Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland has proposed a bill calling on the Smithsonian to preserve and permanently exhibit artifacts related to the Trump administration’s escalating aggression against the institution’s museums and research centers, which Trump accused of “extreme political activism.”
Introduced yesterday, October 7, the “Preserving and Remembering the History of Trump and other Tyrants Act” directs Smithsonian officials to collect “artifacts reflecting the rise of governmental propaganda, corruption, and authoritarianism” under both of Trump’s presidential terms to create a permanent display at the National Museum of American History (NMAH).
Among the examples outlined in Raskin’s bill are artifacts and ephemera related to Executive Order 14416, which called for erecting content warning signs outside NMAH; banners with Trump’s portrait installed on federal buildings and other artifacts depicting his “narcissistic self-worship and propagandistic assault on American history and American democracy”; and other related objects, communications, and testimonials that the Smithsonian deems historically relevant to this time period.
“To avoid repeating this descent into authoritarianism, we must study this corrupt President’s actions and allow the public to learn about the numerous tools he deployed while attempting to remake American history in his own image and according to his own autocratic and white nationalist beliefs,” the representative said in a press statement regarding the bill.
