By Sarah Holliday

President Donald Trump is not happy with the Smithsonian. Washington’s popular chain of taxpayer-funded museums has been accused of being “woke,” and according to the president, he is “not going to allow this” to continue.

On Tuesday, Trump shared a lengthy post on Truth Social detailing his concerns. “The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE,’” he wrote. But the Smithsonian? That, he added, is “OUT OF CONTROL.” As such, he’s unleashed his legal team to probe Washington’s museums and scrub them of anything considered “woke.” Notably, Trump has taken a similar stand against forms of progressivism like LGBT activism and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives — on college campuses and other academic institutions. According to Trump, his efforts targeting museums are no different.

So, what is the Smithsonian guilty of? Allegedly, the museums have been caught promoting “overt ideological content, radical gender ideology, LGBT propaganda,” The Daily Wire reported. The outlet added that they’ve also come under fire for the “aggressive reframing of events like the COVID pandemic or the Black Lives Matter movement,” and, as Trump put it, discussing “how horrible our Country is.”

In addition to launching his own investigation, the president instructed the Smithsonian Institute to conduct its own review of its exhibits. With America’s 250th birthday coming up, Trump is hoping to see change soon.

During a recent episode of “Washington Watch,” guest host Jody Hice spoke with Steven Policastro, the founder and director of the International Association for Creation, which has been monitoring bias in museums since 2016. “[S]ince 2016,” Policastro explained, “my team and I have been working to make sure that not only are the museums catalogued appropriately and properly but also tracking bias that happens within the museums.” Concerning the conversation that’s emerged in recent days, Policastro said it “is very encouraging to see the administration taking further steps to increase the catalogue and make known to the American public what is in our museums.”

Hice asked, “Is there anything in any of the Smithsonian museums right now that you think should be removed first or right away?” According to Policastro, “There’s several different aspects to this” to consider. As he put it, “We can look at arts, we can look at American history, and we can look at natural history.” Each category, Policastro emphasized, has “succumbed, unfortunately, to the pressure over the last half decade of woke agendas.” This includes “a lot of the literature, even online with the websites, and some of the videos and virtual presentations that they have available through the Smithsonian Institution.”

As for how long this has been going on, Policastro explained that “within the context of the Smithsonian Institution, there are some pretty clear markers of what happened [and] how we got to where we are today.” For instance, over the last several years, there have been “undercurrents of wokeism.” Especially, he stressed, with the rise of DEI, which “started moving into our cultural institutions and undermining the very foundation of American greatness and what makes our country the place that we all enjoy with freedom and liberty.” Over time, “many of the exhibits slowly … [moved] towards an agenda.”

Hice asked if any of the Smithsonian museums, of which there are 19 plus the National Zoo, were “worse offenders” than others. Policastro responded by calling them out one by one: “the American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the African American History Museum are all places that we’ve seen a lot of the DEI agenda being pushed — whether that’s revisionist history, whether that’s bias against certain religious groups, or even pushing alternate lifestyles, such as homosexuality or the pro-choice movement.”

So, when it comes to what exactly the Trump administration’s looking to root out, Policastro explained that “they’re looking primarily … at historical displays, while also going through guidelines and standards.” Trump’s team is looking at how the museums are getting their displays and “noting which ones should be addressed.” And with the semi-quincentennial coming up, Policastro noted they’re also asking themselves, “How did we get here and what changes need to be made so that, hopefully, we don’t end up back here in the future?”

In fact, not wanting agendas to take over museums is part of why Policastro started the Smithsonian Advocacy Project. This project initially started in 2016. But in the last year especially, they’ve been “working on the Hill in both the U.S. House of Representatives as well as the Senate to codify President Trump’s Executive Order 14253,” which aims at “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

So far, Policastro stated, it’s “been a really good process.” Ultimately, he concluded, “[W]e cannot just hope that in the next four years this will continue with the next president.” Rather, “we have to make sure it does, and to make sure, we must codify what President Trump has laid out and his agenda for the Smithsonian Institution and other cultural institutions … such as the Kennedy Center.”

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.