A report from / City Journal is getting a lot of attention. / City Journal reports:
“On America’s July 4 semi-quincentennial, the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC) published a report arguing that the Smithsonian Institution has “adopted an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance.” More bluntly, the report—titled “Saving America’s Story”—claims the exhibits at the Smithsonian’s flagship National Museum of American History were “prepared by people who don’t want you to love your country.” According to DPC director Vince Haley, “The bottom line is that there’s no national story at the National Museum of American History.” Based on the Smithsonian’s dwindling attendance figures, many Americans apparently agree.”
/ City Journal is not an independent news gathering source, it is a rightwing organ speaking for the Trump-allied Manhattan Institute. Over the last year and a half, the Manhattan Institute has joined with Trump to attack museums, institutes, and universities and to claim that “average Americans” no longer trust those institutions. Now, the Manhattan Institute is using the number of visitors to the many museums of the Smithsonian to demonstrate that DEI has driven out Americans. / City Journal says:
“In short, Americans aren’t buying what the Smithsonian is selling—or, rather, since its museums don’t charge at the gate, Americans aren’t taking what the Smithsonian is freely giving away. (Taxpayers funnel more than $1 billion to the institution each year.) Most citizens don’t seem to share Lonnie Bunch’s fondness for reflexively criticizing, rather than appropriately celebrating, our nation “conceived in liberty.” Bunch’s tenure as secretary should certainly be judged at least in part by the Smithsonian’s sharp attendance decline under his leadership.”
Now there have been fall-offs in some of the numbers, but for the most part it has not been the stories that the museums are telling in 2025, the years the Institute says is the worst year for the museum. The museums saw attendance drop in 2025 for some quotidian reasons. For example the National Air and Space Museum, one of the most visited museums in the country, saw attentance drop from 6.2 million in 2018 to 1.9 million in 2025. Was this because the museum was driving people off because it had imposed a Marxist interpretation of the Space Program? No. There was construction going on inside its buildings and parts were closed. The Smithsonian Castle admissions fell from one million admissions in 2018 to Zero today. Was DEI behind the complete abandonment of the Castle by United States citizens? No. It had no attendance in 2025 because it was closed for a major renovation for the first time in fifty years.
There are open museums that also saw declining attendance. From 2024 to 2025 the Museum of American history saw the people count go down by 300,000. That had to be because LGBT issues were on display in its halls, right? The National Museum of Natural History saw attendance fall by 600,000. Were visitors staying away because of all the propaganda about climate change and evolution? The American Art Museum lost 400,000 visitors last year. Were people turned off by the anti-Christian messages contained in modern art? The National Portrait Gallery saw a drop of 362,000 people visiting. Was this because portraits of People of Color had replaced George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis?
No.
Apart from the closure for renovation of the Air and Space Museum and The Castle, the decline was caused by President Trump. Because he tried to get through the budgetary process without any compromise with Congress, the Federal government (except for ICE and a few other agencies) closed down. The shutdown lasted 43 days and was responsible for most of the lost attendance at the museums that were not undergoing renovation.
And the shutdown dropped attendance outside of the actual days the museums were closed. Since most people see the Smithsonian as part of a vacation and since the shutdown was not following an exact scheduling, people avoided Washington before and after the shutdown.
And I won’t even mention the overmilitarization caused by the president deploying National Guard all over the city.
If the Manhattan Institute wants to look at the cause of declining attendance in 2025, stop blaming Lonnie Bunch and look with unbiased eye at the president.
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