U.S. President Donald Trump reacts during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the Oval Office of the White House, amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
A historian called out President Donald Trump for his comments on Tuesday, railing that museums are "woke" and "out of control" for teaching "how bad Slavery was."
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to bemoan that the "Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of 'WOKE.'"
"The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future. We are not going to allow this to happen, and I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made. This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the “HOTTEST” Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums," he wrote.
Leah Wright Rigueur, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins, joined CNN's "The Lead" on Tuesday to take Trump to task over the comments.
"Is it even really possible to overstate how bad slavery was?" asked fill-in host Pamela Brown.
"Absolutely not. And I'm actually really disturbed that once again, we are trying to relitigate something that is objectively, by all sides, been decided. Slavery was a bad thing, objectively. We fought a civil war over it and over the economic independence from the very act of slavery. That's something that we have conceded. Now, it's something that the United States hasn't dealt with, but it's not something that the United States is really comfortable with."
Rigueur said the nation has held a longstanding understanding that slavery is "universally bad" — until now.
"And yet here we are in 2025 with the president of the United States declaring that it's not all bad," she said.
She questioned whether Trump has visited any Smithsonian's exhibits or museums, predicting he has not.
"Because if he had, he would actually see a very deep, complex, and nuanced story about America. The good, the bad, the ugly. But also a story of resilience that really is about the very best of America when faced with the very worst of our country," she said, taking down his claim that museums only shed light on America's dark chapters.
Should the president pay a visit to the Smithsonian, he'd see that the "actual story" is "one that is truly about the very best of America," she said.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture starts with the experience of slavery, but then tells the "story of triumph right on through the present," Rigueur said. It highlights the achievements of Ben Carson and former President Barack Obama.
"It talks about success and really powerful and resilient ways. And so I have to question what the real agenda is in doing this," she said.
She surmised Trump may have an ulterior motive.
"In fact, it's instead about a very particular agenda, about really erasing the narrative of the American stories of American citizens that really define our country, define who we are, the various bits and pieces, the voices that all too often get erased and that historians have done extraordinary work to bring to the present," Rigueur said.
Watch the clip below or at this link.