{"id":2635657,"date":"2026-07-26T11:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-smithsonian-director-flounders-in-house-hearing-when-republican-exposes-rampant-wokeness\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T11:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:32:36","slug":"watch-smithsonian-director-flounders-in-house-hearing-when-republican-exposes-rampant-wokeness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-smithsonian-director-flounders-in-house-hearing-when-republican-exposes-rampant-wokeness\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Smithsonian Director Flounders in House Hearing When Republican Exposes Rampant Wokeness"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatch-smithsonian-director-flounders-in-house-hearing-when-republican-exposes-rampant-wokeness%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2635657&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep. Brandon Gill, a Texas Republican, highlighted concerns about the Smithsonian Institution&#8217;s National Museum of American History&#8217;s shift towards ideological bias and political activism under Director Anthea Hartig. During a House Oversight Committee hearing, Gill questioned the museum\u2019s objectivity and criticized its promotion of content he associates with woke agendas, including the promotion of a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/san-francisco-school-district-drops-one-acronym-for-another-while-claiming-theyre-a-symptom-of-white-supremacy-culture\/\" title=\"San Francisco School District Drops One Acronym For Another While Claiming They\u2019re A \u2018Symptom Of White Supremacy Culture\u2019\">white supremacy culture<\/a>&#8221; toolkit and references linking Mickey Mouse to racism through minstrelsy origins. Hartig struggled to defend some of these associations, emphasizing that she did not develop certain controversial materials. Gill also addressed historical claims about America&#8217;s progress in ending slavery, pointing out that the nation took early and meaningful steps toward abolition.the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cooks-lawyer-admits-trump-can-fire-his-client-from-the-fed-17\/\" title=\"Cook&#039;s Lawyer Admits Trump Can Fire His Client From The Fed\">exchange underscored tensions<\/a> over how history is represented and politicized within national institutions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Rep. Brandon Gill, a Republican from Texas, successfully highlighted how woke the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s National Museum of American History has become under the leadership of Anthea Hartig.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mickey-mouse-racist-gops-brandon-gill-corners-smithsonian-director-leftist-policies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">held a hearing<\/a> to get some answers on the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s approach to issues of race.<\/p>\n<p>The hearing came following the release of a White House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/smithsonians-american-history-museum-engages-extreme-political-activism-new-white-house-report-concludes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> earlier this month titled \u201cSaving America\u2019s Story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur central finding is not that the Museum has simply added overlooked stories, corrected perceived errors, or broadened its historical scope. Rather, it is that Museum leadership has explicitly adopted an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a d national inheritance to be taught or celebrated, but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens,\u201d the report read.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis ideological capture has moved the Museum\u2019s mission away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Gill began his questioning of Hartig, asking, \u201cWould you say that the goal of history is to be objective?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that there are many goals of history,\u201d the director responded, already starting to launch into academia la-la land rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p>Gill interjected before she went too far afield: \u201cIs objectivity one of the goals of history?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe strive to be objective and non-partisan and not based on any ideology,\u201d Hartig answered, apparently trying to counter the main findings of the White House report.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FRjXHz2gyiQ?si=sojlwgKyww1uXZNk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it\u2019s one of the goals,\u201d Gill asserted, based on her response.<\/p>\n<p>He held up a document he said was part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mickey-mouse-racist-gops-brandon-gill-corners-smithsonian-director-leftist-policies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MASS Action Toolkit<\/a> (short for Museum As Site for Social Action), backed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/white-house-moves-restore-trust-smithsonian-institution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Smithsonian<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs part of this white supremacy document that your organization has promoted, objectivity is a core and defining aspect of white supremacy culture. Do you think it is the goal of the Smithsonian Institution to promote white supremacy culture?\u201d Gill asked.<\/p>\n<p>Hartig\u2019s immediate response was to ask which document. The lawmaker restated what he was holding, prompting her to look down and begin writing something with a green marker.<\/p>\n<p>For a long, awkward 15 seconds or so, the director said nothing besides looking off into the air and mumbling.<\/p>\n<p>Gill then intervened, querying, \u201cMa\u2019am, is this a difficult question?