NYT's Maggie Haberman Reports Trump Has Massively Escalated Against the Smithsonian

Earlier this month, the White House released a 162-page report on the leftist ideological capture of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, as part of President Donald Trump's "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" initiative. The report noted exhibits including pages from a 6-year-old girl's diary in which she prays "every night for my penis to grow," an argument that Mickey Mouse represented "vestiges of longstanding traditions of blackface minstrelsy," and a claim that Benjamin Franklin conducted electric shock experiments on slaves.

Earlier this week, Congress heard from the director of the Museum of American History, Anthea M. Hartig, who agreed with Rep. Brandon Gill that politeness is important—even though a notorious Smithsonian exhibit had declared politeness a pillar of white supremacy culture.

The New York Times has a new piece on Trump's escalation against the Smithsonian, ordering warning signs put up outside sketchy exhibits.

Trump massively escalates against the Smithsonian > https://t.co/7VdlmoGOdq
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 24, 2026

Robin Pogrebin and Zachary Small report:

President Trump on Friday ordered warning signs and exhibits installed outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to alert the public that the museum does not, in his view, accurately reflect American history.
The unusual directive, made through an executive order, was a considerable escalation of the president’s dispute with the Smithsonian and its history museum, which was the subject of a recent 162-page report. The report accused the museum’s director, Anthea M. Hartig, of “radical activist ideology” and the museum of undermining “faith in American institutions.”
The order went so far as to suggest that the signage inform potential museum visitors of locations where American history is better presented. The administration did not explain where the public would be redirected.
…
Friday’s executive order also ordered several government officials to “restore trust in the Smithsonian Institution” and to seek its compliance with the White House findings, which asserted that the museum had become a tool of political activism and had not done enough to celebrate the achievements of the nation’s founders on the country’s 250th anniversary year.