Trump Is Trying to Force Americans to Unlearn What We Know

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excerpt - =E2=80=9CWe live in a country with an unpredictable past.=E2=80=
=9D This was a
saying among the intelligentsia in the Soviet Union when I was growing up.
We never knew which part of our history would be obliterated next.

Now Americans, too, live in a country with an unpredictable past. Two
months into his second term, President Trump issued an executive order
titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, in which he directed
officials to =E2=80=9Cremove improper ideology=E2=80=9D from the Smithsonia=
n and its
museums, to cut funding to =E2=80=9Cprograms that degrade shared American v=
alues=E2=80=9D
and to reinstate some monuments removed following the 2020 Black Lives
Matter protests. A very incomplete list of things that have happened since
that order was issued: The National Park Service has been removing
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/climate/court-national-parks-signs-trum=
p.html>
signs
about slavery; the statue of a Confederate general has been reinstalled
<https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/us/politics/confederate-statue-trump.ht=
ml>
in
Washington; a scathing report
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Smithsonian-Report-S=
aving-Americas-Story.pdf>
by
the White House Domestic Policy Council accused the Smithsonian of using
history =E2=80=9Cas a political instrument to divide, dispirit and discoura=
ge our
citizens=E2=80=9D; and on July 24, Trump issued a new executive order
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/07/restoring-trust-in=
-the-smithsonian-institution-e061/>
mandating
that signs be installed outside the Smithsonian =E2=80=9Cwarning visitors a=
bout the
ideological capture at the National Museum of American History.=E2=80=9D

Re-evaluating history has the potential to change a people=E2=80=99s future=
 by
changing its self-understanding. It can unite people in a genuinely new
project. And then there is the rewriting of history, which is crazy-making.
The Soviet Union repeatedly forced the whole country to unlearn what was
already widely known. In the 1950s, after Joseph Stalin died, the Communist
Party denounced his =E2=80=9Ccult of personality=E2=80=9D and some of the e=
xtent of his
terror. A decade later, it reversed itself, exiling or imprisoning authors
who wrote about the crimes of Stalinism. The same process was repeated when
the Soviet Union collapsed. Vast amounts of information about Soviet terror
emerged; under Vladimir Putin that knowledge has been forced back into
oblivion.

Trump wants Americans to unlearn what they have come to know about the
history and legacy of enslavement. What his executive orders really promise
to restore is a sense of comfort contained in the most reductive and
sanitized stories about the United States =E2=80=94 the bliss of ignorance.=
 Trump
appears to believe that the job of museums and memorials is to instill
=E2=80=9Cpride in the hearts of all Americans,=E2=80=9D as one of the execu=
tive orders put
it. The report from Trump=E2=80=99s Domestic Policy Council faulted the Nat=
ional
Museum of American History for failing in this precise mission.

full article -

*https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/opinion/trump-smithsonian-history-censo=
rship.html
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/opinion/trump-smithsonian-history-censo=
rship.html>*


