U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a Steel Across America event featuring a 21-foot steel beam recovered from the World Trade Centre South Tower, on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 8, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
The resignation of Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch marks an about-face by President Donald Trump, who once raved about the outgoing leader.
In a Tuesday appearance on CNN, presidential historian Leah Wright Rigueur flagged the evolution of Trump's posture toward the Smithsonian and explained what Bunch's departure means for institutions like it.
"Lonnie Bunch stepping down is a tremendous loss for cultural institutions across the United States," Rigueur said. "What an absolute icon in the field, somebody who truly loved history, truly loved culture, and really loved putting this kind of public display of American history first."
Rigueur explained that his decision to resign is an "absolute disappointment" that should concern everyone because of his ability to "find common ground" with the Trump administration while also protecting American history. She said Bunch had been doing that even before he led the Smithsonian.
"We should all be upset about the hole that his absence will leave," Rigueur said. "One of the things that made Lonnie really just remarkable, both in his position at the Smithsonian but also as the former head of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, was his ability to actually speak to the Trump administration and find common ground."
She pointed out that in 2017, Bunch gave Trump a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Trump "raved" about the tour and said everybody should "remember" and "be part" of the museum, according to Rigueur.
"So to see over the course of the last year or so, the administration doing an about-face on many of the ideas and really a whitewashing of history and the erasure of history is deeply alarming," Rigueur said. "The writing was on the wall for a while, from the moment the administration issued an executive order and kind of went on an attack in 2025."