The Orwellian echoes in Trump’s push for ‘Americanism’ at the Smithsonian

Trump claims it's "Woke" for the Smithsonian describe "how bad slavery was"

Laura Beers, American University

When people use the term “Orwellian,” it’s not a good sign.

It usually characterizes an action, an individual or a society that is suppressing freedom, particularly the freedom of expression. It can also describe something perverted by tyrannical power.

It’s a term used primarily to describe the present, but whose implications inevitably connect to both the future and the past.

In his second term, Donald Trump has revealed his ambitions to rewrite America’s official history to, in the words of the Organization of American Historians, “reflect a glorified narrative … while suppressing the voices of historically excluded groups.”

This ambition was manifested in efforts by the Department of Education to eradicate a “DEI agenda” from school curricula. It also included a high-profile assault on what detractors saw as “woke” universities, which culminated in Columbia University’s agreement to submit to a review of the faculty and curriculum of its Middle Eastern Studies department, with the aim of eradicating alleged pro-Palestinian bias.

Now, the administration has shifted its sights from formal educational institutions to one of the key sites of public history-making: the Smithsonian, a collection of 21 museums, the National Zoo and associated research centers, principally centered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

On Aug. 12, 2025, the Smithsonian’s director, Lonnie Bunch III, received a letter from the White House announcing its intent to carry out a systematic review of the institution’s holdings and exhibitions in the advance of the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026.

The review’s stated aim is to ensure that museum content adequately reflects “Americanism” through a commitment to “celebrate American exceptionalism, [and] remove divisive or partisan narratives.”

On Aug. 19, 2025, Trump escalated his attack on the Smithsonian. “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was…” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future. We are not going to allow this to happen.”

Such ambitions may sound benign, but they are deeply Orwellian. Here’s how.

A 1965 novel foreshadowed the bizarre situation we face today

What if a sitting president became dangerously unstable? 

"What if?" Really?

Alexander Howard, University of Sydney

The Gridiron Club is one of the oldest, most exclusive journalistic organizations in Washington, D.C. Much like the White House Correspondents’ Association, this secretive, members-only group hosts an annual dinner where writers and politicians exchange playful barbs and raise their glasses in a spirit of conviviality. Tradition dictates the sitting president attends, making it a key fixture in Washington’s social and political calendar.

A fictitious account of this annual dinner features at the start of Fletcher Knebel’s 1965 novel, Night of Camp David, which is back in the cultural spotlight (again). Fiction has an uncanny way of anticipating reality, and this bestselling political thriller – about a US president spiraling into paranoia and delusion – feels eerily relevant in the era of Trump 2.0.

Everything appears to be normal as Knebel’s story gets underway. President Mark Hollenbach, a charismatic Democrat who fought in the Korean War, has just stepped up to the microphone at the Gridiron club. Before him sit “the elite of America’s delicately interwoven political-industrial society, the men who ran the political parties and the big corporations”.

Having taken a few lighthearted potshots at the press, Hollenbach sets his sights on his political rivals. After a brief pause to take a sip of water, he quips that the Republican party’s

capacity for solemnity constantly mystifies me. Perhaps the clue lies in what they say to one another. I’ve given the matter a great deal of thought, and I think I’ve hit on a way to find out.

Hollenbach, who is up for reelection, suggests the FBI be empowered to maintain an automatic tap on all telephones in the country. With a standing wiretap, “we Democrats could learn what mysterious substance provides the glue for Republicanism, what indeed it is they say to one another that makes them so gloomy”.

The audience erupts in laughter, assuming Hollenbach is joshing. But he’s deadly serious. He admits this to the novel’s central protagonist, Jim MacVeagh, an ambitious young senator from Iowa, when he later invites him for a nightcap at Camp David, the secluded presidential retreat nestled in the Maryland mountains.

