Smithsonian Exhibit on Impeachment Removes All References to Trump

President Trump’s two impeachments and subsequent trials in the Senate are no longer mentioned in an exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in the wake of the president’s executive order requiring a review of some museum content. The White House says they are“fully supportive” of the deletion because the Smithsonian has embraced “divisive” concepts for too long. The removal of details about Mr. Trump’s impeachments was first reported by the Washington Post. Since 2021, the exhibit detailing the history of impeachment made reference to four men – President Andrew Johnson, President Nixon, President Clinton, and Mr. Trump. Johnson and Mr. Clinton both were impeached by the House during their terms, and Nixon resigned rather than face an impending impeachment vote. Mr. Trump is the only president to be impeached twice. “On January 13, 2021, Donald Trump became the first president to be impeached twice,” said a September 2021 update to the exhibit. “The charge was incitement of insurrection, based on repeated ‘false statements’ challenging the 2020 election results and his January 6 speech that ‘encouraged – and foreseeably resulted in – lawless action at the Capitol.’ Because Trump’s term ended on January 20, his acquittal on February 13 made him the first former president tried by the Senate.”Now, the exhibit has reverted to its pre-2021 language which refers only to Johnson, Nixon, and Mr. Clinton. “Only three presidents have seriously faced removal,” it states. A White House spokesman, Davis Ingle, welcomed the changes, telling CNN the Smithsonian has too often put up “divisive” exhibits. “We are fully supportive of updating displays to highlight American greatness,” Mr. Ingle said. “The Trump administration will continue working to ensure that the Smithsonian removes all improper ideology and once again unites and instills pride in all Americans regarding our great history.”As part of his attempt to influence major American cultural, athletic, and artistic institutions, Mr. Trump in March signed an executive order directing the Smithsonian “to remove improper ideology” under the direction of the White House. “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth,” states the executive order, which was titled, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” “This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light,” it says. “The Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.”The Smithsonian told CNN that whenever the presidency exhibit next gets updated, the references to Mr. Trump’s two impeachments will be restored, though they did not disclose when those updates may come. Democrats were incensed by reports of the excision. “This is what Donald Trump wants you to forget,” Senator Schiff, who led the first impeachment prosecution team for House Democrats in 2020, wrote on X. “America never will.” Mr. Schiff included screenshots of the New York Times front page following the two impeachment votes.Mr. Trump and his administration have made an unprecedented effort to bring various cultural institutions to heel. The president has threatened to block the construction of a new stadium in the nation’s capital for the Washington Commanders unless they return to their original name – the Washington Redskins. The president has functionally taken power at the Kennedy Center, having installed his longtime advisor Ric Grenell as the organization’s president and executive director. Republicans in Congress are now trying to rename the center’s opera house for the first lady, Melania Trump.

Smithsonian Exhibit on Impeachment Removes All References to Trump

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