Axelrod knocks ‘Stalinist' Trump Smithsonian directive
'This has just kind of a Soviet feel to it, a Stalinist feel to it,' Axelrod, now a CNN commentator, said on the network. 'You know, you take over cultural institutions and historical institutions and you try and rewrite history.'
The White House sent a letter to Smithsonian Institution head Lonnie Bunch on Tuesday ordering a review of content across eight museums and ultimately replace exhibits deemed 'divisive or ideologically driven' with 'unifying, historically accurate' content that aligns with the president's 'American exceptionalism' directive marking the nation's 250th birthday.
Axelrod said it's concerning because he doesn't trust that Trump will preserve accurate history.
'This is a president who is rewriting history every day, and he believes that you can do that,' he said. 'The irony is that in this instance, this is all around the 250th anniversary of our Founding Fathers declaring themselves free of a mad king, and you wonder what they would think coming back today and watching this.'
Stalin was known to have redirected historical accounts of the Soviet Union to reshape how Russians viewed the past.
Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at stamping out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in government. The DEI purge drew backlash after the Pentagon removed notable historical items and mentions that were flagged as divisive.
'They removed Jackie Robinson from the Pentagon archives,' Axelrod said.
He contrasted Trump's positive spin on history with how Germany recognizes the atrocities of the Holocaust.
'They don't run from it, it is taught because they don't want history to repeat itself,' he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not': Sex trafficker fights DOJ move to unseal grand jury records
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein who after his death was convicted of sex trafficking girls and young women as his accomplice, is opposing the government's requests to unseal the grand jury transcripts in her criminal case. The Trump administration has been firefighting the fallout from the so-called 'Epstein Files' since the DOJ released a memo last month that contained little new information and concluded no further investigation was warranted into the late sex offender's alleged sex trafficking scheme. Since the uproar, which has included Republican lawmakers and many from his MAGA base, President Donald Trump asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to make public 'any and all pertinent' grand jury transcripts in the Epstein and Maxwell criminal cases. Experts say these documents only account for a small fraction of the files related to the investigations. The grand jury transcripts are sealed, and Maxwell's attorneys say she wants to keep them that way as she continues to make appeals to the Trump administration to toss or lessen her prison sentence. The 63-year-old is serving 20 years after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and other counts for her role in the scheme to sexually exploit and abuse teenage girls and young women with Epstein. Her attorneys have taken an appeal of her conviction to the Supreme Court. 'Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not,' Maxwell's attorneys wrote in a Tuesday filing. The public interest in the Epstein case 'cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain.' The Supreme Court will consider whether to take up her appeal in September. If the judge allowed the transcripts to be unsealed before then, her lawyers argued, the documents could impact any future litigation. Releasing the raw transcripts would 'inevitably influence any future legal proceeding' and cause 'severe and irrevocable' reputational harm, her attorneys said. Maxwell has never been allowed to review the documents. Her lawyers asked the court to deny the government's motion to unseal the transcripts. The judges overseeing the cases previously asked the government to address legal questions before they can consider releasing them. On Monday, the DOJ gave the judges annotated versions of the transcripts, identifying what information is not publicly available. However in an attached memo, Bondi admitted that 'much' of the information in the transcripts is already in the public domain. 'The enclosed, annotated transcripts show that much of the information provided during the course of the grand jury testimony—with the exception of the identities of certain victims and witnesses—was made publicly available at trial or has otherwise been publicly reported through the public statements of victims and witnesses,' Bondi wrote. The attorney general also noted that the government has provided notice about its requests to unseal transcripts to all but one of the victims referenced in the documents. 'The Government still has been unable to contact that remaining victim,' she wrote. After meeting with the DOJ last week, Maxwell was moved from a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida to the Federal Prison Camp Bryan in southeast Texas. The Florida prison was classified as a minimum security prison, where she was detained in an 'honor dorm' for the best-behaved inmates, and activities included yoga and pilates. The Texas prison mainly houses those convicted of 'white-collar' crimes and minor offenses and boasts a sports field, gym, arts and crafts activities, and a theater program. Earlier this week, two of Epstein's victims criticized the Trump administration's handling of the case. The victims remained anonymous and filed their letters in the New York case related to the late pedophile. 'The latest attention on the 'Epstein Files', the 'Client List' is OUT OF CONTROL and the ones that are left to suffer are not the high-profile individuals, IT IS THE VICTIMS. Why the lack of concern in handling such sensitive information for the victims sake?' one wrote in a Monday filing. Another wrote: 'Dear United States, I wish you would have handled and would handle the whole 'Epstein Files' with more respect towards and for the victims. I am not some pawn in your political warfare.' Furor has mounted over the administration's handling of the case since the Justice Department released its July 6 Epstein memo. In it, the DOJ confirmed that Epstein died by suicide and said there was no evidence to support the existence of a 'client list' of high-profile individuals involved in his alleged sex trafficking. The memo put to an end months-long anticipation for new Epstein information. In February, Bondi had released 'Phase 1' of the files, a tranche of documents that included mostly publicly available information. She also suggested that the 'client list'was sitting on her desk. Parts of Trump's MAGA base and prominent lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for heightened transparency around the Epstein files. Those calls grew louder after the Wall Street Journal published a report last month claiming that the president drew a sexually suggestive 50th birthday card for Epstein in 2003. Trump has vehemently denied making the card and sued the Journal in a $10 billion defamation case. The Wall Street Journal also reported that DOJ officials told the president in May that his name, among many others, had appeared in the Epstein Files. Being named in the files does not suggest any wrongdoing. The president's name was reportedly redacted from documents as the administration prepared for their potential public release, Bloomberg reported last week. The Trump administration has declared itself the 'most transparent' in history.
