Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, July 24, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
Cultural communism didn’t need strategic weapons to take over the USA.
Well-placed leftist ideologues in key U.S. institutions did the trick, the Trump White House contends.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig / Video Image
A July 2026 White House report titled “Saving America’s Story” accuses the Smithsonian Institution of “ideological capture” which was reflected in its failure to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The report alleges the National Museum of American History prioritizes activist narratives over founding history:
“The Museum purposely presents America as a problematic country irredeemably conceived, founded by deeply flawed men, and still operating today as as instrument of systemic racism and oppression. In the Museum’s current telling, the country is, above all, defined by white supremacy, slavery, conquest, exclusion, hierarchy, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and systemic injustice.
“The Founders are minimized, if not entirely excluded; traditional patriotic narratives are treated with suspicion, if not outright contempt; and the basic symbols and stories that once helped unify Americans are presented not as reasons for gratitude and inspiration, but as objects to be inherently questioned, dismantled, ‘problematized,’ and
reinterpreted to achieve ideological ends.
“To the extent that there is a story told at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, it is not one of ‘the victory of freedom and genius of our country’ but one of regret, tragedy, and shame.”
On July 6, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted: “A sweeping new White House report concluded that the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) has become a taxpayer-backed institution of ‘ideological capture’ and ‘extreme political activism.’ ”
Key findings:
• NMAH fails to substantively present America’s founders and founding.
• NMAH Has “problematized’ the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
• NMAH removed “American History” from its mission statement to “get out of the ‘America First’ mentality.”
• NMAH Has abandoned historical scholarship for political activism.
The report also reveals how “the Museum’s Center for Restorative History has cast illegal alien political activism in heroic terms, partnered with and interviewed deported illegal aliens, and designed official materials that included signs advocating for the abolition of the ‘287g’ program, which allows local law enforcement to partner with federal law enforcement to identify and deport criminal illegal aliens.”
The report also catalogs “how moral and biological truths established in reason, faith, and tradition are being set aside in favor of ideological, anti-scientific claims. It cites examples in which Museum exhibits and educational materials present gender as fluid, treat biological males as girls or women, and fold contemporary advocacy for transgenderism into the Museum’s treatment of female childhood development, women’s history, and women’s sports. The report notes that some of this material is situated in youth-facing exhibits and accompanied by sexually explicit or sexually suggestive content that many parents would find deeply inappropriate for children, who are frequent visitors and a target audience of the Museum.”
The House Administration Committee, which oversees the Smithsonian, held hearings this week to examine what Republicans have described as the American history museum’s “woke-washing” of U.S. history, elevating trendy liberal causes in its exhibits while relegating more traditional stories, such as the country’s Founders, to dry recitations.
Rep. Mary Miller, Illinois Republican, slammed the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig, who in a welcome video, specifically invited children to attend a “gay liberation” exhibit which featured a “crotch harness.”
“You chose to display the fetish attire of a very small subset of Americans with weird sexual proclivities, and you welcomed children to the exhibit,” Miller said. “What is a crotch harness? You chose to make a display of it.”
Hartig defended the exhibit as “small” and described the attire in question as a “two-piece garment.”
The museum director also refused to explain her hundreds of political contributions, distanced herself from a “tool kit” that mocked historians’ objectivity as a tool of white supremacy, and had no answer when asked why her museum, while telling other stories, does not tackle the millions of abortions that have occurred since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
“I’m not here at this hearing to discuss that,” Hartig told lawmakers.
She also would not say whether she thought it was appropriate for her gift shop to sell “Latina Power” items, and she declined multiple invitations to say what a woman is.
Hartig’s annual salary is $370,000, though she stressed to lawmakers that the money comes from an endowment, not federal tax money.
In March 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order issued, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” where it was noted that “museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history.”
A section on “Saving Our Smithsonian” states:
“The Vice President, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Lindsey Halligan, Esq., shall work to effectuate the policies of this order through his role on the Smithsonian Board of Regents with respect to the Smithsonian Institution and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo, including by seeking to remove improper ideology from such properties, and shall recommend to the President any additional actions necessary to fully effectuate such policies.”
A few months later, Trump ordered a comprehensive review of all Smithsonian museums ahead of America 250 festivities.
SHOCKING ⚡️ DISRESPECT
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s “Electric Dr. Franklin” has a display that “pondered” whether Ben Franklin had performed electroshock experiments on slaves.
“Pondered”? With ZERO evidence. One of our greatest Founding Fathers.…
— David Burke 🇺🇸 (@ConservativeTht) July 23, 2026
