Buried in the regime's political takeover letter of the Smithsonian is the worst bit. Unlike exhibits, which are non-destructive towards primary materials, temporary in nature, and reversible, the foundational collections are irreplacable. They want to be able to throw stuff out.
This is what I was thinking of. If the Smithsonian just shut down whenever MAGA came to power, and re-opened when Dems got back in, MAGA would still go into the closed warehouses during their term and destroy exhibits/materials/documents. They don’t want the materials to ever be seen again.
Fucking barbarians
Or give it to the Kremlin
Fk that!!! It doesn’t belong to him.
@muellershewrote.com @maddow.msnbc.com @katiephang.bsky.social
Deaquisitioning is the term of art iirc
Talib
It only takes a few minutes to put photographs, paper, or cloth, into a trash bag and send it to the incinerator. Docs of women composers, anything African American could be destroyed in a moment. Many people put their trust in the Smithsonian by donating private family items.
Native American artifacts that could easily go back to the tribes where they belong…could just be destroyed because fuck us, we’re supposed to be gone already, anyway.
Never forget that six months before 9/11, the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan — cultural treasures and artifacts of the ancient history of multiethnic heritage in Afghanistan Trump’s MAGA Masters giving off BTE - Big Taliban Energy en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas...
Time to smuggle stuff out of this country for safer museums while the turd is in charge
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Wondering 🤔. To BlueSky US presidential historians, has an admin ever analyzed the Smithsonian ever before?
From what I can find, no. The Smithsonian technically doesn't fall under any of the three branches of government and is operated by a trust, but they receive 70% of funding from government so I'm sure that's what he's using to control them. This is just like he has done with Columbia, Harvard, etc.
Remember what Winston Smith's job was in Orwell's 1984. It was to take old news articles, rewrite them, replace them with government approved propaganda in "history" and incinerate the originals.
They're doing that now. Rewriting history. Scary to watch.
Trump has a weakness about that. He thinks that he's been elected king of the world. The world is a really big place and it has enough resources that his piddly attempt to rewrite history won't stick.
He could manipulate it which he's tried to do with Armed Forces Radio and TV on military bases and Voice of America -Radio Free Europe and the foreign language global broadcasts, but he put Kari Lake in charge and she couldn't organize a beer party at a brothel.
Meaning she's incompetent.
Kari Lake? 🤣 Indeed incompetent!
I hope not. But everyone sees what he's doing at least. No kings!!!!
Don't throw out anything! This is absurd! Hide it if need be.
AGGGGGGGG!!!
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"conveying to other institutions" probably means that they'll convey the Apollo Lander to Elon Musk's third garage or something.
When is the lawsuit starting? DOGE was destroying documents of agencies it captured like USAID and this shows the National Archives is also at risk.
More like sell it to the highest bidder, or the mogul who owns the most of their junk crypto currency.
Or Sold into obscurity. He will do anything to line his pockets.
there is no more America if he's allowing it's history to be 'thrown out'... it's Hungary Redoux.
Or have rich people throw them out who will then sell them for millions. Privatize.
Your reference is the Cultural Revolution and few in the US have grasped the simple fact. There is no return, there may be rebuilding in a generation, but what is lost is lost forever and much will be lost.
We need a homegrown version of the curators who saved the Louvre’s art from the Nazis.
The only way to save history, patriots get to it before they do
Yes, but, even they were relying on other groups to get rid of the Nazis.
I’m talking about preservation of the artifacts that will inevitably be lost if Trumpers start “deaccessioning” things. I’m not saying nobody should fight fascism.
Letting these lunatic Republicans have any control over the Smithsonian is like leaving it up to the Taliban to curate Buddhist statues.
Asking you as a museum person-do you know how the Smithsonian oversight works? I've seen the whole range from it's an independent org and Trump's eo is just a wishlist into the wind? To the director is a political appointee and will do his bidding. To all of the Smithsonian could be usaid'd?
JD Vance is on the board of directors
Interesting.
Trump says Smithsonian should portray America's 'Brightness,' not 'how bad Slavery was' Trump confirmed White House lawyers will "go through the Museums." Fuck him. abcnews.go.com/Politics/tru...
They're the Smithsonian! They already have a deaccessioning policy in place. Allowing a political party dictate what stays or goes is pretty professionally reprehensible. This stinks.
right; why do they need to accept this?
Just another thing to sell for parts
No, they want to give the art away to their terrorist/Russian friends.
Obviously, other than submission / collaboration, what legal authority does the executive branch have to do this? The Vice President & Chief Justice are on the board, but this isn't a board action As far as I'm seeing, there is no legitimate authority for the WH as an agency to review any exhibit
They're operating based on the obscure legal theory of "Oh yeah? Who's gonna stop me?"
Didn't know this part, that's depressing.
Seems the Trump Epstein Files not being released is speeding Republicans' pedo president and his fascist TDS cults' new crimes against America up.
I’m old enough to remember when the U.S. condemned the Islamic State for destroying priceless cultural artifacts and sites, including the 3300 year old city of Nimrud.
L-O-O-T-I-N-G. Most likely objective here. 😭
I don’t have many absolute certainty about many things, but I do know this: Beyond propaganda and racist historical revision, looting is always part of the plan. Everything valuable will be “disposed of” to end up in the hands of wealthy people who gave Trump something.
They want to be able to throw things out.....and after they do it they will never set foot in the building again. So why? CONTROL - we must control everything and everyone, what they see or read or hear - because we are KING. And nobody ignores the king and his orders.
Cultural erasure is a form of genocide. Erasing the history of people of color in America lets Trump perpetuate the Nazi myth that America is a white nation being polluted by others. This attack on the Smithsonian’s cultural museums is part of the plot to subjugate or exterminate peoples of color.