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<div dir=3D"ltr"><font size=3D"4">excerpt -=C2=A0<span style=3D"color:rgb(5=
4,54,54);font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,&quot;times new roman&quot;,times=
,serif;background-color:transparent">=E2=80=9CWe live in a country with an =
unpredictable past.=E2=80=9D This was a saying among the intelligentsia in =
the Soviet Union when I was growing up. We never knew which part of our his=
tory would be obliterated next.</span></font><p class=3D"gmail-css-aa8b97-P=
aragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0" style=3D"outli=
ne:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81818px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-=
east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;lin=
e-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,&quot;times new roman&qu=
ot;,times,serif;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-=
settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;border:0px;margin:0px 0px 0.9375re=
m;padding:0px;color:rgb(54,54,54);width:600px;max-width:100%"><font size=3D=
"4">Now Americans, too, live in a country with an unpredictable past. Two m=
onths into his second term, President Trump issued an executive order title=
d Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, in which he directed offi=
cials to =E2=80=9Cremove improper ideology=E2=80=9D from the Smithsonian an=
d its museums, to cut funding to =E2=80=9Cprograms that degrade shared Amer=
ican values=E2=80=9D and to reinstate some monuments removed following the =
2020 Black Lives Matter protests. A very incomplete list of things that hav=
e happened since that order was issued: The National Park Service has been=
=C2=A0<a class=3D"gmail-css-bhdv0x-linkClass" href=3D"https://www.nytimes.c=
om/2026/07/02/climate/court-national-parks-signs-trump.html" title=3D"" sty=
le=3D"outline:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81818px;font-style:inherit;font-variant=
:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-=
family:inherit;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-s=
ettings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;c=
olor:rgb(50,104,145);text-decoration:underline 1px rgb(50,104,145)">removin=
g</a>=C2=A0signs about slavery; the statue of a Confederate general has bee=
n=C2=A0<a class=3D"gmail-css-bhdv0x-linkClass" href=3D"https://www.nytimes.=
com/2025/10/28/us/politics/confederate-statue-trump.html" title=3D"" style=
=3D"outline:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81818px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:i=
nherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-fa=
mily:inherit;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-set=
tings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;col=
or:rgb(50,104,145);text-decoration:underline 1px rgb(50,104,145)">reinstall=
ed</a>=C2=A0in Washington; a scathing=C2=A0<a class=3D"gmail-css-bhdv0x-lin=
kClass" href=3D"https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Smith=
sonian-Report-Saving-Americas-Story.pdf" title=3D"" rel=3D"noopener norefer=
rer" target=3D"_blank" style=3D"outline:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81818px;font-=
style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit=
;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kern=
ing:inherit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;border:0p=
x;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(50,104,145);text-decoration:underline 1p=
x rgb(50,104,145)">report</a>=C2=A0by the White House Domestic Policy Counc=
il accused the Smithsonian of using history =E2=80=9Cas a political instrum=
ent to divide, dispirit and discourage our citizens=E2=80=9D; and on July 2=
4, Trump issued a new=C2=A0<a class=3D"gmail-css-bhdv0x-linkClass" href=3D"=
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/07/restoring-trust-in-=
the-smithsonian-institution-e061/" title=3D"" rel=3D"noopener noreferrer" t=
arget=3D"_blank" style=3D"outline:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81818px;font-style:=
inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-=
height:inherit;font-family:inherit;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kerning:in=
herit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;border:0px;marg=
in:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(50,104,145);text-decoration:underline 1px rgb(=
50,104,145)">executive order</a>=C2=A0mandating that signs be installed out=
side the Smithsonian =E2=80=9Cwarning visitors about the ideological captur=
e at the National Museum of American History.=E2=80=9D</font></p><p class=
=3D"gmail-css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print ev=
ys1bk0" style=3D"outline:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81818px;font-variant-numeric=
:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;fo=
nt-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,&q=
uot;times new roman&quot;,times,serif;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kerning=
:inherit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;border:0px;m=
argin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;color:rgb(54,54,54);width:600px;max-wid=
th:100%"><font size=3D"4">Re-evaluating history has the potential to change=
 a people=E2=80=99s future by changing its self-understanding. It can unite=
 people in a genuinely new project. And then there is the rewriting of hist=
ory, which is crazy-making. The Soviet Union repeatedly forced the whole co=
untry to unlearn what was already widely known. In the 1950s, after Joseph =
Stalin died, the Communist Party denounced his =E2=80=9Ccult of personality=
=E2=80=9D and some of the extent of his terror. A decade later, it reversed=
 itself, exiling or imprisoning authors who wrote about the crimes of Stali=
nism. The same process was repeated when the Soviet Union collapsed. Vast a=
mounts of information about Soviet terror emerged; under Vladimir Putin tha=
t knowledge has been forced back into oblivion.</font></p><p class=3D"gmail=
-css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0" s=
tyle=3D"outline:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81818px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;=
font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-stretc=
h:inherit;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,&quot;times=
 new roman&quot;,times,serif;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kerning:inherit;=
font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;border:0px;margin:0px=
;padding:0px;color:rgb(54,54,54);width:600px;max-width:100%"><font size=3D"=
4">Trump wants Americans to unlearn what they have come to know about the h=
istory and legacy of enslavement. What his executive orders really promise =
to restore is a sense of comfort contained in the most reductive and saniti=
zed stories about the United States =E2=80=94 the bliss of ignorance. Trump=
 appears to believe that the job of museums and memorials is to instill =E2=
=80=9Cpride in the hearts of all Americans,=E2=80=9D as one of the executiv=
e orders put it. The report from Trump=E2=80=99s Domestic Policy Council fa=
ulted the National Museum of American History for failing in this precise m=
ission.</font></p><p class=3D"gmail-css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragra=
phTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0" style=3D"outline:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81=
818px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-var=
iant-alternates:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.875rem;font-fami=
ly:nyt-imperial,georgia,&quot;times new roman&quot;,times,serif;font-size-a=
djust:inherit;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-a=
lign:baseline;border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(54,54,54);width:6=
00px;max-width:100%"><font size=3D"4">full article -</font></p><p class=3D"=
gmail-css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1b=
k0" style=3D"outline:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81818px;font-variant-numeric:inh=
erit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-s=
tretch:inherit;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,&quot;=
times new roman&quot;,times,serif;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kerning:inh=
erit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;border:0px;margi=
n:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(54,54,54);width:600px;max-width:100%"><font siz=
e=3D"4"><u><a href=3D"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/opinion/trump-smit=
hsonian-history-censorship.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/opinion=
/trump-smithsonian-history-censorship.html</a></u></font></p><p class=3D"gm=
ail-css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0=
" style=3D"outline:rgba(0,0,0,0) solid 1.81818px;font-variant-numeric:inher=
it;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-str=
etch:inherit;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,&quot;ti=
mes new roman&quot;,times,serif;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kerning:inher=
it;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;border:0px;margin:=
0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(54,54,54);width:600px;max-width:100%"><font size=
=3D"4"><u><br></u></font></p></div>


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