President Donald Trump has launched a new offensive in the ongoing culture wars, this time targeting the Smithsonian Institution, which is renowned as the country’s leading museum and research center. He is pressing for the removal of what he considers ‘woke’ art from its exhibitions.

In an intense social media outburst earlier this month, Trump criticized museums for fixating on ‘how bad slavery was’ and instructed his legal team to ‘review the museums’ to pinpoint exhibits perceived as anti-American by the White House.

Subsequently, his administration published an extensive list of artworks, installations, and exhibits it labeled as unpatriotic. Many of these focus on topics such as racism, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, and the work of Dr. Anthony Fauci on COVID-19, whom Trump has frequently criticized.

This initiative is similar to Trump’s previous actions against colleges and universities, where he threatened to withdraw funding unless they restricted antisemitism and diversity initiatives.

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, the White House asserts its desire to clear cultural institutions of ‘anti-American ideology’ in favor of promoting more affirmative content.

Critics accuse the president of trying to rewrite history and muzzle artists. 

The Smithsonian, which includes a vast network of 21 museums and galleries primarily in Washington, DC, as well as the National Zoo, has thus far refrained from offering any comment on the situation.

Though it receives much of its budget from Congress, the institution prides itself on being independent in curating exhibitions.

Civil rights campaigners are sounding the alarm. Black Lives Matter accused Trump of trying to lock the country in a ‘fairytale’ America, one stripped of slavery, racism and social struggle.

Others compared his moves to authoritarian regimes that sought to control culture and memory.

Now, the Daily Mail has taken a look at the works singled out by Trump’s administration and the words of the creatives behind them. Vote in our poll at the bottom to let us know your thoughts. 

Refugees Crossing the Border Wall into South Texas, by Rigoberto Gonzalez

One of the pieces that riled the White House most is Rigoberto Gonzalez’s painting at the National Portrait Gallery showing a Mexican family climbing a ladder over the US border wall.

The administration blasted the work as ‘commemorating the act of illegally crossing’ into the United States.

But Gonzalez, who was born in Mexico and is now a US citizen, insists his art reflects reality, not propaganda.

‘My work is political, and that painting in particular was questioning the anti-immigrant sentiment of the time,’ he told NPR. 

‘So I’m glad that it got a response from a presidency that is very clearly going anti-immigration.’

Gonzalez even drew parallels with the Nazi regime’s attempts to control culture.

He said he is not deterred, and plans to paint about immigration roundups in coming art pieces.

The anti-racism scholarship of Ibram X Kendi

The White House list also targeted intellectual work, notably that of historian and best-selling author Ibram X Kendi.

Kendi’s writing has featured in the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where an exhibit examined ‘assumptions of whiteness and white culture’.

His landmark book How to Be an Anti-Racist urges people to confront racism in daily life, to ‘unlearn’ racial bias and to promote equality.

Most notoriously, it suggested the only remedy for anti-black discrimination is anti-white discrimination.  

The Trump administration dismissed him as a ‘hardcore woke activist’.

Kendi said he was not surprised.

‘Those of us who study racism, who engage in rigorous research to try to explain what racism is, have been typically described as activists, as opposed to what we are: scholars and intellectuals using research and analysis to try to present the truth,’ he said.

‘It’s a way to discredit me and distract from my scholarship, to turn me into some boogeyman. And frankly, I can see this White House not wanting their supporters to take my work seriously – because if they did, they might not take the White House seriously either.’

Trans Forming Liberty, by Amy Sherald

Amy Sherald, celebrated for her portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama, also found her work caught in Trump’s crosshairs.

Her painting Trans Forming Liberty shows a black transgender woman in a flowing blue gown with pink hair, holding a torch – a bold reimagining of the Statue of Liberty.

The White House sneered that the artwork amounted to ‘a transgender Statue of Liberty.’

Sherald had already canceled her show at the National Portrait Gallery because she feared backlash from Trump officials.

‘We’re talking about erasure every day,’ she said.

‘And so now I feel like every portrait that I make is a counterterrorist attack… to counter some kind of attack on American history and on black American history and on black Americans.’

Hugo Crosthwaite’s animated series on Dr Anthony Fauci

San Diego-based artist Hugo Crosthwaite also landed on the administration’s blacklist.

His series of 19 drawings traced the long career of former National Institutes of Health Director Dr Fauci, from his early work on HIV/AIDS to his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The series was commissioned in 2022 by the National Portrait Gallery.

For conservatives, Fauci became a symbol of lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

The artist brushed off the criticism.

‘It seems like they just came up with the idea, “Oh, this is about Fauci. So then we hate it now,”‘ he said. ‘And they probably haven’t even seen it.’

Far from being intimidated, Crosthwaite said he was ‘honored’ to make the administration’s so-called wall of shame.

‘They’re trying to censor artwork. But I always feel it backfires – it usually draws more attention to it, which I think is wonderful.’

The controversy has sparked a furious debate about what role museums should play in a country grappling with its past.

Trump and his allies argue that taxpayer-funded institutions should not ‘indoctrinate’ the public with work that highlights racism or sexual identity. They want patriotic displays to dominate the 250th anniversary celebrations in 2026.

‘The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL,’ Trump wrote in his infamous post.

‘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.’

But artists, curators and academics warn that stripping out uncomfortable truths risks whitewashing history.

For now, the Smithsonian has remained silent, declining to confirm whether any works will be removed.

Whether the Smithsonian bends to pressure or holds firm could define how America tells its story to the world on its 250th birthday – and how much room is left for voices that challenge the centers of power.