Trump’s Warning Signs Are Coming to the Smithsonian

In a letter, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that visitors “should know” about a museum director’s ideological bias.

Kevin Carter / Getty September 15, 2026, 7:21 PM ET Share Save Donald Trump has not forgotten his midsummer promise to publicly shame the Smithsonian. The Trump administration is currently preparing temporary signs that will accuse the National Museum of American History of ideological bias, according to a letter I obtained sent by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The September 3 letter, which Burgum sent to Senator Jeff Merkley, says that the National Park Service is planning to add about a dozen signs outside the museum at an estimated cost of $84,000. Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, and Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, requested information about the initiative after Trump signed an executive order in July calling for the signs to be added.