The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!

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Trump wants a 30-foot George Washington to replace Smithsonian’s ‘strange modernist’ sculpture

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BS BULLETIN:

  • President Trump wants the Smithsonian to replace its longtime “Infinity” sculpture with a 30-foot “Washington Colossus.”
  • He also wants an 11-foot Washington statue installed inside the National Museum of American History by Constitution Day.
  • Trump is calling for a five-year Washington exhibition running through 2032 — the 300th anniversary of the first president’s birth.

President Donald Trump has a rather large remodeling suggestion for the Smithsonian: Lose the abstract sculpture and bring in a 30-foot George Washington.

Trump called on the Smithsonian Institution late Friday to overhaul the way the National Museum of American History honors the nation’s first president, including replacing the modernist “Infinity” sculpture outside the museum with what he calls a “Washington Colossus.”

Trump described “Infinity” — the rotating stainless-steel sculpture created by José de Rivera and installed in 1967 — as a “strange modernist sculpture” that “inspires no one” and honors none of America’s heroes.

His preferred replacement is considerably less abstract: George Washington, 30 feet tall.

Trump also called for an existing 11-foot Washington statue, recently displayed during the Freedom 250 Grand Prix on the National Mall, to be installed in the museum’s Flag Hall and dedicated on Constitution Day, Sept. 17.

And he’s thinking well beyond 2026.

Trump wants the museum to immediately create a five-year exhibition devoted to Washington’s life and legacy, continuing through Feb. 22, 2032 — the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth.

“This is how we should begin to honor George Washington in the lead-up to his 300th birthday in 2032,” Trump wrote.

The president also complained that during America’s 250th anniversary year, the museum has failed to give Washington and the other Founding Fathers the attention they deserve. He specifically pointed to the absence of Washington’s famous Christmas-night crossing of the Delaware from the museum’s presentation.

Trump proposed another change: replacing the museum’s recently ended Center for Restorative History with a “Center for American Heroes.”

The demands are the latest chapter in Trump’s running battle with the Smithsonian over how the institution presents American history. Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch announced this week that he will retire at the end of the year after seven years leading the institution. Bunch has said the decision was not solely the result of pressure from the administration.

There is also a significant wrinkle in Trump’s plans: The Smithsonian occupies an unusual position outside the executive branch and is governed by its own Board of Regents, so the extent of the president’s authority to compel these changes is unclear.

MY QUICK TAKE

Forget thinking outside the box. Trump wants to throw out the box, remove the rotating stainless-steel thing nobody can explain, and put up a George Washington you can probably see from Virginia.

And he’s already making plans for 2032.

Somewhere in Washington, a bureaucrat just opened Outlook and discovered Trump has assigned him a six-year project.

DBS WIRE SOURCES

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