The Trump administration has targeted nonpartisan institutions with threats to withhold federal funding or other resources critical to their ability to survive if partisan ideological changes aren’t made to satisfy Trump’s racist worldview.  

Now, Donald Trump’s next target is the Smithsonian and its 21 museums and 14 education and research centers -- including the National Museum of the American Indian.

At the end of March, Trump issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” that aims to do exactly the opposite. In it, he accused the Smithsonian of “replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”

The order explicitly named the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the forthcoming American Women’s History Museum, targeting exhibits on slavery and transgender women. But the threat to the Smithsonian goes far beyond these examples or any individual exhibit. The entire future of these museums are at stake.

If the Smithsonian Institution does not follow Trump’s narrow worldview, the order mandates the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to withhold potentially as much as $1.3 billion in federal funding appropriated by Congress.

Withholding that funding is unconstitutional and illegal, but the threat is real and we’ve seen everything from universities and law firms to multinational corporations give in to pressure already. This could mean museums, like the National Museum of the American Indian, get shut down or could keep the Women’s History Museum from even being built.

The Smithsonian Board of Regents doesn’t have to agree to Trump’s attempt to erase the true history of the United States.

The Smithsonian Board of Regents includes Chief Justice John Roberts, Vice President J.D. Vance, U.S. Senators (Cortez Masto, Peters, and Boozman), U.S. Representatives (Giménez, Matsui, and Smith), and nine U.S. citizens. Obviously, the vice president will do the president’s bidding, but he is outnumbered by reasonable voices that don’t have to cave to racism and hate.

In response to Trump’s Executive Order, Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch reiterated the institution’s core values, writing: “As always, our work will be shaped by the best scholarship, free of partisanship, to help the American public better understand our nation’s history, challenges, and triumphs.”

Now it’s time for the Board of Regents to join Secretary Bunch. The Board needs to hear that people from across the country stand with Bunch and the Smithsonian’s truth-telling about U.S. history.

Click ‘START WRITING’ to sign and send a direct message to the Smithsonian Board of Regents, demanding they protect exhibits telling the stories of Natives, Black people, trans people, or any underrepresented communities.