It would have to be done carefully, with great legal restraints and protection, naturally. But no respectable citizen would have a thing to fear. It’s the hoodlums, the punks, the syndicate killers, and the dope peddlers we’re after. Automatic wiretapping, aided by computers to store the telephone calls, would drive them all out of business.

Why federal courts are unlikely to save democracy from Trump’s and Musk’s attacks

The law does not equal justice

Maya Sen, Harvard Kennedy School

That's Robert Kennedy SENIOR, not RFK Jr.

State governments, community groups, advocacy nonprofits and regular Americans have filed a large and growing number of federal lawsuits opposing Donald Trump’s barrage of executive orders and policy statements. Some of his actions have been put on hold by the federal courts, at least temporarily.

As a scholar of the federal courts, however, I expect the courts will be of limited help in navigating through this complicated new political landscape.

One problem is that the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years has moved sharply to the right and has approved of past efforts to expand the powers of the presidency. But the problem with relying on the courts for help goes beyond ideology and right-leaning justices going along with a right-leaning president, as happened in Trump’s first term.

One challenge is speed: The Trump administration is moving much faster than courts do, or even can. The other is authority: The courts’ ability to compel government action is limited, and also slow.

And that doesn’t even factor in statements by Trump, Vice President JD Vance and “special government employee” multibillionaire Elon Musk. All three have indicated that they are open to ignoring court rulings and have even threatened to seek the impeachment of judges who rule in ways they don’t like.

Who's next?

For more cartoons by Jen Sorenson, CLICK HERE.

The evolution of MAGA

JD Vance’s selection as Trump’s running mate marks the end of Republican conservatism

Fascism and Christian Nationalism now define the GOP

Karyn Amira, College of Charleston

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and
vice presidential candidate JD Vance at a campaign rally in
Michigan on July 20, 2024. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Since Donald Trump chose Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, it’s been widely noted that Vance once described Trump as “reprehensible” and “cultural heroin.” However, the day after Vance won his own Senate race in 2022, he reportedly made it known that he would support Trump for president in 2024.

Given this dramatic change, what does Vance’s selection mean for the Republican Party and conservatism, the political philosophy that the GOP once claimed to embrace?

I am a political scientist whose research and political analysis focuses on the relationship between Trump, the Republican Party and conservatism. Everyday citizens define conservatism in different ways, but at its root it is a philosophy that supports smaller and less-centralized government because consolidated power could be used to silence political competition and deny citizens their liberties.

Since 2015, Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican Party, moving it further away from its professed conservative ideology. The choice of Vance as Trump’s running mate – and the competition that preceded it – are the latest steps in this process.

Political columnist George Will describes how Trumpism has steered the Republican Party away from traditional conservative views.

Vance came from a small pool of contenders that included other noteworthy politicians who likewise once vehemently opposed Trump. By examining their trajectories, we can see how the Republican Party has abandoned conservative values to serve a single man.

Running on his record

Of course, the Founding Fathers wanted a king

Justice Clarence Thomas Acknowledges He Should Have Disclosed Free Trips From Billionaire Donor

Thomas - and Alito - must resign

By Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski for Propublica

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decadeslong friendship with real estate tycoon Harlan Crow and Samuel Alito’s luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer have raised questions about influence and ethics at the nation's highest court.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledged for the first time in a new financial disclosure filing that he should have publicly reported two free vacations he received from billionaire Harlan Crow.

The pair of 2019 trips, one to Indonesia and the other to the Bohemian Grove, an all-male retreat in northern California, were first revealed by ProPublica. Last year, Thomas argued that he did not need to disclose such gifts. “Justice Thomas’s critics allege that he failed to report gifts from wealthy friends,” his lawyer previously said in a statement issued on the justice’s behalf. “Untrue.”

In the new filing released Friday, however, Thomas amended his financial disclosure for 2019, writing that he “inadvertently omitted” the trips on his previous reports.

