MSNBC host Katy Tur and Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley on MSNBC on August 20, 2025

Historian and Professor of History at Rice University, Douglas Brinkley, said Wednesday President Donald Trump is trying to "whitewash history" by going after the Smithsonian.

On Tuesday, Trump ordered a sweeping review of the Smithsonian museums, demanding their exhibits align with a more celebratory portrayal of American history. The president complained that they currently focus too much on “how bad slavery was” and lack optimism about the country's achievements.

During an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday, Brinkley said: "I'm afraid what President Trump is trying to do is whitewash history. He's really aiming to undo slavery. He doesn't want us to follow the timeline of our country. And that happened, if you go to Smithsonian and look at Black American history, you'll see things."

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He continued: "What President Trump suggesting is some retro, go-back-to-a-kind-of-a-time-of-segregation thinking. And ... we're too advanced for that. And it's not helpful and particularly not doing it like that on Truth Social, instead of having an honest dialogue with the good professional curators and the director of the Smithsonian in a in an honest way."

Asked what the exhibits are like at the Smithsonian, Brinkley said it's a monument that celebrates "Black entrepreneurship and Black greatness."

"I mean, you study and look at Muhammad Ali. He was the greatest, and there he is at the Smithsonian. You take a look at the story of a newspaper like the Chicago Defender that was able to advertise what was going on not just in Chicago, but around America on race relations."

"If you want to upgrade certain aspects of Black history, Tuskegee Airmen or Buffalo soldiers, go for it ... but you don't have to be as demeaning as he is because it makes all of America look bad," he said of Trump.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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