Amid review of institution, a White House document argues Smithsonian has overly negative portrayal of American history. Key US politics stories from Wednesday 20 August
After Donald Trump on Tuesday lashed out at the Smithsonian Institution – a premier museum, education and research complex for US history and culture – over what he called an excessive focus on “how bad Slavery was”, the Guardian has revealed the shape his administration’s targeting of seven flagship museums will take.
Trump suggested he would pressure the institution to accept his demands, just like he did with colleges and universities by threatening to cut federal funding. The White House said last week it would lead an internal review of some Smithsonian museums after Trump earlier this year accused it of spreading “anti-American ideology”.
Here is the key Trump administration news of the day:
Amid the Trump administration’s heavy-handed review of Smithsonian museums, the Guardian has seen a document compiled by the White House that argues the widely visited cultural institutions have overly negative portrayals of US history, from a Benjamin Franklin exhibit that links his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people to a film about George Floyd’s murder that it says mischaracterizes the police.
