'Went too far': GOP strategist says Trump may regret big Smithsonian directive
As President Donald Trump continues his effort to reshape exhibits at Smithsonian museums to fit his own “historical vision,” scrutiny continues to mount, including from one Republican strategist who says they believe Trump is likely to end up seeing the move as a “mistake” and reverse course.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal uncovered White House plans to vet exhibits at Smithsonian Museums to eliminate “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology,” a move that critics continue to decry as “weaponizing history.” Shermichael Singleton, a GOP strategist, seemed to share some of those concerns, telling CNN Wednesday that he anticipates the White House rolling back the initiative.
“History is rife with some abhorrent aspects of it, and then you have a lot of triumphs, and I think the question for the average person is how much of both of those things do you consider in one's personal assessment about where we are today?” Singleton said.
“You have seen in the past couple of months where some officials have attempted to make changes, to only come around and say 'maybe we went too far, this was a mistake, this was an error, we need to correct this.' I ultimately think you'll probably see some combination of that moving forward if I'm going to be honest with you.”
One example of the potential impact on Trump’s order to reshape Smithsonian museums to his liking was seen in late July, when references to Trump’s two impeachments at the National Museum of American History were quietly removed.
Singleton was joined Wednesday by political commentator Karen Finney, who led Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign as her senior advisor and spokesperson, who warned that Trump’s latest ploy to reshape American history was consistent with what she labeled a “hostile” pattern.
“He doesn't like the job numbers, fire the person, get me the sycophant who's going to give me the numbers that I like; I don't like the way history's written, we're going to change it,” Finney said.
“This is an authoritarian playbook where he's not only trying to control access to information, but the actual information itself, and we're seeing him do this across a number of sectors. It's also a sign of a weak man, a weak leader; why are you afraid of the truth? Strong leaders take the truth, find the solutions or figure out how do you deal with the truth, they don't just change it to suit their fancy.”
