Donald Trump ordered warning signs to be placed in front of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History on Friday, escalating a fight over how the museum tells the nation’s story. The signs are meant to warn visitors about what Trump calls inaccurate information presented there.
The order landed after a White House report released on July 4 said the museum cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying and worthy of the republic. Trump had already said in March 2025 that he intended to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution, and he signed an executive order then aimed at federal funding for programs he said presented divisive narratives and improper ideology.
Trump wrote in the new order that Smithsonian leadership does not present American history as a shared national inheritance to be taught and celebrated. He said it treats American history as a prime tool to advance ideas of social justice and the radical transformation of society, and he said the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of American History cannot be trusted to tell America’s story with honesty and gratitude.
The directive tells Doug Burgum to work with the National Park Service to install temporary signage along the NPS-maintained sidewalks and walkways the public uses to reach the museum. Those signs are supposed to tell visitors about the July 4 report and Trump’s demand that its findings be enforced in line with the March 2025 executive order. Trump also directed Burgum, Russell Vought, the administrator of the General Services Administration and the assistant to the president for domestic policy to use all available authorities to promote the order’s policies.
That puts the dispute in front of museumgoers instead of leaving it inside Washington. The Smithsonian declined to comment on Friday, but Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch said earlier this month that the White House’s report was not a fair characterization of the work and totality of the National Museum of American History. He wrote that the Smithsonian’s work is driven by scholarship, accuracy and an uncompromising commitment to tell the fullness of America’s story, and that the institution remains focused on scholarship, nonpartisanship, independence, accuracy and integrity.
What Trump has not identified is the specific material he considers inaccurate. What he has done is order temporary signs on the public approach to one of the Smithsonian Institution’s best-known museums, turning a policy dispute over history into something visitors will see before they walk in.
