Exterior view of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington DC on 28 March 2025. At the right is the Infinity sculpture by José de Rivera. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA View image in fullscreen Exterior view of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington DC on 28 March 2025. At the right is the Infinity sculpture by José de Rivera. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA Donald Trump Trump asks Smithsonian to install ‘Colossus statue’ of George Washington with exhibit Trump, again trying to curate museum, says exhibit would stay until 2032 for 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth
Prefer the Guardian on Google Donald Trump asked the Smithsonian Institution to install a 30ft “Colossus statue” of George Washington outside the National Museum of American History, and a special exhibit honoring the nation’s first president, in a social media post late on Friday.
The president requested that the exhibit continue through February 2032, the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth.
“He is easily America’s Greatest Hero. Without him, our Country and our Freedoms wouldn’t exist,” Trump posted on Truth Social as he flew to his golf course in Ireland .
The statue of Washington would replace the current Infinity sculpture by New York artist José de Rivera, commissioned by the federal government and installed in 1967.
Trump’s latest request underscores a perception that he sees himself as curator-in-chief of the nation’s national museum . His administration issued a 162-page report in March 2025 accusing the museum of focusing too much on oppression, social justice and division rather than shared national achievements.
Read more In July, Trump ordered the interior department to display signs in front of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that accuse the institution of inaccuracy.
The order declared signs outside the National Museum of American History “shall notify visitors that the museum exhibits should be renovated consistent with the findings in the report”. Those signs have yet to appear.
In Friday’s post , Trump complained that the Smithsonian currently doesn’t mention Washington’s fabled crossing of the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War, which he called “one of the greatest moments and turning points of the Revolution”.
Nor, he said, was Washington’s victory at Trenton mentioned. “Stories of the Americans who fought and died for our Independence, deserve far more attention,” he wrote.
Instead of a Center for Restorative History – a recently ended museum initiative to spotlight spotlights stories that have been excluded from the national historical narrative – Trump said the museum should have a “Center for American Heroes.”
But it is not clear that Trump has the power to order the museum to make the change. The Smithsonian operates outside the executive branch and its leadership is overseen by a board of regents that includes JD Vance, Chief Justice John Roberts, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and a group of citizens.
Last week, the Smithsonian’s secretary, Lonnie Bunch , announced he will step down by the end of the year, after seven years leading the institution.
“We’re at a time when people are challenging that independence,” Bunch earlier told the Washington Post. “but I feel very strongly that it is as independent as we were before, and that I will continue to fight – for as long as I’m in this chair – for the independence of the Smithsonian.”
The administration ap…