Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

bigtree

(92,313 posts)
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 11:36 AM Aug 20

ANYONE complaining about focusing too much on 'how bad slavery was' can f**k right off

...Trump Attacks Smithsonian For Focus On 'How Bad Slavery Was' And, Boy, The Responses

In the post, the president lashed out at America’s museums for being “the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE,’” before singling out the Smithsonian as “OUT OF CONTROL” for discussing “how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been,” but nothing about “Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”



Trump wants to cover up slavery like it’s in the Epstein files.
— Sam Youngman (@samyoungman) August 19, 2025

Slavery WAS bad, Donald. It’s absurd that this even needs to be said.

We don’t whitewash history; we learn from it.

You keep trying to rewrite the past— @TheBlackCaucus won’t let you get away with it. https://t.co/CoVc7LqY5b

— Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (@RepKamlagerDove) August 19, 2025

Donald Trump is reviewing museums because they talk too much about how bad slavery was.

Also, why would museums talk about the future?
pic.twitter.com/tZN1BRLoAr
— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) August 19, 2025

1. We have normalized having a toddler in the White House who types in caps and uses random quote marks. ("HOTTEST"?). How is any of the below normal? How are we okay with this?
2. He wants to celebrate our current country in a museum? His brain is too broken to understand what a… https://t.co/UzvfeQHxa0

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 19, 2025

more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-attacks-smithsonian-slavery-bad_n_68a4deaae4b0d42cc1e38440


...resign, racist traitor.


...I posted a thing recently:

"We've buttoned up our Union Blues to join the fight for our freedom... railed against injustice decade upon decade."

That's an excerpt from then-president Barack Obama at the Dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

read more: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220559321
39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
ANYONE complaining about focusing too much on 'how bad slavery was' can f**k right off (Original Post) bigtree Aug 20 OP
Eventually trump will run out of things to create false outrage. pwb Aug 20 #1
Soon, I hope. Linda ladeewolf Aug 20 #24
...and they can jump right through the portal of hell. LoisB Aug 20 #2
Funny.... SilverDawg Aug 20 #3
I doubt he's ever stepped foot in a museum except for a party. yardwork Aug 20 #5
DURec leftstreet Aug 20 #4
Definitely 👍 underpants Aug 20 #6
He could be in a new industry here - History museums that focus on the Future underpants Aug 20 #7
Thank you. I had to look at his drivel twice to make certain I had read niyad Aug 20 #16
Slavery wasn't just "bad." It was monstrous and horrible. ananda Aug 20 #8
Bu but it taught them a useful trade! Ligyron Aug 20 #26
The Founding Fathers would surely envy his eloquence -- 'We have the "HOTTEST" Country in the World !' eppur_se_muova Aug 20 #9
This message was self-deleted by its author Prairie_Seagull Aug 20 #10
This sums it up for me. I'd never seen this until recently underpants Aug 20 #11
The heritage of racists and oppressors. paleotn Aug 20 #25
We're going back to when Christopher Columbus was just a good guy who discovered America. RoeVWade Aug 20 #12
You can either be woke or not asleep. Progressive dog Aug 20 #13
The same as - werdna Aug 20 #14
The Assault on Memory malaise Aug 20 #15
Only a sadistic racist sociopath could post this in earnest. 58Sunliner Aug 20 #17
Republicans want slavery again Blue Full Moon Aug 20 #18
Perhaps not chattel slavery, where people are personal property, to be bought and sold like any other possession. sop Aug 20 #30
No chattle. Blue Full Moon Aug 20 #31
Ah, yes, the complaints from one who fancies himself a member of the ownership class. Efilroft Sul Aug 20 #19
Someone in Congress should propose a simple resolution: Slavery was bad. TheRickles Aug 20 #20
He wants history museums to talk about our bright future IronLionZion Aug 20 #21
Your chances of being sent to hell just increased exponentially stollen Aug 20 #22
He's playing to his racist base surfered Aug 20 #23
You ppl don't understand that no one has suffered like he has. tavernier Aug 20 #27
Pardon me, but - "he's suffered"??? calimary Aug 20 #32
Seriously? tavernier Aug 20 #37
He had to hear that white me. Did terrible things malaise Aug 20 #38
"Racism is dead." czarjak Aug 20 #28
People will be asking, Remember how bad it was when slave owning Dump was President Clouds Passing Aug 20 #29
What an ignorant nincompoop! ShazzieB Aug 20 #33
I'm thinking that Tim Scott and Byron Donalds could explain the Republican position on how bad slavery was. Permanut Aug 20 #34
Let's get the important stuff out of the way Keepthesoulalive Aug 20 #35
How is it possible to focus too much on how bad slavery was? senseandsensibility Aug 20 #36
Mike Luckovich-The Smithsonian after trump is finished LetMyPeopleVote Aug 20 #39

SilverDawg

(878 posts)
3. Funny....
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 11:46 AM
Aug 20

I remember visiting the Aero Space museum at the Smithsonian and seeing all of the aircraft and spacecraft developed and built by America. Isn’t THAT success?? What is he talking about!?

niyad

(126,528 posts)
16. Thank you. I had to look at his drivel twice to make certain I had read
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:36 PM
Aug 20

it correctly. Obviously, neither he, nor his sycophants, acolytes, toadies, ass-kissers, etc., has any understanding of the concept of a "museum".

ananda

(32,907 posts)
8. Slavery wasn't just "bad." It was monstrous and horrible.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:03 PM
Aug 20

A lot of it has been whitewashed so even a lot of people
who know it was "bad" don't know how horrible it really was.

eppur_se_muova

(39,789 posts)
9. The Founding Fathers would surely envy his eloquence -- 'We have the "HOTTEST" Country in the World !'
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:04 PM
Aug 20

How can you respond to such a powerful statement as that ?

