The Fight Over Museums, Memory and History

0:00Nicky Glazer, this stunning tour. The thoughts of death I don't like to dwell on them for longer than like 10 or 15 hours a day, so... November 19th, Yamabah Theater No wonder women rushed to have kids were being trained for it since we were kids. They're like, here's a baby doll. Here's an easy-bait coffin! I got one of those, I stuck my head in it. I was like, I want out of this narrowness. Tickets on sale now at Yamabah Theater.com Don't miss Nicky Glazer, Yamabah Theater. Visible puts the ultimate wireless hack in the palm of your hand. With unlimited 5G wireless data and hotspot designed to keep you connected, powered by Verizon's 5G network. And no contract holding you back. Plan started $25 a month or get the premium Visible Plus Pro Plan and save $10 on your first month when you use promo code HAC. Make the switch at Visible.com. Terms apply, see Visible.com for details.

1:04Frankly, if you talk about reparations or if you talk about payment, what they did to me, I had a very good case against them. This is what happens when you do not teach American history properly. Well, Donald continues to wreak havoc on our nation's capital, taking a sledgehammer and gold leaf to our buildings and monuments. I wanted to take a look back on all of the damage he's done and continues to do to many of our most cherished cultural institutions. On March 27, 2025, nearly two months after his second inauguration, Donald signed an executive order called restoring truth insanity to American history. It directed Vice President, BabyJD Vance, a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, to work to eliminate what Donald called, quote, improper divisive or anti-American ideology, unquote, from the Smithsonian.

2:06Which is to say, probably a lot of truths about our sometimes very dark history. It also directed the Trump regime to work with Congress to restrict funding for exhibits that did not conform with those priorities. On August 19, 2025, Donald posted the following on his failing social media platform, quote, the museums throughout Washington, but all over the country are essentially the last remaining segment of woke, the Smithsonian is out of control where everything discussed is how horrible our country is, how bad slavery was, and how unaccomplished and downtroddened have been nothing about success, nothing about brightness, nothing about the future. You're not going to allow this to happen and I have instructed my attorneys to go through the museums and start the exact same process that has been done with colleges and universities where tremendous progress has been made. This country cannot be woke because woke is broke. We have the hottest country in the world and we want people to talk about it, including in our museums, unquote. Yes, because it would be absolutely horrible to teach our children that enslaving other human beings was bad.

3:11On July 24, Donald issued another executive order, directing the National Park Service to install signs outside of museums, telling visitors that exhibits inside contain inaccurate information and directing them toward what the regime considered more accurate accounts of American history, which is to say their accounts of American history, which is to say their revisionist accounts of American history in which it is not the indigenous native populations or the African. We kidnapped and enslaved and tortured and murdered over a generation who built this country. No, it is rich white men who are wholly responsible for the greatness that is America. The White House spent months reviewing the Smithsonian National Museum of American History on July 4, 2026. It released a report accusing the Museum of political activism and presenting a distorted version of American history. The Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch responded that the report was, quote, not a fair characterization of the museum's work unquote. The Trump regime isn't just removing or rewriting existing history. It's, as I said, creating its own version for America's 250 anniversary.

4:28The National Park Service installed a new temporary exhibit at the Freedom Plaza in Washington called the Spirit of 76. At the center is a statue of Caesar Rodney, a sign of the Declaration of Independence who enslaved more than 200 people. The statue was removed from Wilmington, Delaware during the racial justice protests of 2020. But the Trump regime brought it out of storage and placed it prominently on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol. Concurrently, on January 22, 2026, Park Service workers removed an exhibit about slavery from the president's house where George Washington lived while serving as president. The exhibit told the stories of the nine people Washington enslaved there. On July 15, replacement panels appeared at the site. They still discussed slavery and identified the nine enslaved people, but five video screens showing reenactments of their lives remained dark. Historians who reviewed the changes said the new presentation softened Washington's role as an enslaver on August 3, Donald used an interesting term to describe his feelings.

5:40Frankly, if you talk about reparations or if you talk about payment, what they did to me, I had a very good case against them. This is what happens when you do not teach American history appropriately. This is what happens when you do not make reparations to the population to the descendants of the populations you enslaved for age generations. This is what happens when you did not make reparations to the Native populations against who you committed to genocide. You get incompetent, undeserving, white men, failing upward and acting as aggrieved as if they had somehow suffered the same kinds of horrors as the peoples we enslaved. Civil rights activists and reparations advocates immediately criticized Donald's use of the term pointing out that it subverts and diminishes this historic moment seeking redress for descendants of enslaved black Americans.