When extremist regimes take over a diverse society, the first thing they do is destroy access to culture, knowledge, and history that is contrary to their beliefs. Hitler did it. Pol Pot did it. The Taliban did it. Now Trump is doing it to the Smithsonian. www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/f...
It’s time to start hiding things.
No one ever makes them answer the question why. Fuckin animals.
I bet some of the "other institutions" they'd want to "convey" things to are their own private collections.
This has to be stopped!
First they digitize something, then discard the object, then it’s so easy to lose the digital file. They want to erase history.
Non white history. Nazis.
So we’re here
The book is even better. Very detailed. It never occurred to me that we needed to worry about the Smithsonian being looted, and by our own government!
With absolutely no humor intended:
Rewriting America’s history to prove it’s great is proof it aint.
The president is not in charge of the Smithsonian, which is a government corporation outside the executive branch. The trustees can and should say “no” to this.
They want to steal or sell.. Possibly steal and sell depending on WH assignment
History" We don't need no stinkin' history! 🤪
So, isn't this what the Taliban did in Afghanistan with those ancient statues carved into the mountainside? That tracks.
Or sent to “other institutions” like the Trump “library”. This motherfucker is going to steal from the Smithsonian.
Exactly my thoughts.
Nihilist know-nothings Vandals Barbarians
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45 wants to take it to mar-a-lardo...he's a hoarder on top of everything else. 🙄
Fucking evil
I *really* hope they're finding warehouses to store that stuff. Or stashing it in big basement rooms where they can get to it after all this
Most museums will have a clearly defined deaccessioning policy. I hope they can resist pressure from Trump’s fascist regime to override it for purely political reasons.
They really do want to get the Udvar-Hazy shuttle to Texas so ery badly, don't they?
Yeah I was gonna say, this is about stealing the shuttle.
Nah it’s about getting the Ark of the Covenant out of that big warehouse.
Maybe we can get a couple of those Boston Dynamics robots to open up the Ark in the presence of this regime?
We joke but it's kind of perfect; these people really are more like Indiana Jones villain Nazis than the real kind. It feels like they LEARNED their flamboyant evil moves (like this Smithsonian shit!) from movies and the History Channel. Anyway, the Ark would totally melt Stephen Miller's face.
No it’s about white supremacy and this is in poor taste to joke about.
That’s fair and I apologize; I’d never want to offend anyone on “our” side, as it were. And since I’m typically the one excoriating folks for their questionable taste on here I must take it as well as dish it out. 🙃
In our defense though, it’s really important to note that this is all disgraceful but also fundamentally absurd. History can’t and won’t be destroyed and these people are ridiculous. Evil, but ridiculous. Laughter is warranted! Laughter of the darkest kind, but laughter.
I increasingly can only laugh…because it’s horrific and my brain needs to make jokes or I’ll explode
Yeah i mean “Big balls got beat up by children is the new reichstag fire” being a true statement is pretty fucking stupid and absurd. I’ll give you that much
Heh see this is what I mean. The "Reichstag" kind of stuff is what I tend to side-eye people for. But in the context of a Big Balls joke I can get behind it!
Well the reichstag fire was an incident that the Nazis used as an excuse to ratchet up into martial law and suspend civil liberties. Trump immediately in response to big balls’ historic beating by kids has militarized DC and is threatening to do it to other cities. It’s not an invalid comparison.
Yeah, there's definitely SOME resonance. It feels fine as long as we're emphasizing the farcical nature of the whole thing (hence the "Big Balls" element!). It's all the unironic and straightfaced Nazi talk thrown around that makes my sensors chirp uncomfortably.
Is this a Thing people are obsessed with @usili.bsky.social
northernvirginiamag.com/news/2025/07...
Fuuuuuck.
Oh my god of course we’re destroying the Smithsonian because of some insanely petty grievance from 30 years ago
How very Mao-ish of them.
Thrown out or simply destroyed. Which, coincidentally is why we really should have destroyed confederate statues, not put them in storage.
The brilliant @artcrimeprof.bsky.social calls these stored Confederate statues “America’s strategic racism reserve.”
deaccessioning?
They should immediately begin loaning as many objects out as possible. Preferably to institutions in other countries. They can be returned if/when sanity returns.
Can the Smithsonian tell them to pound sand
Epstein files
I hope employees can start moving items to a safer place!! What idiot would want to destroy our history!!
With over three hundred years of stuff … From every state, mite take a hundred years. The model in charge, put her in the textile storage, you’ll never hear from her again .
Of course. Facism. Nazi Trump.
They won't be throwing stuff out ...they wil be LOOTING the collections.
They will give the slavery exhibit the good ole daughters of the confederacy treatment. Sherman should have went a few steps further.
This is horrible I’ve been to tge Smithsonian twice it’s incredible left it alone
"Conveying to other institutions" sounds suspiciously like all the good stuff is going to Mar A Lago
These fucks want to erase history they disagree with.
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Sick.
They want to sell them. These are grifters first and foremost.
Why think need more than an injunction or after the fact remedy. Never heard of such a thing but also, unusual circumstances, maybe putting a conditional lien on… what? Deed to Trump tower and MAL?
Sell some. Obliterate others. The Trump Regime is filled with white supremacist extremists who want to erase the existence of non-whites from America. Any artifacts or exhibits having to do with non-white history will be destroyed.
We need to accept that they have a cogent white supremacist ideology and they’re not going after history museums just to sell artifacts. They have a political goal here.
Sell nothing, these fuckers are going to steal the majority of them. If they sell them later under the table, it's 100% profit for them personally.
Only the very best history
Rewrite history...
Perhaps it's time for the people to reclaim the museum by force. I feel like it's our history, it is our truth, and we should fucking take it back if they are going to not be good stewards of our priceless history. We must take it back.
