes have expressed their hatred for such divisive concepts such as “equality” and “diversity” and “kindness” and “welcoming”. Their entire anti-DEI rationale insists that it divides Americans by race when all it does is give non-white Americans an actual chance at employment. DEI initiatives were always designed to level the playing field and that is precisely why MAGAs are so opposed to it.

Republicans on Friday celebrated Trump’s order. “Who else wants the Smithsonian Institution to stop being woke?” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said on X.

With an annual budget exceeding $1 billion, the Smithsonian is the “world’s largest museum, education, and research complex,” according to its website.

It was conceived in the 19th century by the British scientist James Smithson, who bequeathed his estate for the purpose of a Washington-based establishment that helps with “the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” In 1846, 17 years after Smithson’s death, President James K. Polk signed legislation calling for the Institution’s formation.

The Smithsonian operates 19 museums and cultural centers in Washington and beyond, including the Air and Space Museum, the Portrait Gallery, the National Zoo and the Smithsonian Gardens. It also operates nine research centers, 21 libraries, and possess around 157.3 million museum artifacts. Around 60% of its funding is from the federal government, but the Institution also receives money from “trust funds or non-federal funds, which include contributions from private sources,” according to its website.

So add the Smithsonian to the list of cultural institutions that normal thinking, non-MAGA Americans are going to have no interest in attending as the MAGA anti-woke crusade continues to stomp its boot down on what was once good and radically transform American culture and society for the worse.

Reactions to Trump’s order have predictably not been positive. Maybe people who enjoy an accurate portrayal of history and culture are too woke?

From AP:

It’s a troubling fiction to insist “that the greatness of America can only exist if we deny ever making mistakes, if we deny ever doing things bad, if we deny that there were times in our history when when terrible things happened,” said Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala., which has created sites including a memorial to lynching victims to wrestle with the country’s racial history.

“That’s not how you become great,” he said. “That’s not how you become strong.”

Indeed. Purging cultural institutions for not conforming to party ideology is exactly what totalitarian regimes do. From education to the military to corporate America to our cultural institutions, Trump’s anti-DEI madness is reaching all aspects of American society and making America “great” for fragile snowflakes who cannot handle reality.