Trump targets Smithsonian funding for programs with "improper ideology"

• The federal DEI overhaul has resulted in the erasure of historical facts from government sites in what Axios' Delano Massey described as a "battle over how America accepts, acknowledges or edits its past."

Trump claims a "concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation's history" over the last decade.

• He says in the order the vice president and the director of the Office of Management and Budget should work with Congress to ensure future appropriations to the Smithsonian adhere to federal guidelines.
• That means, per the president's order, prohibiting spending on exhibits or programs that "degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy."

Zoom in: Trump claims in the order, the vice president and OMB director are also tasked with working with Congress to make sure the Women's History Museum, which is in development, does "not recognize men as women in any respect."

• He says, the Secretary of the Interior should determine whether any public monuments, memorials or statues in its jurisdiction have been removed or changed "to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history" since 2020.

Representatives for the Smithsonian did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment Thursday evening.

Go deeper: Trump's anti-DEI purge is erasing these military legends