Trump impeachment proceedings removed from Smithsonian

Donald Trump was impeached not once, but twice, by the House during his first term.

Those impeachments were sent to the Smithsonian as a part of American history.

That history has been removed, at least temporarily, from the Smithsonian, so you can just imagine the outrage that is about to take place.

First Impeachment

The first impeachment of Trump was introduced to the House on December 18, 2019.

He was charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The House forwarded the impeachment to the Senate, which, on February 5, 2020, voted to acquit Trump of the charges.

This, sadly, was only the first of two impeachments for Trump.

Second Impeachment

Donald Trump was impeached for the second time in the House on January 13, 2021, just a week before Trump was due to leave office.

During this impeachment, Trump was charged with inciting an insurrection.

Once again, when the impeachment went to the Senate on February 13, 2021, Donald Trump was acquitted, as Democrats failed to get enough support from Republicans.

This impeachment had teeth, as there were a handful of Republicans who were disgusted with Trump for his actions, or lack of action, on that day, and they were very vocal about it. If I am being honest, while not certain, I thought this one might be successful after hearing so many Republicans speak about it.

Remove It

According to the Smithsonian, the records were removed at the request of the White House, which accused the Smithsonian of using DEI tactics to hurt Trump.

The White House stated, "Unfortunately for far too long the Smithsonian museums have highlighted divisive, DEI exhibits which are out of touch with mainstream America. We are fully supportive of updating displays to highlight American greatness. The Trump administration will continue working to ensure that the Smithsonian removes all improper ideology and once again unites and instills pride in all Americans regarding our great history."

Dems and the media are once again using this to accuse Trump of an authoritarian regime, only adding more fuel to this fire after Trump fired an official for a bad jobs report. For instance, MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire stated, "This is an attempt to literally rewrite history. This is not the kind of thing that happens in a healthy democracy… It feels like it’s the kind of thing that leads us on a very slippery slope."

While Trump may not like it, this was part of our country's history, and I completely disagree with pressure being applied to remove this from the museum. If anything, I think the future will show this as evidence of how the system was weaponized against Trump, especially in the case of the first impeachment. My opinion... this was a mistake by the Trump administration. You cannot remove history simply because you don't like it. It is exactly what we accused Democrats of doing when they were removing monuments and renaming buildings. It's hypocritical.

NOTE: The Smithsonian has since released a statement that the administration DID NOT pressure it to remove the items. A spokesperson stated: 

“The placard … did not meet the museum’s standards in appearance, location, timeline and overall presentation. It was not consistent with other sections in the exhibit and moreover blocked the view of the objects inside its case. For these reasons, we removed the placard."

It continued, “The section in question, Impeachment, will be updated in the coming weeks to reflect all impeachment proceedings in our nation’s history."