The White House has tied nearly $190 million in Smithsonian funding to compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order on American history. At a Monday night rally, Trump said Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego at “a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.” The funding condition gives the federal government leverage over the institution’s work; Trump’s remarks came as the Iran war and high gas prices weighed on Republicans ahead of the midterms.
Federal Money, Cultural Control
A fiscal-year-2027 footnote applies to funds carried over from last year in two of the Smithsonian’s main salaries and expenses accounts. It states: “To the extent permitted by law, amounts apportioned shall be available for obligation in a manner consistent with Executive Order 14253 (March 27, 2025), ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.’” Public records show the footnote appeared in two recent apportionments of federal funds.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is using the funding condition to influence how the Smithsonian tells the American story. The executive order accuses the institution of spreading “divisive narratives.” The condition concerns nearly $190 million, but the article doesn’t specify how much of that sum the Smithsonian has received or how it may respond.
Trump has also tried to fire a Smithsonian museum director on social media, ordered warning signs placed outside its American-history museum and demanded that the museum remove a modernist sculpture he dislikes. A letter from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum revealed new details about warning signs the White House plans to install near the museum.
War Remarks and Political Costs
At the Nebraska rally, Trump discussed the Iran war and the resulting high gas prices, which have become a midterm liability for Republicans. He described the possibility that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego as “a small price to pay” for safety.
The White House said Tuesday that Trump wasn’t calling for an attack on U.S. cities; he was explaining that he wanted to prevent Iran from gaining that capability. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote on social media that people had misunderstood and misrepresented the comments in a “media freakout” that was “not rooted in reality.”
“He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped. America is safer because of the President,” Cheung wrote. He added that Iran “has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.” Iran has said it isn’t pursuing nuclear weapons, though it has enriched uranium to near-weapons-grade levels that have no civilian purpose.
Criticism of the Remarks
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who could run for president in 2028, called Trump “deranged and dangerous.” Newsom said Trump was “saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego.”
Jim Desmond, the Republican congressional nominee in a metro San Diego district, also criticized the remarks. “As a Navy veteran, I served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war,” he wrote on social media. He added: “no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage.”
Trump has often criticized U.S. cities while campaigning, particularly large areas that lean heavily Democratic. At a recent North Carolina rally, he called the state’s cities “blood-soaked killing fields.” North Carolina’s violent crime rate ranks in the middle third of states, according to FBI statistics. At the Nebraska rally, Trump spoke in his familiar, meandering style: extended stretches, often an hour or more, with only occasional use of prepared remarks on a teleprompter.