Trump’s Orwellian History Rewrite Continues as Smithsonian Removes Impeachment Reference and BLS Commissioner Fired Amid Job Report

In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, stating, “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”

The order raised concerns that it was aimed at altering history to align with Trump’s preferences. This week, those fears materialized as it was revealed that historical information recently eliminated from the Smithsonian included objective facts disfavored by Trump, such as references to his impeachments.

The Smithsonian stated that a board containing this information was removed last month during a review of the museum’s “legacy content.” The board had been displayed in front of an existing impeachment exhibit since September 2021, focusing on “Limits of Presidential Power.”

Although it remains unclear if the removal followed Trump’s executive order, The Washington Post reported that pressure from the White House might have contributed to the content review, potentially leading to the dismissal of an art museum director. However, the Smithsonian insists that no government official or administration asked for content to be removed and that a future version of the exhibit will acknowledge all impeachment attempts, including Trump’s.

This situation echoes George Orwell’s famous dystopia, with its implications of manipulating history for personal gain.

Trump has consistently sought to rewrite history through self-serving falsehoods and exerted pressure on those responsible for maintaining historical accuracy. This week took such actions to a new level. On Friday, Trump dismissed the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics shortly after receiving unfavorable job numbers—the worst non-Covid three-month figures since 2010.

Some Trump allies attempted to justify his decision by criticizing the large revisions in the job numbers as evidence of shoddy work. However, Trump’s subsequent remarks contradicted this narrative, telling Newsmax that “we fired her because we didn’t believe the numbers today.”

Although Trump provided questionable evidence for firing Dr. Erika McEntarfer, CNN’s Daniel Dale documented the inaccuracies on Friday. Even some Republican senators expressed concern about the move’s potential impact on data reliability.

The primary issue is that such actions undermine trust in data and conclusions, potentially leading to unreliable information and suspicions about manipulated data—not just among regular citizens but also among those making decisions affecting the economy. If the next jobs report is favorable, will the markets believe it?

Throughout Trump’s presidency, we have witnessed several bold attempts to control narratives and alter history. This week may have highlighted the most overt examples yet.