The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History is seen from the Washington Monument on June 19, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Carter | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he has ordered his lawyers to snuff out what he calls “woke” content at museums by copying the playbook his administration is using to force concessions from colleges and universities.
Trump’s command in a Truth Social post calls out the Smithsonian Institution, whose content he targeted in an executive order in March.
But it also appears to go further, by criticizing not just “Museums throughout Washington” but those “all over the Country” as being “essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE.'”
Asked for clarification, a White House official told CNBC, “President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable.”
Either way, the post suggests that the Smithsonian’s funding — most of which comes from the federal government — could become a major pressure point as the president seeks to remove unwanted narratives from cultural institutions.
“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” Trump wrote in the post.
“We are not going to allow this to happen,” he wrote.
“I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made.”
“This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums,” he wrote.
The post comes one week after White House officials told the Smithsonian that they will launch “a comprehensive internal review” of its museums.
The officials — senior staff secretary Lindsey Halligan, Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought — said they are acting in accordance with Trump’s executive order for his administration to “remove improper ideology” from Smithsonian properties.
They have asked eight Smithsonian museums to turn over materials within 30 days about any exhibits related to America’s upcoming 250th anniversary, along with a slew of other materials.
The targeted museums include the National Museums of American History, Natural History, African American History and the American Indian.
The Smithsonian responded at the time that it is reviewing the request and “will continue to collaborate constructively with the White House, Congress, and our governing Board of Regents.”
By directing his attorneys to mimic his administration’s approach to colleges and universities, Trump appears to be putting the Smithsonian’s funding in his sights.
That’s because the Trump administration has withheld, or threatened, billions of dollars in federal research funding allocated to American universities as it accuses them of wrongdoing, including fostering antisemitism and discrimination against conservatives.
The government’s actions have affected more than two dozen universities, according to NPR. Some of the most notable names include elite Ivy League schools, such as Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and Duke.
The administration has also launched investigations into the schools and, in Harvard’s case, targeted their tax-exempt status and moved to suspend entry to international students.
