Trump Installs Barton as Smithsonian Advisor to Erase Slavery History
President Trump released an executive order last Friday directing officials to install signs at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History warning visitors that exhibits present history inaccurately. This order continues a systematic campaign by the Trump administration to discredit and control the Smithsonian Institution, which includes 21 museums and the National Zoo, citing a 162-page White House report released on July 4 that accuses the institution of “extreme political activism” and “anti-White activism.”
The Trump administration’s assault on the Smithsonian intensified after Trump’s second term began, with an earlier executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” promising to “restore” the institution to “American greatness.” Trump officials have threatened to withhold federal funding, ordered reviews of eight museums, and compiled lists of objectionable exhibits. When questioned by Congress, Anthea Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History, testified that “examining the harder chapters of our history is not the same as hostility toward America” and that “telling our history fully is not anti-American.”
David Barton, a Christian nationalist advocate with no degree in history who founded the advocacy group WallBuilders, and his son Tim have shaped the White House report through their influence on Trump officials. Despite having his work repeatedly rejected by actual historians and having a 2012 book about Thomas Jefferson pulled from shelves for containing distortions and false information, Barton has attended multiple White House meetings during Trump’s second term to discuss what he views as “crazy stuff” in Smithsonian museums. The Bartons champion a “lost cause” framing of American history, arguing that slavery demonstrates “American exceptionalism” and that the founding fathers’ Christian values are underemphasized by historians, claims that directly mirror the White House report’s criticisms.
The Bartons have repeatedly acknowledged their involvement in identifying problematic Smithsonian exhibits for the Trump administration. In a January 2026 podcast episode, Tim Barton stated that the White House had specifically asked him and his father to help identify problematic exhibits, which David Barton confirmed he had delivered to White House officials. Tim Barton later revealed that members of the House Committee on Administration, including Rep. Barry Loudermilk, called the Bartons for advice on questions to pose during congressional hearings about the Smithsonian report.
Since the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents controls museum leadership, Trump and Congressional Republicans are working to stack the board with conservative allies. Vice President JD Vance, a board member, has delayed action on nominations to allow Trump to substitute candidates he favors. Rep. Loudermilk acknowledged on a podcast that he is working with the White House to engineer these leadership changes, even joking that David Barton and “these others” could “run our national museums.”