July 25 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to add signage warning visitors about “ideological” views in some of its displays.
Trump issued an executive order to add the signs based on a review of the Smithsonian’s American History museum that he directed to search for ideological views related to social justice and “radical” changes to society.
The report, issued on July 4, ripped the museum for what the Trump administration claimed is practicing “extreme political activism” in its exhibits and the language it uses in them.
The report was the subject of a contentious House subcommittee meeting on Thursday, which followed Republican members of the House alleging the Smithsonian of misusing federal funds and promoting a “divisive, politically [biased] revisions of American history.”
Trump’s order directs the Department of the Interior to bear the cost of signs and changes to exhibits throughout the museum.
“The report demonstrates that the Smithsonian leadership does not present American history as a shared national inheritance to be taught and celebrated, but instead views American history as a ‘prime tool’ to advance the ideas of social justice and the radical transformation of society,” Trump said in the executive order.
