Trump seeks Washington statue, exhibit at Smithsonian museum
Trump has asked the Smithsonian to install a colossal George Washington statue and a special exhibit running through 2032, raising questions over his authority.
President Donald Trump has asked the Smithsonian Institution to install a colossal statue of George Washington outside the National Museum of American History and to mount a special exhibit honouring the first US president.
In social media posts late on Friday, Trump said the exhibit should begin immediately and run through February 22, 2032, the 300th anniversary of Washington's birth. For Constitution Day on September 17, he asked the institution to place an 11-foot statue of Washington, featured at the recent Freedom 250 IndyCar race, in the museum's Flag Hall.
He also wants a 30-foot Washington statue to replace the current "Infinity" sculpture by New York artist Jose de Rivera, which was commissioned by the federal government and installed in 1967.
"He is easily America's Greatest Hero. Without him, our Country and our Freedoms wouldn't exist," Trump wrote on Truth Social as he travelled to his golf course in Ireland.
Trump complained that the museum currently does not mention Washington's crossing of the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War. In place of a Center for Restorative History — a recently ended museum initiative that highlighted stories excluded from the national historical narrative — he said the museum should have a "Center for American Heroes."
It is not clear that Trump has the power to order the museum to make the changes. The Smithsonian operates outside the executive branch, and its leadership is overseen by a Board of Regents that includes Vice President JD Vance, Chief Justice John Roberts, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and a group of citizens.
Trump revealed his intention in March to force changes at the Smithsonian through an executive order targeting funding for programmes that advanced what it called "divisive narratives" and "improper ideology." The White House published a lengthy report this year that repeatedly complained the institution had not done enough to highlight Washington and other founders.
In July, he ordered his administration to install signs in front of the US history museum telling visitors that some exhibits are inaccurate, part of his efforts to reshape how the story of the United States is told. Its top leader, Lonnie Bunch, announced this week that he was stepping down at the end of the year.
Statues have been a consistent theme in Trump's efforts to remake Washington. He wants to build a park along the Potomac River to display statues of 250 prominent Americans, and he has also installed a statue of Washington in his remodelled Rose Garden patio.