President Donald Trump is asking the Smithsonian Institution to give George Washington a place of honor that supporters say is long overdue, and he wants the change to begin on Constitution Day.

In a series of posts on Truth Social, the president called on the museum complex to install an 11-foot statue of Washington that appeared at the recent Freedom 250 Grand Prix Race into the Flag Hall of the National Museum of American History and to dedicate it on Sept. 17, 2026. From there, he outlined a broader plan: a five-year exhibition on Washington’s life, sacrifice, and contributions, and eventually a 30-foot “Washington Colossus” placed where the sculpture known as “Infinity” now stands.

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From The Western Journal:

But that is only the start.

Trump wants the Smithsonian to “immediately design and display a five-year exhibition worthy of the Life, Sacrifice, and Contributions of George Washington.”

“Then, as soon as it is ready, install a 30-foot Washington Colossus where ‘Infinity’ stands today.”

The “Infinity” sculpture, described by The Washington Post as a ribbon of thin stainless steel mounted atop a rotating black granite pylon, sits in the museum’s Flag Hall. Trump argued the substitution is fitting, saying it was time to replace a sculpture that he said says nothing about America with the man who, in his view, says everything about it as America’s greatest hero.

The president said the current piece tells visitors nothing about the nation, inspires no one, and honors none of its heroes, adding that without Washington the country and its freedoms would not exist. He also said the museum has failed to give Washington and the other Founding Fathers the celebration they deserve during the nation’s 250th anniversary year.

Trump pointed specifically to what he said was missing from the museum’s presentation. Washington’s crossing of the Delaware on Dec. 25, 1776, which the president called one of the greatest moments and turning points of the Revolution, is not mentioned in the museum, he said, and he argued that the victory at Trenton and the stories of the Americans who fought and died for independence deserve far more attention.

The president also renewed his criticism of the Smithsonian’s interpretive direction. He noted that under recently ended leadership the institution created a “Center for Restorative History” and commissioned a “Decolonization Plan,” which he said focused attention overwhelmingly on those who were oppressed, with almost no attention paid to those who triumphed over oppression against great odds. He singled out an exhibit that describes the period from 1492 to 1776, including Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World and European settlement, as the “Great Unsettling” of the continent.

Instead, Trump proposed a “Center for American Heroes,” telling the stories of Americans who faced great challenges, overcame them, built great things, defended the country, and helped the nation more fully live up to its founding ideals. The president framed the exhibition he wants as running from now through Feb. 22, 2032, the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth. He also said the leaders of what he called America’s taxpayer-funded national history museum should focus on telling the nation’s story fairly, accurately, and coherently rather than on ideological activism.

The posts mark the latest in a series of clashes between Trump and Smithsonian leadership over how American history is presented. The Hill noted that the president has repeatedly scolded the institution’s leadership on that subject. Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch announced recently that he will leave at the end of the year after facing pressure from the president.

It is not yet clear how the Smithsonian will respond to the specific requests, including whether the 11-foot statue will be installed or whether a replacement for “Infinity” will move forward. The museum has not announced any plans to alter the Flag Hall display or to launch the exhibition the president described.

A nation’s memory shapes its conscience. What a people chooses to remember, and how they tell it, forms what the next generation believes about itself and about the sacrifices that made its freedom possible. Scripture repeatedly commands the faithful to remember and to pass on the deeds of God and of those who came before, warning that forgetting leads to decay (Deuteronomy 8:11-14; Psalm 78:4-7). Washington’s crossing of the Delaware in the dead of winter was not merely a military gamble. It was a moment when men risked everything for liberty under God, and children deserve to know that story plainly. Faithful stewardship of history is not nostalgia or propaganda. It is honesty about both the failures and the heroism, told coherently enough that citizens can see themselves as heirs of a real inheritance. As intercessors, let us pray for those entrusted with telling this story, that they would honor the truth, celebrate virtue, and refuse to let the nation’s founding fade from its own museums.

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(Excerpt from The Western Journal. Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)