Democratic strategist David Axelrod on Tuesday compared President Trump’s new review of content at Smithsonian museums to former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s efforts to “rewrite history.”
“This has just kind of a Soviet feel to it, a Stalinist feel to it,” the former Obama White House aide and current CNN commentator said Tuesday during an appearance on the network. “You know, you take over cultural institutions and historical institutions and you try and rewrite history.”
The White House sent a letter to Smithsonian Institution head Lonnie Bunch on Tuesday ordering a review of content across eight museums and ultimately replace exhibits deemed “divisive or ideologically driven” with “unifying, historically accurate” content that aligns with the president’s “American exceptionalism” directive marking the nation’s 250th birthday.
Axelrod said it’s concerning, because he doesn’t trust that Trump will preserve accurate history.
“This is a president who is rewriting history every day, and he believes that you can do that,” he said. “The irony is that in this instance, this is all around the 250th anniversary of our Founding Fathers declaring themselves free of a mad king, and you wonder what they would think coming back today and watching this.”
Stalin was known to have redirected historical accounts of the Soviet Union to reshape how Russians viewed the past.
Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at stamping out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in government. The DEI purge drew backlash after the Pentagon removed notable historical items and mentions that were flagged as divisive.
“They removed Jackie Robinson from the Pentagon archives,” Axelrod said.
He contrasted Trump’s positive spin on history with how Germany recognizes the Holocaust.
“They don’t run from it. It is taught, because they don’t want history to repeat itself,” he said.
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