Raskin Bill Targets Smithsonian Over Trump-Era 'Propaganda' Artifacts

Representative Jamie Raskin introduced legislation on October 7 directing the Smithsonian Institution to build a permanent exhibit cataloguing what the Maryland Democrat calls evidence of "governmental propaganda, corruption, and authoritarianism" under President Donald Trump.

The bill, titled the "Preserving and Remembering the History of Trump and other Tyrants Act," singles out the Smithsonian's museums and research centers — institutions Trump earlier this year accused of "extreme political activism" as part of what the lawmaker describes as the administration's "escalating aggression" against the complex.

What would have to be collected?

The legislation instructs Smithsonian officials to assemble an archive spanning both of Trump's presidential terms. The collected material would be installed as a permanent display at the National Museum of American History (NMAH) on the National Mall.

The bill enumerates specific categories of objects. Among the named items:

• Printed material and signage tied to Executive Order 14416, which ordered content warning placards outside NMAH
• Federal building banners bearing Trump's portrait
• Items depicting what Raskin's office describes as "narcissistic self-worship and propagandistic assault on American history and American democracy"
• Other objects, communications, and testimonials curators deem "historically relevant" to the period

The text leaves final selection of holdings to Smithsonian judgment.

What does Raskin argue?

The congressman framed the proposal as preventive history.

"To avoid repeating this descent into authoritarianism, we must study this corrupt President's actions and allow the public to learn about the numerous tools he deployed while attempting to remake American history in his own image and according to his own autocratic and white nationalist beliefs," Raskin said in a press release.

The bill's language is overtly partisan. It positions a federal museum not as a neutral chronicler but as a tribunal of the recent past — a distinction curators will almost certainly contest if the text ever becomes actionable.

What the announcement leaves out

Raskin's release did not address how the Smithsonian would fund the acquisition, conservation, and display of new holdings. It named no Republican co-sponsors, identified no committee referral, and offered no timeline under a Congress that Raskin's own framing suggests has backed the president's broader Smithsonian agenda.

The proposal would also place the Smithsonian in the awkward position of formally cataloguing artifacts generated by attacks on the Institution itself — a recursive dynamic the bill does not address.

The Smithsonian had not commented publicly on the proposal at the time of publication.

What does this change for the Institution?

Nothing procedurally — yet. A House bill requires committee clearance before any floor vote, and Raskin's release named no referral.

The legislation nonetheless elevates a fight previously waged through executive orders, public letters, and rhetorical broadsides into a statutory demand. Even if the bill dies in committee, the text becomes a permanent public record of how one lawmaker wants the nation's largest museum complex to remember a specific presidency.

Watch the Smithsonian's first response. None has arrived.