Trump Soft Launches Smithsonian Takeover With 30-Foot Statue

President Donald Trump is calling on the Smithsonian to make drastic design changes to fulfill his vision of how the museum should look.

Trump, 80, ramped up his crusade against the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., by demanding the erection of a 30-foot George Washington statue at the entrance to the National Museum of American History, another 11-foot statue in its Flag Hall, and a five-year exhibition dedicated to the founding father.

The president dedicated two lengthy Truth Social posts to his request for the storied museum, which is governed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents—composed of the chief justice, the vice president, three senators, three congressmen, and nine citizens.

Trump argued that the museum has “failed to give George Washington and our other Founding Fathers the celebration they deserve” on America’s 250th anniversary.

“Under recently ended leadership, the Smithsonian created a ‘Center for Restorative History,’ and commissioned a ‘Decolonization Plan,’ to focus attention overwhelmingly on those who have been oppressed, but there is almost no attention paid to those who triumphed over great oppression, and against great odds,” he wrote. “That tells you all you need to know about how twisted the thinking is today at the Smithsonian.”

“Instead of focusing on ideological activism, the leaders of America’s taxpayer-funded, National History Museum should be focused on telling America’s story—fairly, accurately, and coherently—and there is no better person to start with than George Washington,” he added.

Trump attached what appeared to be AI-generated photos showing a colossal George Washington statue at the museum entrance in place of the Infinity, a sculpture created by Jose de Rivera in 1997.

“Replace a sculpture that says nothing about America with the man who, more than anyone else, says everything about America,” he said. “This is how we should begin to honor George Washington in the lead-up to his 300th birthday in 2032.”

The Smithsonian Institution did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump, who has been on a quest to remake D.C. in his image, has had his eyes on the Smithsonian since he returned to office last year.

As early as March 2025, Trump targeted the Smithsonian Institution in an executive order accusing its leadership of directing the museum “away from historical education and scholarship of a shared national inheritance to be celebrated, and toward extreme political activism, rooted in Marxism, to divide, dispirit, and discourage Americans.”

In August last year, Trump ordered an internal review of eight of the 21 Smithsonian museums “to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

The president escalated his one-sided conflict with the Smithsonian in July, ordering the installation of temporary signage at the National Museum of American History that “corrects inaccurate information” in order “to ensure America’s Founders are honored during its 250th year.”

That order followed a tense week of congressional hearings where Republican lawmakers grilled Smithsonian officials on their love for America.

Anthea Hartig, the director of the National Museum of American History, defended their work.

“Our work is governed by the Smithsonian standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence, and nonpartisanship,” she said. “The museum does not take sides in America’s political debates. We preserve and document the evidence of American life in all of its breadth, so that the public can encounter the past and draw their own conclusions.”