Removing ‘divisive’ Smithsonian exhibits, Farage’s ‘patriotic’ curriculum: this is where the unpicking of the 20th-century liberal order begins
I
n 1955, the American columnist William F Buckley Jr declared that a conservative is someone “who stands athwart history, yelling ‘Stop’.” But today’s conservatives are not only trying to resist the advance of history, they are attempting to pull the train of history backwards and reopen the case on what constitutes a democratic society.
Last month, the Smithsonian’s secretary received a letter from the Trump administration announcing that all exhibits deemed “divisive” or “ideological” should be replaced with those labelled “historical” and “constructive”. Within days, a list of offending displays was published and, unsurprisingly, they overwhelmingly targeted artefacts that highlight Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ experiences in the American story.
At first glance, it might seem absurd for a president juggling a global trade war caused by his avalanche of tariffs, domestic economic chaos caused by his “big beautiful bill” and intractable conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine to be fretting over museum artefacts. But these attacks are not just distractions from the major issues; they provide the ideological justification for real material and legislative changes that will impact people’s day-to-day lives.
