Dr. Jody Edward Ginn, historian and museum professional, told Fox News Digital the Smithsonian has shifted from education to activism after his recent visit.
The Smithsonian has relied on more than $1 billion a year in taxpayer funding in recent years, even as its leadership and exhibits face mounting scrutiny over DEI priorities and ideological portrayals of American history.
The sprawling institution oversees 21 museums, the National Zoo and nearly 157 million objects and specimens, making it the world’s largest museum, education and research complex. President Donald Trump’s proposed budget reductions have made its federal funding a central pressure point in the administration's broader effort to reshape the taxpayer-supported institution.
Since the White House released a July 2026 report accusing the Smithsonian Institution of advancing DEI and left-wing agendas, Fox News Digital has documented multiple examples. Most recently, the Smithsonian’s America 250 exhibit featured roughly three times as many items highlighting liberal figures and causes as conservative ones, prompting criticism that it presented an ideologically imbalanced account of American history.
Other examples included the Smithsonian's promotion of a museum training guide that linked concepts such as objectivity and merit to "white dominant culture," a program the institution later apologized for after public backlash.
Meanwhile, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III has faced scrutiny after saying DEI "must be at the center" of museum institutions, while receiving more than $4.4 million in salary and benefits from 2020 through 2024.
TRUMP ORDERS SIGNS OUTSIDE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM AMID ROW OVER ITS DEPICTION OF AMERICAN HISTORY
The Trump administration has repeatedly pressed Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch for records and changes as part of its review of the institution. (Al Drago/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
The White House's proposed funding reduction follows a monthslong, Trump-directed review that culminated in a 162-page White House report recommending sweeping reforms and additional executive action.
Although the Smithsonian also receives private donations, grants and other funding sources, the institution has relied on more than $1 billion annually in taxpayer funds in recent years.
With taxpayer dollars at stake, the institution's budget has become a central front in the Trump administration's broader debate over how the Smithsonian presents American history.
TRUMP TARGETS BIDEN-ERA BILLION-DOLLAR SMITHSONIAN BUDGETS AMID ANTI-'WOKE' PUSH
The Smithsonian, the nation's largest museum and research complex, is at the center of a White House campaign to overhaul its presentation of American history. (J. David Ake/Getty Images)
The charts below break down how the Smithsonian's federal funding has changed over time, where the money would go and which museums receive the largest share of taxpayer support.
A Fox News Digital analysis of Smithsonian budget requests shows the institution sought increasingly larger federal appropriations during the Biden administration, with annual requests climbing from $960 million in fiscal 2019 to a record $1.24 billion in fiscal 2024.