Trump admin signals federal agencies may not work with Smithsonian, escalating feud over ‘radical ideology’ 

The Trump administration is indicating federal agencies may not work with the Smithsonian under its current leadership, escalating a feud over the museums’ diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that has lasted more than a year.

In a letter sent to the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, the administration said executive agencies “cannot in good conscience continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership by, for example, loaning artifacts for exhibits, enabling procurement processes and making discretionary grants.”

The letter cited a recent White House report called Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage, which found that the museum’s programming tells American history through an “ideological agenda that seeks to transform both the Smithsonian and the country.” The effect of the “radical ideology” is to weaken America’s identity and heritage, it added, while conditioning the public to “accept these attempts to weaponize our national institutions.”

“Very few Americans want the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to be used, in the words of its director, as a ‘prime tool of social justice’ and as an instrument of ideological activism and advocacy,” Vince Haley, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, told Heartlander News in a statement. He and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum co-signed the Aug. 28 letter.

“Unfortunately, the Saving America’s Story report demonstrates, using the statements of Museum leadership and the interpretive guidelines adopted by the Museum, that this is exactly what the Smithsonian’s flagship museum has become,” he said.

Haley added that especially during the 250th anniversary of the founding, American citizens are owed “an honest and inspiring account of American history.”

“It should begin by telling the story of our Founding Fathers – who they were, what they did, and what they built,” he said. “It is our hope and expectation that the Smithsonian will eventually rise once again to that noble obligation – to tell America’s story for our children, the world, and future generations of Americans.” 

The administration’s battle with the Smithsonian over DEI began in early 2025, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order accusing the museums of succumbing to the “influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” An investigation followed, culminating in the White House report, and the institution came under additional fire from congressional lawmakers in July.

The administration’s recent letter said it was the executive branch’s duty to ensure that the Smithsonian uses taxpayer funds to “preserve America’s precious cultural inheritance, not advance a divisive, ideological agenda.”

“As an entity created to be the Nation’s foremost steward of American history and culture, the Smithsonian bears a responsibility to preserve and present the American story faithfully, accurately, coherently and in a manner worthy of the public trust,” the letter reads. “That responsibility is reinforced by the more than $1 billion in taxpayer funding Congress provides to support the Institution’s mission each year.”

The Trump administration said it had recently uncovered evidence that the Smithsonian leadership may have violated federal antidiscrimination law by “creating a hostile work environment and engaging in practices that classify individuals and allocate opportunities, funding and other benefits on the basis of race, ethnicity and other protected characteristics.” 

The letter requested that the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents meet with administration officials to discuss the White House report’s findings.

The Smithsonian did not return Heartlander News’ request for comment by time of publication.