U.S. President Donald Trump announced last Thursday on his social Truth that he had fired Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, one of the country’s most important museums. It should be specified, however, that the president does not have the power to fire the museum’s director: in fact, legal experts say that the museum, as part of the Smithsonian Museum, is not run directly by the executive power of the United States, and that any removal order would have to come from the Smithsonian’s secretary, not the president. The secretary himself is appointed not by the president, but by the Smithsonian Museum’s board of regents. The complex, which brings together 21 museums, is funded for more than half of its budget by the federal government: for this reason, therefore, Trump has intervened several times in the museum’s affairs.
“At the request and recommendation of many people, I hereby terminate Kim Sajet’s employment as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social platform owned by the Trump Media & Technology Group. “She is a highly partisan person and a staunch supporter of DEI, a totally inappropriate position for her role. Her replacement will be appointed shortly.” "DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) refers to a strategic direction, within an organization (in this case, a museum), devoted to fostering an environment in which diversity and inclusion are adequately represented, both at the level of principles and values and at the level of human resources. Trump openly opposes these policies, however, beyond that, he has not specified the reasons for his post, nor has he mentioned what are the legal sources on the basis of which he can write about firing the director of the National Portrait Gallery. However, it cannot be ruled out that the president will press to remove Sajet from her post. At the moment, neither the director nor the National Portrait Gallery has commented on the issue. In the United States, however, the issue is being debated: Suse Anderson, a professor of museum studies at George Washington University, told the New York Times that the administration’s thorough scrutiny of a Smithsonian museum would have far-reaching implications, and with regard to Trump’s announcement she said that “the attacks on historical and cultural institutions that we have witnessed since the beginning of this administration continue and intensify.” The announcement of Kim Sajet’s alleged firing, in particular, according to Anderson “is designed to undermine and discredit those who work in these institutions to tell a more complete and complex American story.”
Kim Sajet, Dutch, born in Nigeria and raised in Australia, was educated at Georgetown University and holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from Bryn Mawr College, a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Melbourne, and a diploma in museum studies from Deakin University. She has directed the museum since 2013, and is the first woman to lead the museum since its founding in 1962. Previously, Kim Sajet was director and CEO of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and deputy director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
This is not the first time Trump has targeted the Smithsonian. Last March 27, the president had signed an executive order empowering Vice President JD Vance to ensure that the museum complex’s programs reflect traditional values. Article 2 of the executive order was titled “Saving our Smithsonian”; in fact, Trump accuses the Smithsonian of promoting what he says is a distorted view of history and overemphasizing themes related to racism, colonialism, and social inequality. The executive order stipulates that the vice president and the director of the Office of Management and Budget are to work with Congress to ensure that future appropriations to the Smithsonian prohibit expenditures for exhibits or programs that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans along racial lines, or promote programs or ideologies that are inconsistent with federal law and policy,” or that “celebrate the achievements of women at the American Women’s History Museum without in any way recognizing men as women within the museum.”
The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, founded in 1962 and opened in 1968, is a museum located in the U.S. capital that collects and exhibits more than 19,400 works including paintings, sculptures, photographs and drawings, all dedicated to the personalities who have shaped the history and culture of the United States. The museum celebrates the diversity of figures who have influenced the country, presenting portraits of presidents, activists, artists, scientists, sportsmen, actors, writers and many other notable figures. It is the only museum in the United States that combines history, biography and art through portraiture.
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| Trump says he fired the director of the National Portrait Gallery. But he doesn't have the powers |
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