Understanding history is not ‘anti-American’

The famous cautionary phrase that those who don’t learn from their history are doomed to repeat it has never felt more appropriate than after yet another executive order was signed by President Donald Trump last week.

This time, the totally normal and not-at-all dystopian-coded order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” focuses on correcting what is apparently one of the most un-American and dangerous institutions of our society that for too long has gone unchecked in its unbridled anti-patriotic rhetoric. And that disgusting institution in need of heavy-handed reform is (checks notes)…

The Smithsonian Institution?

That’s right. The network of cherished educational establishments that includes 21 museums, galleries and the National Zoo – a tourism generator that brings millions of people to our nation’s capital every year – has lost its “sanity” and no longer tells the truth. But that will all be fixed now, thanks to President Trump.

The executive order claims to strive to remove "improper, divisive, anti-American ideology" from Smithsonian museums, although it is of course vague in terms of what that actually means – effectively giving unchecked and unprecedented power to Vice President J.D. Vance to decide, unilaterally, what history Americans are allowed to learn about, and what history is “improper” and worthy of censorship.

It would be foolish to assume, at this point, that the hypocrisy of this administration relying so heavily on executive orders – the controversial process of a president wielding their power like a medieval European king – would be called out by anyone on the right. Yes, the same people who decried so loudly the same process when it was utilized by former President Joe Biden.

Calling out hypocrisy among their own ranks must be “improper, divisive or anti-American” to Republicans.

We also fear it would be foolish to assume, given all the evidence we’ve seen thus far to the contrary, that any congressional Republicans will break ranks and stand up for one of the most important foundational pillars of our republic, which is agreeing on an objective set of facts about our collective history, and the importance of not censoring or coloring that information with agenda-laden biases.

No, it seems at this point that this administration and its allies are openly declaring that the nation’s history books are open to interpretation – their interpretation, specifically – and suggesting any notion to the contrary will be enough to label you “anti-American.”

If we need to warn you about the dangers that come with such a blatantly anti-democratic process that looks to be unfolding before our very eyes, it probably  means you’ve already failed to learn from history and are doomed to repeat it.

Normally, a day spent learning about all of our nation’s thorny and complicated historical context at any of the Smithsonian’s wonderful museums could help with that understanding, and lead to a better-informed view of what being a patriotic American actually means.

But those days, to our great detriment, seem to be numbered.