@justinfreakin: Does Nancy Mace Know What A Drag Queen Is? (NOTUS) “History is incredibly challenging,” the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History testified in the House, rebutting the Republican-led effort to reshape what the nation’s government-sponsored museums say about America. For two hours Tuesday, Anthea Hartig faced a hostile panel of Republican lawmakers who cast the Smithsonian Institution as an “ideological” political organization and aired what they saw as perceived slights against the founding fathers, cultural icons and conservative ideas contained in the museum’s galleries. Hartig pushed back, saying the museum “tries to reflect the richness of our history” without advancing any political agenda. “If we tell it in its richness, we absolutely, I think, have objects that can make people uncomfortable,” Hartig said. She continued, “It’s not for me to determine what’s problematic, it’s for me to determine what’s accurate.” Republicans during the hearing largely focused on specific exhibits and merchandise within the museum they found controversial, including a display centered on the U.S. entertainment industry and another on girls going through puberty. They grew increasingly frustrated throughout the hearing after accusing Hartig of deflecting from their most pointed questions. “You have pictures of bondage,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee), who chaired Tuesday’s Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee hearing, said before a poster board displaying some items and photographs featured in the museum. “You have some overtly sexual things up there. You have transgender folks, I assume that’s what they are.” Rep. Nancy Mace, (R-South Carolina), focused her questions more explicitly. “My staff tells me this little trinket around the penis, this is BDSM in a setting where children are walking through,” she said. “That’s disgusting. Like, what kind of message are you trying to send to kids with BDSM imagery?” Hartig said the puberty exhibit was not designed for children and contained a warning about its contents. #smithsonian #Trump #newsupdate #DragRace

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Wednesday 22 July 2026 15:27:02 GMT