A Celtic poet, Cedric the Wise, once laid out a construct of values that should be given to follow in the twenty-first century. Any person, to love country and people, must have a love of justice. For love of justice, there need be a love for learning. And to love learning, one needs a love of poetry and song. Alas, Donald Trump despises a justice system which sought to hold him to account. He is a convicted felon putting his tiny thumbs on the scales of justice.
The orange-obsessed Oval Office occupant is seeking to bring universities and schools to heel, banishing diversity and tampering with fields of study. He has taken personal charge of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Prominent law firms, notably Seattle-based Perkins Coie, are being targeted, with Trump trying to deny them government contracts, strip them of security clearances, and even ban them from federal buildings. They’ve committed the sin of working for justice, be it fighting efforts to restrict voting or Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
We tell lawyer jokes and complain of court delays. But deliberation is a necessity of the rule of laws. Suppression is a tactic of authorial rulers who consider themselves above the law. Trump has deployed lawsuits to intimidate and shake down critics. He recently wrung a $15 million settlement out of ABC News, and is now going after CBS. Perkins Coie responded to Trump’s executive order with four words: “See you in court.” It has retained the bare-knuckled Williams & Connolly law firm and is suing to block the vengeful presidential action. Two other firms have followed its example. It’s a gutsy move.
The Boeing Company is Perkins’ signature longstanding client. It does tons of business with the federal government and faces litigation over the 737 MAX crashes and the door plug that blew off a California-bound Alaska Airlines flight. Perkins is already facing off against Trump as longtime (and successful) legal counsel to Democratic presidential and congressional campaigns.
Trump is also working to impose his will on the nation’s great universities, using the withdrawal of federal money to force adoption of a key component of Project 2025, junking diversity programs designed to make student populations mirror wider society. Already, two premier institutions — Columbia University and the University of Michigan — have caved. Trump’s regime yanked $400 million from Columbia for alleged failure to address antisemitism on campus. The university has hastily created a new senior administrative position in acquiescence to Trump.
Trump’s lackeys are also laying out conditions for excelling students from universities, and from the country. ICE has detained a graduate student from Turkey, legally in America, who wrote an article decrying Israel’s assault on Gaza. Network news programs have shown masked men, bearing no identification, physically seizing her. It is chilling. Student protest has served the republic well. Consider the campus protests and lunch counter sit-ins which launched the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Earth Day was likewise a product of the nation’s college campuses.
But, of course, Trump has proclaimed the climate crisis to be “a hoax” and decreed that reference to it be stricken from federal websites. Such is chilling, dictatorial behavior in a democratic society. The autonomy of universities is no longer recognized. ICE agents are now being instructed to intrude in places of worship. The presidency is being abused to fire the board of a cherished cultural institution. All this is being done by culture warriors who proclaim their love of “freedom.”
It’s in the DNA of dictators to move on the legal system, put parameters on curriculum, and assume the role of culture czars. They police language and weaponize government. Donald Trump has put it all together, to the detriment of the United States of America. It’s time to heed Walt Whitman’s admonition: “Resist much, obey little.”
Historians warn against a revisionist movement distorting American history. A recent executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at restricting programming he deemed anti-American at federally funded museums and cultural institutions has stirred controversy. The order singles out the Smithsonian Institution, which comprises 21 museums and the National Zoo, ordering the removal of what he called "improper ideology."
Ernest, a lifelong Washington D.C. resident, stood on the National Mall with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture's distinctive shape inspired by African motifs in the background. He expressed concern, stating, "We are a diverse country -- made of all races, all cultures and they're trying to take it away." This sentiment illustrates how Trump's order, issued on March 28, 2025, has prompted everyday Americans, historians, and politicians to reflect on the meaning of patriotism and the purpose of history.
Trump instructed Vice President JD Vance, a member of the Smithsonian Institution's 17-member Board of Regents, to oversee the removal of monuments and sculptures that the order termed “divisive narratives that distort our shared history.” An example cited in the order included a Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibit titled "The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture," which examines how sculpture has shaped and reflected attitudes about race in the United States.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture was accused in the order of attempting to portray "American and Western culture as harmful." Trump's order reflects the rhetoric of Project 2025, a policy blueprint that emphasizes the division between what he calls "woke revolutionaries" and those who believe in the ideals of the American revolution.
Many historians have challenged that perspective. Kyle Mays, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, called Trump's executive order a "fascist move" to erase the history of racism and sexism that shaped the United States. He stated, "The truth in American history requires honesty based on evidence, not ideology rooted in erasing what happened."
Since taking office on January 20, the Trump administration has launched efforts to dismantle federal DEI initiatives, leading to the removal of historical content about African Americans and other minorities from government websites and intensified attacks on educational institutions. Catherine Cortez Masto, a U.S. senator and Democrat from Nevada, criticized Trump's order as a "weak, pathetic effort to distract from his disastrous plans to cut Medicaid and use tariffs to raise costs for middle class Americans."
As the nation grapples with these developments, many are left wondering what the future holds for the representation of diverse histories in American culture and education. The chilling effect of such policies raises questions about the integrity of historical narratives and the role of cultural institutions in a democratic society.
