Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday that he wants the Smithsonian to preserve what he calls President Donald Trump’s “propaganda” so future generations can study it as a cautionary chapter in American history.
Raskin has introduced a bill directing the Smithsonian to preserve items he describes as Trump propaganda, including banners bearing Trump’s image that currently hang on the Department of Labor and Department of Justice buildings in Washington.
Asked by Collins why he wants the material preserved, Raskin said, “Well, we’re going to get through this nightmare, and we want to record it the way that historians and archivists do.”
“Trump and all of his loyal sycophants are busily trying to destroy the real history of the country. That’s why the Smithsonian is under attack, and the Museum of American History is under attack.”
Raskin argued that Trump and his allies oppose teaching the history of slavery, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement, calling them “the great civilizing struggles of American history” that he says the administration is trying to suppress.
“And so I want to reverse that and say, we’re not going to suppress the history of Donald Trump and authoritarianism in America,” Raskin said. “We’re going to teach it, and we’re going to turn those things into exhibits.”
Raskin singled out the banners hanging on federal buildings, comparing them to Soviet-era propaganda. “Those Stalinist banners that he’s draping over, you know, the Labor Department and the Justice Department, let’s take those and let’s turn them into a museum exhibit,” he said, “along with other memorabilia of this wretched period of our history, where he tore down so much of what really unifies us as a country and tried to replace it with all of his, you know, narcissistic, self-loving presentations.”
“So let’s show that to people and let’s teach that to future generations so we never forget about it,” Raskin said.
