Smithsonian removes Trump impeachment text as it swaps his portrait

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

January 10, 2026 at 5:26 p.m. EST



Visitors view an updated portrait of President Donald Trump, with abridged text adjoining it, on Saturday at the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post)


The National Portrait Gallery removed a swath of text that mentioned President Donald Trump's two impeachments and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as it swapped out a prominent photo of him this week.

Trump and the White House posted on social media Friday and Saturday to highlight the updated portrait in the "America's Presidents" exhibition, which now features a framed black-and-white photo by White House photographer Daniel Torok. It shows Trump staring intensely, with his fists on the Resolute Desk -- an image the president first shared on his Truth Social account last year.

It replaced a photo by Washington Post photojournalist Matt McClain, which showed Trump with his hands folded in front of him, and was accompanied by a longer caption recounting Trump's first term and his reelection. "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," it read, in part. A Trump official specifically complained about that passage months earlier, when the president was trying to force out the portrait gallery's director.

The placard has been replaced with one whose caption is so short that the outline of the old sign was visible on the wall beneath it, simply noting Trump's years in office. It now contrasts with portraits of other former presidents, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, which all hang alongside wall text highlighting events during their time in office. Clinton's notes his impeachment.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2026/01/10/national-portrait-gallery-trump-photo/

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No paywall (gift)

[wcmagumba]

1. Shame on you Smithsonian, I will never cross into your history hiding doors again...disgusting...

[jls4561]

2. I can understand that they are worried about funding, but...

I want to send them a copy of Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” with “Do not obey in advance” highlighted and underlined.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

3. The Donald J. Trump Smithsonian Museum

[William Seger]

4. And yes, #rump had replaced the "woke" Director of the National Portrait Gallery

Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian: ‘The goal is to reframe the entire culture of the US’

The president has vowed to kill off ‘woke’ in his second term in office, and the venerable cultural institution a few blocks from the White House is in his sights

It seemed like an ordinary Friday. Until, that is, an anxious colleague came in to tell Sajet that the president of the United States had personally denounced her on social media. “Upon the request and recommendation of many people I am herby [sic] terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,” Donald Trump had posted on Truth Social. According to the post, Sajet was “a highly partisan person” and a “strong supporter” of diversity and inclusion programmes, which by an executive order on his inauguration day, 20 January, he had eradicated from federal agencies. “Her replacement will be named shortly,” continued the message. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
...
Sajet kept off social media, avoiding the threatening messages from Trump’s base that friends told her were amassing. She lasted until Thursday 12 June. In the end, she decided she should try to defuse what she feared could turn into a larger, more resolute attack on the museum. “It just became fairly obvious that the story wasn’t going to change,” she told me. “So I thought, ‘I’m just going to take control of this, and step outside of the maelstrom.’”

In short, the president had ended up getting what he wanted – without a jot of authority to do so. As for Sajet’s supposed partisan position, her adherence to the loathed ideology of diversity and inclusion? Sajet’s mission had been, she told me, to ensure that Americans would be able to see portraits of people like themselves. Gradually, she made sure more women, more minorities, more Black people were represented on its walls. “It was just recognising that people had been knocked out of the national story, so let’s put them back in,” she said. “It wasn’t terribly revolutionary.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/08/donald-trump-smithsonian-reframe-entire-culture-united-states

EDITED to add the end of the story: #rump didn't successfully fire her, since he didn't have the authority, but he and his cult of turd worshipers harassed her into resigning.

[riversedge]

6. Trump do not have the decency to call to say he was firing her. damn!!

[Permanut]

5. Winston Smith is a busy guy these days..

[Javaman]

7. It's okay, it'll be out of date anyway

When he’s impeached a 3rd time

[GreenWave]

8. Another giant bends the knee to a bag of shit

[Marcuse]

9. "Obama and Biden were impeached. Not Trump. It was all Fake News!"

[bromeando]

10. Portrait

They should put one of the Epstein pictures on the wall.

[BurnDoubt]

11. When he goes down...

Every mention of his name should be jack-hammered away, and the scars left to be his Legacy.
And his minions forced to clean the streets for the rest of their lives.

[turbinetree]

12. I am going to re-visit my membership with the Air and Space Museum, which is tied to the Smithsonian

[mahina]

20. Please consider letting them know how you feel

Maybe instead as your membership givws your opinion weight. Just a. thought. Aloha Turbinetree.

[jmowreader]

13. The most interesting thing, at least to me...

...is they removed a fairly benign photo and replaced it with one that makes him look like the raging asshole he is.

[LudwigPastorius]

14. "The notion that history should have any pretenses of impartiality at all was jettisoned as a 'liberal fallacy'."

https://unm-historiography.github.io/metahistory/essays/modern/Historiography-of-the-Third-Reich.html

Sound familiar?

[JHB]

15. That portrait absolutely screams for a Photoshop adding in the lower half of the body

My candidate source for the lower half: his close relation, the red howler monkey.

[cstanleytech]

16. Sigh three more years and then the clean up begins.

[Figarosmom]

17. Does he think that is a good portrait

Of himself? It's a bit spooky and kinda graphic novel like ( comic bookish).

[ShazzieB]

18. Oooh, look! He's doing his "angry tough guy" face, just like in his mugshot!

I'm so intimidated, I can hardly......

......

..........

.............

..................keep a straight face!

What can I say, sometimes you just have to laugh keep from

[kimbutgar]

19. I'm glad I went to the Smithsonian years ago

Because I will never set foot in them again under this 🍑🐖💩reign of terror.

[PhilG]

21. 1984 ?

The calendar says "2026" but let's be honest with each other, it's 1984 here and now.