Response to bigtree (Original post)

paleotn

(20,784 posts)
25. The heritage of racists and oppressors.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 01:40 PM
Aug 20

Funny, Germany doesn't put up monuments fetishizing the 3rd Reich. Talk about a "hot" nation. They controlled most of Europe.

RoeVWade

(629 posts)
12. We're going back to when Christopher Columbus was just a good guy who discovered America.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:21 PM
Aug 20

Trump's the one turning America's flag into dirty underwear flying over the White House - Shit upon shit upon shit.

Shit masked as righteousness.

Progressive dog

(7,521 posts)
13. You can either be woke or not asleep.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:28 PM
Aug 20

Woke would include not being drunk, demented, or just plain stupid.
If enough of us were woke, someone like Trump would be in jail, not the White House.

werdna

(1,087 posts)
14. The same as -
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:31 PM
Aug 20

ANYONE complaining about focusing too much on 'how bad fascism was' can fuck right off!

Either one, FRO!

58Sunliner

(5,994 posts)
17. Only a sadistic racist sociopath could post this in earnest.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:36 PM
Aug 20

There is a very real pathology amongst his followers.

sop

(15,722 posts)
30. Perhaps not chattel slavery, where people are personal property, to be bought and sold like any other possession.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 02:38 PM
Aug 20

Rather, Republicans want the freedom to treat certain classes of people like slaves without any legal restraints.

Efilroft Sul

(4,143 posts)
19. Ah, yes, the complaints from one who fancies himself a member of the ownership class.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:55 PM
Aug 20

Nat Turner and John Brown send their regards.

TheRickles

(2,929 posts)
20. Someone in Congress should propose a simple resolution: Slavery was bad.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 01:02 PM
Aug 20

It'd be interesting to see who would oppose something as black-and-white as that (pun intended).

IronLionZion

(49,750 posts)
21. He wants history museums to talk about our bright future
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 01:13 PM
Aug 20

and this is why GOP cuts education funding.

stollen

(957 posts)
22. Your chances of being sent to hell just increased exponentially
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 01:21 PM
Aug 20

Care to rethink that statement?

tavernier

(13,888 posts)
27. You ppl don't understand that no one has suffered like he has.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 02:11 PM
Aug 20

Obama joked about him and everybody laughed.

The cruelty is unforgivable.



calimary

(87,552 posts)
32. Pardon me, but - "he's suffered"???
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 02:48 PM
Aug 20

How? When? What kind of “suffering”?

(Or maybe I’m just not getting the joke?)

tavernier

(13,888 posts)
37. Seriously?
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 03:52 PM
Aug 20

Every time I make fun of Trump, do I have to put a sarcasm emoji up? No he hasn’t suffered, other than maybe having to drink tapwater instead of ice water one time in his life when he was in a desert. My reference basically was about the time when Obama made fun of him during the correspondence dinner and he got his widdle feelings hurt.

Clouds Passing

(5,626 posts)
29. People will be asking, Remember how bad it was when slave owning Dump was President
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 02:34 PM
Aug 20

and the slave owning promoting Unheritage Lack-of-foundation ruled our country? Remember when they kidnapped people from anywhere they could and sold them into slavery after holding them in abysmal circumstances for unspecified amount of time? Remember when those cowards kidnapping people wore masks, hats, and sunglasses to hide their identities from the people they were kidnapping and the people who were witnessing? Remember when they were taking away peoples’ basic rights, including women’s rights to their own bodies, the right to due process, the right for people to walk safely in their city without being attacked by national guards?

I hope soon!

ShazzieB

(21,451 posts)
33. What an ignorant nincompoop!
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 02:57 PM
Aug 20

He doesn't have the foggiest idea what museums are FOR, much less how or why they do what they do. I wonder if he's ever even visited one. If he did, he was probably bored out of his skull and completely iggnored whatever information was being presented, because he's not interested in anything that's not all about HIM.

Now that I think of it, since he thinks everything always IS about him, I'll bet he is taking anything said about this country that sounds the least bit negative as a personal insult to him! That probably sounds crazy, but it's exactly the kind of crazy he is!

I've just started rereading Mary Trump's book Too Much and Never Enough, and was struck by something she said in the prologue, about how he sees everything through the prism of money:

The costs and benefits of governing are considered in purely financial terms, as if the US Treasury were his personal piggy bank. To him, every dollar going out was his loss, while every dollar saved was his gain. (Too Much and Never Enough. P. 15, copied and pasted from my copy of the Kindle book)


If he sees the US Treasury as his personal piggy bank, it makes sense, imo, that he sees everything to do with the federal government as his personal playground, to be remade in a way that reflects his personal beliefs and his personal (lack of) taste! That fits right right in with the tacky, gaudy, and downright tawdry changes he's made to the White House. Like the White House, he sees those museums as an expression of himself that needs to be fashioned in line with the whims of his own tacky, gaudy, and downright tawdry personality. That includes changing anything that he thinks makes a negative statement about this country, because to him, those statements reflect negatively on HIM.

Yes, that's crazy, but we are dealing with a legitimately crazy man here.


Permanut

(7,507 posts)
34. I'm thinking that Tim Scott and Byron Donalds could explain the Republican position on how bad slavery was.
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 03:03 PM
Aug 20

Keepthesoulalive

(1,681 posts)
35. Let's get the important stuff out of the way
Wed Aug 20, 2025, 03:18 PM
Aug 20

He’s stupid and ignorant. He’s attempting to distract from the disaster his presidency is and Epstein.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»ANYONE complaining about ...