President Donald Trump’s executive order to remove exhibits that display so called “anti-American ideology” from Smithsonian museums is being met with mixed reactions.
The executive order claims the Smithsonian has presented American values as harmful and oppressive.
The order would also slash funding for programs at the institution that the Trump administration would consider “improper” or “divisive.”
The Smithsonian Institution, and its 17 museums in D.C. alone, attracts millions of visitors every year and billions of dollars in the city’s economy.
People leaving some of the museums in D.C. on Monday had strong but different reactions to the president’s order.
Tracy Martin, who lives in Columbia, Maryland, said, “We just can’t allow him to come and dismantle everything, it’s not fair and he shouldn’t be able to do it.”
In the letter, Trump directed Vice President JD Vance, who is a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, “to work to eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.”
Another man, Harold from Denver, Colorado, had a different opinion: “If it’s really anti-American, then yes, we don’t need that.”
Another man, who did not want to give his name, said President Trump should not get to decide what exhibits the Smithsonian Institution presents in its museums.
“(He’s) trying to whitewash everything, this didn’t happen or it’s too divisive to have this out,” he said.
WTOP’s Ciara Wells contributed to this report.
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