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Hartig answered, \u201cNo, I\u2019m just thinking about the MASS Action Toolkit. We didn\u2019t develop it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s her answer \u2014 \u201cWe didn\u2019t develop it\u201d \u2014 but Gill rightly pointed out the museum promoted it under her watch.<\/p>\n<p>Who cares who wrote it up?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/black-academics-launch-1776-project-response-nyts-anti-american-1619-project\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1619 Project<\/a> curriculum: The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/journalist-behind-1619-project-hit-bad-news-cushy-tenure-offer-goes-smoke-university-reveals-earn-position-instead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Times<\/a> developed it, but many school districts latched on to it and taught it to students as gospel truth.<\/p>\n<p>I recently argued during a Western Journal podcast about the 2026 edition of my book \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0H6GH4VPN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">We Hold These Truths<\/a>\u201d that the founders actually took the first steps in the modern era to begin ending the institution of slavery, which had gone on in world history for thousands of years.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. at the founding was not behind the power curve of the abolition movement; we were on the front side of it with the emancipation of slaves in the northern states during and immediately following the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/two-beliefs-declaration-independence-changed-america-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Revolutionary War<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The founders also banned slavery in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/founders-sought-perfect-union-unleashed-unprecedented-liberty-process\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Northwest Territory<\/a> in 1787 \u2014 preventing slavery from spreading to the future states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin \u2014 and made provision in the Constitution for ending the African slave trade, but not sooner than 1808 as a compromise with the Southern states.<\/p>\n<p>In March 1807, President Thomas Jefferson signed the legislation into law so it could take effect on the earliest possible date, Jan. 1, 1808. The U.S. later fought the Civil War in the 1860s, which resulted in the emancipation of all the slaves, making it among the first nations in the world to do so.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KGg6bock64o?si=AvqDwAqIj5wNKDUb\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Gill continued his line of questioning, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mickey-mouse-racist-gops-brandon-gill-corners-smithsonian-director-leftist-policies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">asking<\/a>, \u201cIs Mickey Mouse racist?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She answered confidently, \u201cMickey Mouse is not racist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gill then noted that a Smithsonian exhibit tied Mickey to minstrelsy, i.e., actors using blackface to represent Africans on stage.<\/p>\n<p>Hartig then tried to explain that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/minnie-mouse-gets-woke-makeover-outrage-swirls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mickey Mouse\u2019s<\/a> \u201chistorical trajectory of the origins of Mickey Mouse tie directly to\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gill interjected, \u201cSo Mickey Mouse is rooted in racism, is that your testimony?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, sir, it\u2019s rooted in minstrelsy,\u201d the director answered.<\/p>\n<p>The lawmaker was successfully putting the spotlight on how silly wokeness can be, and then took one more pass at it, questioning Hartig whether it\u2019s important to be \u201cpolite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She replied that it was.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s interesting, because the same MASS Action Toolkit that your organization has been promoting references politeness as a characteristic of white supremacy culture,\u201d Gill said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMa\u2019am, are you a white supremacist?\u201d the lawmaker asked.<\/p>\n<p>Hartig responded, \u201cNo sir,\u201d and she again looked down and began writing something with her green marker.<\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, the director, in her Tuesday testimony, manifested the exact kind of woke, ivory tower persona that the White House report found disconcerting.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! 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Brandon Gill, a Texas Republican, exposed the Smithsonian\u2019s woke shift under Anthea Hartig during a House hearing on race issues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2635658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-07-25T201252.417.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[4402,45484,83218,17565,50914],"class_list":["post-2635657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-congress","tag-culturaldebate","tag-househearing","tag-smithsonian","tag-wokeness-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-07-25T201252.417.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2635657"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2635661,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635657\/revisions\/2635661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2635658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2635657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2635657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2635657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}