Rep. Maxwell Frost GRILLS Heritage Foundation Witness: "How Many Exhibits Have You Curated?"

The man who told Congress to fire the Smithsonian's entire leadership has never curated a single exhibit. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) made him say it out loud. THE SETUP: On July 4, 2026, the White House released a 162-page report titled "Saving America's Story," accusing the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History of "extreme political activism." This hearing was the follow-up — held by the DOGE subcommittee and titled "Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian's Efforts to Reshape the Past" Four witnesses sat at that table: Dr. Anthea Hartig, who directs the museum; Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation — the group behind Project 2025 — who testified that Congress should "clean house at the Smithsonian" and "replace the leadership"; Matthew Spalding of Hillsdale College; and David Blight, Sterling Professor of American History at Yale and a Pulitzer Prize winner for his biography of Frederick Douglass. THE CREDENTIALS: Frost asked Hartig about her background — she described walking her ten-speed up the stairs at UCLA to declare a history major, and the decades since in archives, preservation and museum work. Then he turned to Gonzalez. Are you a professional historian? "Publishers have paid me to write history, so I am." How many exhibits have you curated? He said he isn't a curator. Frost repeated it — it's a separate question. The answer: none. THE QUESTION HE WOULDN'T ANSWER: Frost then asked Gonzalez whether the Smithsonian's goals should be consistent with the Trump administration's cultural and political goals. Gonzalez said he didn't know how to define that and couldn't answer. Frost asked again. Same response. Think about how easy a "no" would have been. Anyone defending institutional independence says it instantly — a museum shouldn't take direction from whoever holds the White House. He wouldn't say it. Twice. IN FAIRNESS: Gonzalez's core argument is legitimate, and I give it to you in full. Taxpayers fund roughly 62% of the Smithsonian's $1 billion budget, which makes it accountable to the public — he's right about that. And he agreed with Frost on the basics: slavery was part of American history, Jim Crow was part of American history, and museums should cover them at length. Blight's answer went the other way. He called the White House report "a declaration of political war on the historian's profession." And when asked how it differs from political censorship if Congress or the White House starts deciding historical interpretation, he didn't hedge: "It is political censorship." One note, and I'll be even-handed: late in this exchange both sides reached for totalitarian comparisons — Frost and Blight to Nazi Germany, Gonzalez to Marxist regimes. I'd leave those out. The argument is strong enough without them. Accountability for a billion dollars of public money is fair. Debating whether an exhibit went too far is a real conversation historians have constantly. But there's a difference between "we disagree with your interpretation" and "replace the leadership until the interpretation matches ours." One is criticism. The other is control. Watch it and decide for yourself. 👉 If you believe in accountability, SUBSCRIBE and turn on notifications. 👍 LIKE if this breakdown was useful. 💬 What's your take? Drop it in the comments — I read them. I'm Sam Carter. A Democrat, and proud of it. — Source footage: U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing (public domain). Facts on the witnesses, the White House report, and the Smithsonian's budget as reported by the Associated Press, ARTnews, Artnet News, The New York Times, and the House Oversight Committee's own hearing materials. This video is commentary for educational purposes.