MS NOW’s Jonathan Capehart freaked out on Friday when he guest-hosted The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell over the latest developments between the Trump administration and the Smithsonian Institute. As Capehart tells it, a recent letter from the Interior Department threatening to cease cooperation with the Smithsonian is evidence that Trump is out to destroy democracy and everything else that is good and decent.
Wasting no time after returning from a commercial break, Capehart huffed, “Donald Trump is determined to destroy what makes America great: our democracy, our pluralism, and the educational and cultural institutions that thrive when people can freely express themselves without fear.”
Jonathan Capehart monologues that "Donald Trump is determined to destroy what makes America great our democracy, our pluralism, and the educational and cultural institutions that thrive when people can freely express themselves without fear...But the Smithsonian relies heavily on… pic.twitter.com/6eEhjNk2XT
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) September 5, 2026
According to Capehart, “His fight against the Smithsonian Institution is escalating because of what Reuters describes as, quote, Trump's ‘displeasure with what he called the institution's excessive focus on how bad slavery was.’”
Why quote a Reuters paraphrasing when you can quote what Trump actually said, which was more about what wasn’t included, “The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of 'WOKE.' The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”
However, Capehart simply continued, “The Atlantic reports in a newly public August 28th letter from the Interior Department to the Smithsonian Board of Regents, ‘Trump administration officials write that executive departments and agencies cannot in good conscience continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership and suggest that they cease cooperation with the Smithsonian on routine logistical matters, such as loaning items for exhibits and awarding discretionary grants.’”
Before setting up a clip from an interview O’Donnell did with Yale History Prof. David Blight in August, Capehart concluded by mocking the idea that there is anything wrong with the Smithsonian, “All Smithsonian institution museums in Washington, D.C., which includes such woke venues as the National Zoo and the Air and Space Museum, are completely free to the public, a huge asset for local residents and a big draw for the more than 25 million tourists who visit the nation's capital every year. But the Smithsonian relies heavily on federal support, which means it's vulnerable to the whims of a man who made history as the first convicted criminal to be elected president and let that cook for a moment.”
Capehart conveniently forgot to mention that the Interior Department’s letter does not go over the problems with the National Zoo or the Air and Space Museum. Instead, it talks about the problems at the Nation Museum of American History, which was recently the subject of a 160-page report documenting left-wing bias on a wide range of topics.
On Capehart’s specific reference to slavery, the report concluded, “The Museum can broaden the story without dissolving the story. It can and should acknowledge slavery, injustice, mistreatment of Native peoples, and other grave wrongs without encouraging citizens to view their country mainly through suspicion, resentment, and division. But that is not what the National Museum of American History is doing.”
Does that sound like an administration trying to destroy democracy, pluralism, and education? Or is Capehart just trying to spin a web of deceit by doing everything he can to avoid talking about the actual problem?
Here is a transcript for the September 4 show:
MS NOW The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
9/4/2026
7:44 PM ET
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Donald Trump is determined to destroy what makes America great: our democracy, our pluralism, and the educational and cultural institutions that thrive when people can freely express themselves without fear.
His fight against the Smithsonian Institution is escalating because of what Reuters describes as, quote, Trump's “displeasure with what he called the institution's excessive focus on how bad slavery was.”
The Atlantic reports in a newly public August 28th letter from the Interior Department to the Smithsonian Board of Regents, “Trump administration officials write that executive departments and agencies cannot in good conscience continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership and suggest that they cease cooperation with the Smithsonian on routine logistical matters, such as loaning items for exhibits and awarding discretionary grants.”
All Smithsonian institution museums in Washington, D.C., which includes such woke venues as the National Zoo and the Air and Space Museum, are completely free to the public, a huge asset for local residents and a big draw for the more than 25 million tourists who visit the nation's capital every year. But the Smithsonian relies heavily on federal support, which means it's vulnerable to the whims of a man who made history as the first convicted criminal to be elected president and let that cook for a moment.
