Sixteen months after his first order on the Smithsonian (see Trump Orders the Smithsonian to Remove 'Divisive' Exhibits in a 2025 Executive Order), Trump escalated.
In July 2026 the White House Domestic Policy Council followed with a 162-page report, “Saving America's Story,” accusing the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History of presenting “a radical view of American history.” The report claims the museum has been captured by “an intellectual framework rooted in Marxism that seeks to radically transform society by revealing and challenging alleged 'overlapping systems of oppression,'” and that it “fails in the basic task of illuminating our heritage.”
Among the exhibits it singles out are costumes from the Broadway musical Hamilton, a video featuring drag queens, LGBTQ+ icons, and queer athletes. The report faults the Hamilton display for describing Alexander Hamilton as an “influential and flawed founding father” without noting that he criticized slavery and helped found the anti-slavery New York Manumission Society in 1785. A Smithsonian spokesperson responded that for more than 180 years the institution “has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so.”
On July 24, 2026, Trump signed Executive Order 14416, “Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution,” which says “current leadership of both the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum cannot be trusted to tell America's story with honesty and gratitude.” It directs the Interior Department, through the National Park Service, to install temporary signs on the sidewalks and walkways outside the National Museum of American History informing visitors of the White House report's findings. Reuters reported the report had recommended an entrance notice reading, “Warning: the exhibits in this museum were prepared by people who don't want you to love your country.” On August 6, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the leaders of the Senate Interior appropriations subcommittee, asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum how many signs there would be, what they would say and what they would cost. “There is nothing more American than telling our story truthfully,” they wrote.
According to a September 3 letter from Burgum obtained by The Atlantic, the Park Service is preparing about a dozen signs at an estimated cost of $84,000, not yet finalized. Mediaite, quoting the letter, reported it says visitors should be told of “Secretary Lonnie Bunch's history of invidious discrimination and anti-white animus.” No other outlet has independently obtained the letter.
NPR reported that the signs would cost about $7,000 each and sit on Park Service land, with their text not yet final. It quoted the Interior letter as saying Smithsonian and museum leaders “have altered the museum's role from accurately and coherently telling America's story to using the museum as a tool to advance personal, radical ideologies.” Murkowski said, “I've asked, 'Where do you get the money out of your budget to do all of this?' I haven't gotten a straight answer back on that.” Merkley said, “I'll fight like hell to protect the Smithsonian's independence.” The Smithsonian declined to comment.
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, the first African American and first historian to lead the institution, announced on September 8, 2026 that he will retire by the end of the year. “I have fought for as long as I can,” he told ABC News. “I love this country and I love the Smithsonian and I will always work to defend our more perfect Union.” He told NPR the president's criticism was not part of his decision; NBC News, citing an anonymous person familiar, reported that he had told friends it was time to go after a recent letter from the Interior Department threatening support for the Smithsonian. On the record, the departure comes amid the administration's pressure, not because of it.
At a September 25 event marking the 10th anniversary of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Bunch received a standing ovation, the Guardian reported. “The notion that somehow this museum or any part of the Smithsonian is done by people who don't love America, don't care about America, is unbelievably wrong,” he said, and, “You cannot understand the greatness of a country without understanding the totality of a country.” The museum's acting director, Shanita Brackett, had told the AP before the anniversary, “We have not changed any exhibitions. We haven't changed our language.”