Set the Controls for the Heart of Stupid!

Our chowderhead president is ranting about the Smithsonian Institution and other museums again. Per Truth Social, DJT applied his overabundant — and increasingly tired – combination of capitalization and bullshit to the following screed:

“The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially that last remaining segment of ‘WOKE.’ The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been – Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future…”

Blah blah blah, ending with…

“This country cannot be WOKE because WOKE is BROKE. We have the “HOTTEST” Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.”

[Side note: do you think Trump could name all of his presidential predecessors in order? I know not everyone can, and that’s fine, but a current president bent on dewoke-ifying history should be able to name every person who held the office before him. In order.]

Trump flunky – sorry, I mean Trump senior associate staff secretary – Lindsey Halligan, reiterated the message on Fox News, noting, “I think there should be more of an overemphasis on how far we’ve come since slavery.” Halligan, with no apparent expertise in this area, has been charged by Trump, along with fellow Trump flunky – sorry I mean U.S. Vice President – J.D. Vance to “go through” the Smithsonian museums and remove anything that doesn’t line up with the “Make America Great Again” conception of history, art, and culture.

This week’s statements on WOKE museums are just the latest bloviating from the current administration on this issue. Pronouncements were being spewed back in April, when Donna, Chris, and I drove to Washington to visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC), which could become the museum most susceptible to scrutiny from the administration.

Before I go any further, I know what you might be thinking: “Rich, why did you dare take a chance journeying to crime-ridden Washington D.C.?”

The answer is simply that back in April, the administration had not quite so adamantly stated what a hellhole they thought D.C. has become, so I figured we’d take our chances and anyway, I like living on the edge. In fact, I even strolled by the epicenter of crime in Washington, D.C. that day:

The sole purpose of our trip was to go to the NMAAHC. Full disclosure, though: we arrived at the museum later in the day, with just a few hours to visit. We started at the gift shop (which closes earlier than the museum) and then we headed straight to the fourth floor, which is largely focused on art, music, film and television.

The fourth floor essentially covers only the last 100 years, so we missed the context that a fuller visit would provide. Trump & company might note that by starting where we did, we weren’t able to fully grasp just how much the WOKE mob overemphasizes slavery throughout the rest of the museum. But that’s why we hope to make the perilous journey into D.C. again soon, so we can tour the entire NMAAHC, and think for ourselves about how the museum curates and displays the overall journey, in all its dimensions, of African Americans in this country.

However, I think the following photos show that we saw many examples of “Success,” “Brightness,” and “Future,” which Trump claims don’t exist. As much as we loved what we saw, I’m sure that we would have been even more affected had we been able to see the rest of what I am guessing is an expertly curated museum.

Enjoy these photos, which represent just a tiny section of the NMAAHC. Please note that I am aware the pictures shown below mostly represent an area in which I have major interest, and that our abbreviated visit did not provide the full context that would add immeasurably to what we did see. But, these photos do directly contradict Trump’s state ment the there “Success,” “Brightness,” and “Future” are not anywhere to be found in our nation’s museums.

If you can somehow swing it, visit Washington D.C. soon. Make your way through the superfluous National Guardsmen — who could be doing much more useful things in their own states, but who are stationed conveniently everywhere they don’t need to be in D.C. right now to shield you from WOKE — to the Smithsonian museums. Start at NMAAHC and imagine what it will be like if Trump and his gang of fools are allowed to whitewash, in all senses of the word, the true history and culture of this country.