CNN‘s Laura Coates took issue Tuesday night with President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the Smithsonian Institute has gone “out of control” with woke content and used some of his own words from 2017 to prove him wrong.
Trump took to Truth Social Tuesday to announce that he has instructed his attorneys to review the Smithsonian’s museums.
“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been,” Trump wrote. “This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE.”
Among the museums that Trump has targeted is the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, which Coates was quick to point out Tuesday. The CNN anchor was also quick to note that, contrary to his recent claims, Trump had nothing but good things to say about the museum in question after he toured it in 2017. To prove her point, Coates played a clip of the speech Trump gave following his visit.
“This museum is a beautiful tribute to so many American heroes. It’s amazing to see,” Trump said at the time. “We did a pretty comprehensive tour, but not comprehensive enough. So, [Smithsonian Secretary] Lonnie [Bunch III] I’ll be back. I told you that. Because I could stay here for a lot longer, believe me. It’s really incredible. This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance, and hatred in all of its very ugly forms.”
You can watch the clip yourself in the video below.
Trump 2017: This museum is a beautiful tribute to so many American heroes. It's amazing to see… This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms. pic.twitter.com/7SJJzFVmUP
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 20, 2025
For her part, Coates took particular issue with Trump’s insistence that the museums his administration is reviewing focus only on suffering and oppression.
“Yes, it goes into the unvarnished truth of slavery in America, the brutal reality that millions endured and the impact that’s still felt today,” Coates acknowledge about the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “But the museum, if you actually go to it rather than just talk about it and see it on paper from a Truth Social post, it doesn’t only focus on suffering. It is about resilience and achievement and celebration. Umbrella? History.”
The CNN anchor noted that the museum highlights the achievements of Black icons like Muhammad Ali, Louis Armstrong, Jim Brown, Gabby Douglas and Carl Lewis. “If that’s woke, then maybe woke just means telling the whole story because every exhibition that I’ve just mentioned showcases exactly what Trump says that he wants: success, brightness, a look toward the future,” Coates argued.
Responding to Trump’s 2017 remark that the museum is a “reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance, and hatred in all of its very ugly forms,” Coates concluded, “[I] couldn’t have said it better myself, Mr. President.”
