This Republican has had enough. He’s telling it like it is.
And a GOP senator completely bashed this American institution.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri went on the attack this week against the Smithsonian Institution, calling out its leadership for turning taxpayer dollars into a platform for anti-American messaging.
On Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle, the Republican senator made clear that the time has come for a complete reworking of the people running one of the nation’s most prominent cultural organizations.
Hawley zeroed in on the pattern of exhibits and materials that paint America in the worst possible light, arguing that public money should never bankroll such efforts.
Host Laura Ingraham pressed the point about specific figures still in place at the institution.
“[Y]eah, well, Anthea Hartig is the other, you know, leader of the institution,” she stated.
“Lonnie Bunch stepped aside. That was obviously out of pressure of what was being discovered that was going on there. He didn’t want to put up with that, but there’s a whole host of people who need to be removed from that museum.”
“The Smithsonian even promotes, Senator, an article that claims that September 11th is widely understood as a marker of deepening Islamophobia in America. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we allow more Muslims into the United States post 9/11 than we did pre-9/11? I’m pretty sure the answer is yes.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re right about that, and I’m also pretty sure that 9/11 stands as a testament to the American spirit and also the generosity of this country,” Hawley said in response.
“I mean, this is a country, as you said, that continued to welcome with open arms immigrants, legal immigrants, after that terrible terrorist attack. I mean, this is a country unlike no other in the world that welcomes people from all different races, all different religious backgrounds, and says, if you believe in America, then come to America.”
He then delivered the sharpest line of the exchange.
“The only people who hate this country are the ones running the Smithsonian,” Hawley stated.
“They should be out of a job. The entire institution should be overhauled. I think we need to get rid of the board that runs the Smithsonian, Laura. I’m not even sure it’s constitutional. There needs to be major changes here. Bottom line, we need to quit paying people who hate this country to be running our country’s institutions. It’s insane.”
That assessment cuts to the heart of a growing frustration among ordinary Americans who see their hard-earned tax dollars diverted into cultural projects that seem designed to erode national pride.
The Smithsonian, long regarded as a guardian of the country’s history and achievements, has instead become a stage for narratives that treat American strength and openness as sources of shame.
