Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,
A White House report accused leaders of the Smithsonian Institution of adopting an ideological framework that shifted the National Museum of American History away from its mission of historical education toward what it called an "extreme political activism."
People visit the Smithsonian Museum of American History on the National Mall in Washington, on April 3, 2019. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP PhotoThe 162-page report, released by the White House Domestic Policy Council on July 4, alleges that the National Museum of American History - which is run by the Smithsonian Institution - "fails to substantively present America's founder and founding" in its exhibits.
The report states that the Smithsonian Institution, particularly the National Museum of American History, "cannot be trusted to tell America's story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic."
"By the intention and at the direction of current museum and Smithsonian leadership, [National Museum of American History] has become the 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," it stated.
The council said the museum has not established any exhibit specifically dedicated to the Founding Fathers, the Second Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolutionary War, or the nation's path to independence and the establishment of constitutional rule of law.
"Our central finding is not that the museum has simply added overlooked stories, corrected perceived errors, or broadened its historical scope," the report stated.
"Rather, it is that museum leadership has explicitly adopted an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated, but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens."
A Smithsonian spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email that the institution "has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship" for more than 180 years and will remain "committed to doing so."
The National Museum of American History, located in Washington, was originally named the National Museum of History and Technology when it was opened in January 1964. The museum was renamed in October 1980 to better reflect its responsibilities.
According to its website, the museum's collection includes more than 1.7 million objects representing the nation's heritage in the areas of science, technology, society, and culture.
The White House report followed President Donald Trump's March 2025 executive order directing the Interior Department to ensure that public monuments "do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living."
The order states that many national parks promoted what it described as "distorted narrative driven by ideology."
"It is the policy of my Administration to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing," Trump stated in the order.
Tyler Durden Mon, 07/06/2026 - 19:15Gov. Josh Shapiro sat down with Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union this weekend and said the quiet part out loud: his party is being overrun by its socialist and far left flank.
Bash pressed Shapiro on Darializa Avila Chevalier, who won the Democratic congressional primary in New York’s 13th congressional district last month while running as an open socialist.
Chevalier's platform includes abolishing prisons, opening the borders, ending deportations, and granting mercy even to violent criminals.
Bash also noted that Chevalier attended a pro-Palestinian rally on October 8, 2023, one day after Hamas terrorists slaughtered, raped, and kidnapped their way across southern Israel.
According to Bash, that rally featured antisemitic rhetoric defending the attack. Bash asked Shapiro how he feels, as a Democrat, about someone with those views heading to Congress.
Shapiro tried to have it both ways.
"Well, her district voted for her," he said. But that statement also came with a convenient disclaimer. "But I have profound differences from that particular candidate, based on the citations that you read there. And she's not someone who, you know, seemingly, I would agree with on many things, or that we share similar values. She ran on the Democratic ticket, I guess as a socialist; her voters in that district determined that she was the one they wanted representing them."
Note the hedge. Shapiro was describing someone who wants to shield violent criminals from deportation and who reportedly stood in solidarity with people cheering a massacre of Jews. Yet, the strongest word he could summon was "seemingly."
Bash followed up by asking what Chevalier's win says about the Democratic Party. Here Shapiro dropped whatever remained of the diplomatic pretense. "I think that what our party has to go through, that will be very healthy, and something that we've not really done since the 1992 elections, is to have a battle over what we believe in," he said.
CNN: Abolishing prisons, opens borders, ending deportations of criminals…what does that say about the Democrat Party?
SHAPIRO: “What our party has to go through that will be very healthy...is to have a battle over what we believe in.” pic.twitter.com/lncogDmeXl
That's a rather pointed reference because 1992 is the year Bill Clinton dragged his party toward the center with promises of welfare reform and law and order, and Shapiro seems to be arguing that's the direction the battle needs to go again, which is clearly not the direction the party is going in.
Trump Derangement Syndrome has spent the better part of a decade radicalizing rank-and-file Democrats who once considered themselves moderates, and the party's growing communist and socialist wing has capitalized on that fever by dragging positions on wealth, taxes, crime, and immigration further left with every election cycle.
The party has also grown more hostile toward Israel, with some pundits arguing it has grown outright antisemitic. That climate may explain why Shapiro sidestepped Bash's question about whether his Jewish faith could complicate a 2028 presidential run. Meanwhile, fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman, has shown far more willingness to call out his party's antisemitic drift.
Shapiro, being Jewish and a supporter of Israel, places him on a collision course with a Democratic base growing comfortable nominating candidates who marched in solidarity with people, justifying an attack that included the massacre of more than a thousand Israelis.
On paper, Shapiro is the strongest hand the Democrats hold: a two-time statewide election winner in a key swing state.
But the Democratic Party isn’t the same party it was in 1992, and Shapiro’s remarks on CNN made one thing clear: the party’s civil war is already underway.
Tyler Durden Mon, 07/06/2026 - 18:50