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump wants to mobilize troops in DC – it went horribly for him in Los Angeles
Trump made a much-teased announcement on Monday that he would invoke a never-before-used presidential authority to seize control of Washington, D.C.'s police department from local control to his Attorney General Pam Bondi. The president also announced he would deploy the National Guard on the streets of the nation's capital as a plan to 'rescue' the city from rampant crime, despite the fact that crime dropped in Washington by 35 percent last year after it spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic. Trump had teased a federal takeover of Washington and has decried homelessness and graffiti in the city. Republicans have encroached on Washington, D.C's home rule for decades. The fact it is a majority Black city with a Black political establishment has also made it easy to attack the same way Trump has attacked Baltimore and other cities run by Black mayors. Of course, this is not the first time that Trump has taken control of a major American city. Earlier this year, after protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles without the consent of the governor of California or the city's mayor. Trump may be hoping his actions will boost his approval ratings, which have been sagging in recent months. But a simple look at the numbers shows that it might backfire precipitously. First, let's get to the kernel of truth in Trump's idea. Voters in Democratic cities did vote against their leaders partially because of crime. New York City elected Eric Adams, a former police officer, as mayor in 2021. Voters in San Francisco kicked out mayor London Breed and voters in Los Angeles and Alameda beat back progressive prosecutors for lax policies toward crime. While almost no Democratic presidential candidate has supported defunding the police it became a tagline for Republicans use to hit at Democrats. That being said, it's fairly clear that Trump's approval ratings took a hit after he dispatched troops and the National Guard to Los Angeles. When Trump first came into office this year, and even after he began his tariff regime, Americans continued to support him on immigration. In February, according to an Economist/YouGov poll, he still cracked 50 percent approval on immigration. That number began to dip in April, after Trump sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant based in Maryland, to El Salvador. In April, Trump's approval number on immigration went to 45 percent. But by May, the same poll showed his approval on immigration started to rebound to 48 percent. That would go 'poof' in June once Trump began to send troops to Los Angeles. By the middle of June, a plurality of Americans thought that his response to the anti-ICE protests was too aggressive and 52 percent disapproved of his policies on immigration. By the end of June, 50 percent of Americans opposed Trump's policies on immigration. and his number has stubbornly stayed there. Not only that, as The Independent reported last month, polling from CBS News and CNN bore that out as well. The CNN poll also found that 59 percent of Americans opposed the deployment of National Guard troops without the consent of the governor and 55 percent of respondents said protesters were justified. While much of the attention when it comes to Trump's approval tends to focus on Jeffrey Epstein, it's clear that his approval began to collapse long before that scandal, when he began to deploy troops into the second-largest city in the United States. Trump may be trying to bait protesters by having troops roving throughout Washington in hopes that it will create the type of unrest that happened in 2020 and in Los Angeles. But the numbers show he might come to regret that. Voters may not like disorder and crime but they dislike overzealous responses from the government even more. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Newsom says California to draw congressional maps to 'END TRUMP PRESIDENCY'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said California will move forward with drawing new congressional maps that he said "WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY" and allow Democrats to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives. "DONALD 'TACO' TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, 'MISSED' THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE 'BEAUTIFUL MAPS,' THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!)," Newsom wrote Tuesday night, in a post written in the style of President Donald Trump's occasionally all-caps social media posts. The announcement comes amid Texas Republicans' efforts to redraw congressional maps in their party's favor. The redistricting showdown in Texas has led blue states to threaten to retaliate -- with Newsom proposing to cut five GOP-held seats in California. MORE: Texas Democrats to return after governor ends special session that included redistricting, sources say The redistricting battle in Texas -- and potentially other states -- has national implications, with control of the U.S. House potentially at stake. The Texas GOP's proposed congressional map could net Republicans between three and five seats in next year's midterm elections -- seats that could make a difference as Republicans work to maintain their small majority in the U.S. House. A spokesperson for California State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas confirmed to ABC News that the state legislature is aiming to release draft maps on Friday. MORE: Texas redistricting: What's at stake as Republicans aim to pick up 5 House seats Newsom's post did not offer any details on the maps or how he plans to get them approved, although Newsom has said previously he would consider trying to have maps on the ballot in a special election in November. The California governor said he would be part of a press conference this week with "powerful" Democrats, but didn't offer details about who would be in attendance. Newsom sent a letter to Trump on Monday asking the president to tell Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican governors to abandon efforts to draw new congressional maps. Texas Democrats have fled the state in protest of the maps. The Texas House of Representatives was once again unable to reach a quorum Tuesday. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said that the House will convene once again on Friday, adding if there's no quorum by then, Abbott will adjourn the current session and call a second special session to begin immediately.