Last year, ProPublica documented an array of undisclosed luxury vacations and other gifts Thomas has received over the years from several billionaires, including Crow. ProPublica revealed Crow had treated Thomas to numerous private jet flights and international yacht cruises, covered private school tuition for Thomas’ relative, and paid Thomas money in an undisclosed 2014 real estate deal.

Legal ethics experts said that Thomas appeared to have violated the law by failing to disclose the trips and gifts.

The Thomas revelations helped plunge the Supreme Court into its biggest ethical crisis in the modern era. Justice Samuel Alito also failed to disclose a luxury fishing trip that was paid for by wealthy political donors, one of whom had cases before the court. In recent weeks, Alito has faced criticism for politicized flags that flew at two of his homes. The public’s approval of the court has plummeted in the last few years, polls show.

In response, the court last year adopted a code of conduct for the first time in its history. The code, however, has no enforcement mechanism.

Republicans keep wasting our money on their ideological boondoggles

Americans Pay a High Price for the GOP's Fiscal Irresponsibility

DAN BROOK for Common Dreams

The GOP is fiscally irresponsible in all sorts of ways.

Republicans are worse for the economy overall, worse for gross domestic product, worse for the budget deficit and national debt, worse for the trade deficit, worse for job growth, worse for wage increases, worse for inequality, worse for the stock market, and worse for much else.

No modern Republican president has ever reduced the deficit in any year with any budget. Every Republican president raised the federal budget deficit by overspending wildly on the military, the wealthy, and other wasteful things that don't constructively add to our economy or society.

The only three modern presidents to reduce the budget deficit have been Bill Clinton (who eliminated it and created a surplus), Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, all Democrats.

• About three-fourths of the entire national debt was accrued under Republican borrow-and-spend presidents.
• Republicans run higher trade deficits than Democrats.
• Unemployment is higher under Republican administrations
• The stock market does worse under Republican administrations, on average.
• Most recessions have begun under Republican administrations, as did the Great Depression.

None of the tax cuts for the rich and corporations that Republicans said would pay for themselves wound up paying for themselves. Instead, they made the wealthy wealthier. 

Wingnuts of the week

On Nov. 5, it's your choice, Part 3

The mysteries of time travel

For more cartoons by Tom Tomorrow, CLICK HERE

GOP justice

By Mike Luckovich

GOP grounds for impeachment

Preponderance of evidence

By Bill Bramhall

It's a mystery

For more cartoons by Tom Tomorrow, CLICK HERE.

Kevin McCarthy, the Unprincipled Lout, Is Out.

McCarthy is not any sort of hero

ROBERT REICH in Robertreich.Substack.Com

The normally rational Times columnist Gail Collins, writing Sunday about Speaker Kevin McCarthy: “Now if he gets tossed out as House speaker by the right wing, he’ll go down in history as the guy who sacrificed his career for the common good.”

Well, he was just tossed out. But Kevin McCarthy has as much to do with the common good as the lizard my cat just dragged into the house. (The lizard is still alive. I tossed him out of the House.)

It makes me sick to see McCarthy lauded as some sort of hero. He didn’t sacrifice his career for the well-being of America. He just didn’t want to be tagged as the person most responsible for shutting the government down, as was one of his predecessors named Newt. And he took a calculated gamble that he’d be able to keep his speakership (he may still, but I’ll get to that in a moment).

As Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a moderate Democrat from Virginia, put it: “Kevin McCarthy is among the most unprincipled, untrustworthy people I ever have encountered in the entirety of my life, and I think he does damage to this institution and our democracy.”

Recall that McCarthy was willing to do anything — anything — to become speaker, including changing the rules on who can propose a resolution to remove a speaker, to allow just one gonzo Republican to do it — like, um, Matt Gaetz.

McCarthy has even been willing to start an impeachment of Joe Biden, for no reason other than Trump wants it.

McCarthy has been a Trump lapdog since Trump began raising lapdogs.

That's how they usually do it

By Bill Bramhall

Best served with ketchup