A picture might paint a thousand words, but a photo of President Donald Trump requires the removal of them.
That is what the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery has found out after it bowed to pressure from the White House to scrub references to Trump’s two impeachments during his first term in office.
On Friday, the gallery in Washington, D.C., updated its portrait of Trump in its “American Presidents” exhibit, swapping out an image shot by photojournalist Matt McClain for one taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok.
In doing so, The Washington Post reported that gallery staff also removed the accompanying informational text that referenced Trump’s two impeachments, replacing it with a simple bare-bones detailing of his dates in office.
“Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials,” the description formerly read.
It was part of a broader, roughly 200-word text giving background on Trump’s time in office, which is still on the Smithsonian Institute website at the time of writing. The description was specifically complained about by a White House official last year.
The complaint was made during the Trump administration’s first push to purge “woke” ideology from cultural institutions.
In March, Trump signed an executive order accusing the Smithsonian of replacing “objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology.”
Vice President JD Vance was tasked with overseeing the removal of “improper ideology” at the nearly 180-year-old museum and educational research center.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture was criticized for giving too much space to the brutal reality of slavery, rather than the “success” and “brightness” of America.
Similarly, the American Women’s History Museum and the National Museum of the American Latino were attacked for promoting “anti-American” agendas.
In June, Trump attempted to fire then-director of the National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet, who he described as a “partisan person and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position.”
Defying the order, Sajet remained in post with the Smithsonian’s backing until she stepped down two weeks later. The president claimed her resignation as a victory.
Speaking to the Post, a National Portrait Gallery spokesperson said that the museum is “exploring” the use of less descriptive “tombstone labels” for new displays.
Portraits of other American presidents retain their longer descriptive accompanying texts, while Bill Clinton’s mentions his impeachment.
The Daily Beast has contacted the gallery for comment.
Last year, the same institution came under fire after removing a temporary label referring to Trump’s two impeachments in the wake of White House pressure. The museum claimed the changes were part of a wider overhaul of information displays.
“Future and updated exhibits will include all impeachments,” a Smithsonian spokesperson told The Daily Beast at the time.
Trump was impeached twice during his first term in office. Once in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after he attempted to pressure Ukraine to investigate his rival, Joe Biden, and again in 2021 for incitement of insurrection after the Capitol building riot.
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