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3h ago

Trump’s Smithsonian Review Triggers CNN Showdown and Curator Reinstatement

A heated panel debate over slavery narratives on CNN underscores the administration’s effort to rewrite museum exhibits as staff quietly restore impeachment mentions.

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Overview

  • On Wednesday’s CNN NewsNight, fitness pundit Jillian Michaels defended President Trump’s initiative to review Smithsonian exhibits by insisting it would not whitewash slavery and criticizing what she called an unwarranted linkage of imperialism, racism and slavery to one race.
  • Anchor Abby Phillip and Rep. Ritchie Torres interrupted Michaels on-air, labeling her assertions “extraordinary historical revisionism” and refuting her claim that fewer than 2 percent of white Americans owned slaves.
  • Michaels took to X hours after the broadcast to reiterate that the review aimed to correct perceived biases in museum installations rather than erase accounts of slavery.
  • The White House announced the formal Smithsonian content review earlier this week as part of its campaign to reshape national historical narratives ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary.
  • According to USA Today, Smithsonian curators quietly reinstated references to Trump’s impeachment in a presidential history exhibit after the president ordered their removal.