6:45The park service is spending an estimated $716,000 in park entrance fees to relocate the Caesar Rodney statue and construct its base at freedom plaza. Please stick around because the Maritron podcast continues in a moment. Once they'll now at Yamabah Theatre dot com. Don't miss Nicky Glazer Yamabah Theatre. And now back to the podcast. The Trump regime has also changed who controls one of America's most prominent performing arts institutions. In February 2025, Donald removed Kennedy Center trustees, replaced them with loyalists, and was elected chairman of the new board.

7:52The board then removed longtime president Deborah Rudder and installed one of Donald's closest allies, Recranel as interim president. Artists began withdrawing board members resigned ticket sales fell. Then on December 18, 2025, Donald's hand picked board, voted to add his name to the Kennedy Center, which was named for slain president, John F. Kennedy as a memorial to him. Jazz musician Chuck Red was among the artists who objected. Red had hosted the Kennedy Center's Christmas Eve Jazz Jam for roughly two decades. After Donald's name was added to the building, he canceled his 2025 appearance. And the Kennedy Center sued him. A DC judge dismissed the case. Meanwhile, the name change red was protesting didn't survive either in May 2026. US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the board didn't have the authority to rename the Kennedy Center writing quote Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name and only Congress can change it.

8:54Donald's name was removed from the building in June and on August 10, the Kennedy Center was ordered to pay red 250,479 dollars and 70 cents in attorneys fees and other legals, legal costs. In the meantime, however, to cover up his shame, Donald had a tarp placed in front of the facade where his name had been. It remains there. In contravention to the judges orders and on August 13, Donald's hand pickboard voted again to put his name on the building this time to etch it into the facade beneath the Kennedy Center's official name with the inscription quote restored and renovated by president asshole unquote because he is so thirsty and insecure. It is unbearable for him not to have his name and his likeness. Taint everything.

9:54The board also voted to name the plaza outside for Donald and once again approve closing the Kennedy Center for two years for reservations despite the federal court ruling that the block that had blocked its earlier closure plan. They're just going to keep trying and I think at some point we should just jump right to the chase and call everything Donald. I mean, that's where we're heading. I mean, pretty soon that Gulf of America, which is the Gulf of Mexico, it's going to be the Gulf of Donald. It'll be the Donald River in downtown district of Donald. That is indeed where this is heading. Just call everything Donald. Imagine if every single street is named Donald Street, Donald Avenue, Donald Way, Donald Turmpie, Donald Highway, Donald Parkway. It will get really confusing.

10:57Like, we'll literally all have the same address. Oh, where do you live on Donald's? Oh, my God. So do I. Where in Donald's? What state? So yes, it will be confusing for us, but maybe maybe at long last and deeply thirsty, thirsty, they've had will have had his thirst slaked. No, of course not. I'm going to have to start naming other planets and solar systems and galaxies and universes after him. I think we should start naming black holes after him because this is indeed where we are heading. He is a black hole of need. Into which the light of compliments is swallowed and disappeared. In April 2025, Doge moved. Doge. Remember that remember Doge, the Department of governmental efficiency moved to terminate more than $100 million in grants already awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

12:04The grants supported historians, writers, museums, universities and cultural organizations around the country. On May 7th, US District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled that the cancellations violated the first and fifth amendments and that Doge lacked authority to terminate them. The court found that grants had been targeted based on whether Doge believed they promoted diversity, equity and inclusion. Determinated projects included work involved involving Holocaust education, Indigenous culture and the history of HIV and prisons. Judge McMahon called it quote a textbook example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination unquote and ordered the government to rescind the termination letters and barred enforcement of those cancellations. Doge officials admitted during discovery that they use chat GPT to help identify grants they believed violated Donald's anti-DEI orders. In other words, this regime is a khakisocracy. The most incompetent crave in among us are calling the shots. But what is happening because of this regime to our cultural institutions, our heritage, the arts?

13:18That's straight up fascism. Thanks for listening to today's edition of the Maritrum Podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a five star review because it really does help other people find our content. And please check out my substack, The Good and Us, at maritrum.org for more in depth coverage and an awesome community. Until next time, please stay safe and be content. For more information, visit our website at maritrum.org for more information. The thoughts of death I don't like to dwell on them for longer than like 10 or 15 hours a day. So… November 19th, Yamabah Theatre.

14:18No wonder women rushed to have kids were being trained for it since we were kids. They're like, here's a baby doll. Here's an easy-bake oven. I got one of those. I stuck my head in it. I was like, I want out of this narrative. Tickets on sale now at Yamabah Theatre dot com. Don't miss Nicky Glaser. Yamabah Theatre.