Claims that a White House official in charge of U.S. President Donald Trump's mandate to review exhibits within the Smithsonian Institution said, "You can't really talk about slavery honestly unless you also talk about hope and progress," circulated online in August 2025.
The claim circulated on social media platforms like X (archived), Instagram (archived) and Facebook (archived) as the administration's agenda to address "woke" museums and other educational institutions in the United States continued to make headlines.
White House official Lindsey Halligan: "While slavery is obviously a horrible aspect of our nation's history, you can't really talk about slavery honestly unless you also talk about hope and progress ... we need to stop focusing so much on the lack of progress." pic.twitter.com/aKPbaRFkwq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 21, 2025
The quote in question is correctly attributed to a White House official.
Special assistant to the president, Lindsey Halligan, made the statement during an interview with Newsmax talking about the administration's vocal stance on auditing exhibits negatively depicting American history in Washington, D.C.'s, Smithsonian museums.
Of specific interest was the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which Trump himself praised upon its opening in 2016, calling it "a really beautiful place." During a campaign rally on Sept. 24, 2016, viewable on YouTube, Trump also offered congratulations to "those involved with the project and recognize today the incredible contributions of the African American community to this nation."
Halligan made the following statement after a Newsmax anchor asked her about acknowledging the darker parts of American history:
It's not about whitewashing. It's all about full context. While slavery is obviously a horrible aspect of our nation's history, you can't really talk about slavery honestly unless you also talk about hope and progress. I think we need to be focusing on the progress that we've made since then, and we need to stop focusing so much on the lack of progress. We need to keep moving forward as a country. Our 250th anniversary as a country is coming up next July and we're hoping that the Smithsonian and DC is beautiful and amazing and a place all Americans want to come visit during that time. So I'm really excited about it.
Halligan made similar statements during an Aug. 20, 2025, appearance on Fox News covering the same topic. Halligan's statements echo those made by the president in a social media post (archived) on Aug. 19, 2025, in which he called museums "the last remaining segment of 'woke'":
The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of "WOKE." 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 — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future. We are not going to allow this to happen, and I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made. This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the "HOTTEST" Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.
Snopes reached out to the Smithsonian Institution for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
On Aug. 13, 2025, Newsweek reported a Smithsonian spokesperson as saying, "The Smithsonian's work is grounded in a deep commitment to scholarly excellence, rigorous research, and the accurate, factual presentation of history. We are reviewing the letter with this commitment in mind and will continue to collaborate constructively with the White House, Congress, and our governing Board of Regents."
In early August 2025, the Smithsonian removed references to Trump's multiple impeachments but said it was due to "reviewing [our] legacy content," according to The Associated Press.
When Snopes reached out to the White House press office for comment, Davis Ingle, whose LinkedIn page identifies him as the communications manager of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) and former White House press assistant during the first Trump administration, responded with a message seemingly intended for Halligan.
Ingle wrote, "FYI…not sure if there is anything more to add right now at this point beyond what you and the president have said so far. Let me know though!" If we get a real statement from the White House we will update this article.
AFPI's website described its mission as: "Our guiding principles are liberty, free enterprise, national greatness, American military superiority, foreign-policy engagement in the American interest, and the primacy of American workers, families, and communities in all we do."
Trump's agenda against the Smithsonian
On March 27, 2025, Trump signed an executive order, titled, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," which featured a section labeled, "Saving our Smithsonian."
The order wrote that while the Smithsonian was "once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement," it had since "come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology" and that the "shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive."
Trump named Vice President JD Vance and Halligan as the people who would seek "to remove improper ideology from such properties, and shall recommend to the President any additional actions necessary to fully effectuate such policies."
The executive order did not mention slavery by name but said the efforts would "prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy."
The same executive order also took a stance against trans women being mentioned in regard to women's sports at the Smithsonian. It stated that the Smithsonian should "celebrate the achievements of women in the American Women's History Museum and do not recognize men as women in any respect in the Museum."