The culture wars of the last decade led to countless statues and memorials of historic figures being vandalized, destroyed, or removed around the country in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
The practice became increasingly fervent in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020 as officials at various levels of government moved to take them down and vandals took measures into their own hands. And while monuments honoring controversial Confederate leaders were targeted, so too were statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Christopher Columbus, Francis Scott Key, and more.
It now looks like at least some of that erasure will be undone. Donald Trump’s latest executive order aims to “restore truth and sanity to American history” ahead of the country’s 250th birthday in July 2026. On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and Dan Turrentine, hosts of 2Way’s The Morning Meeting, to discuss the action and how the left will respond.
The Executive Order
After the flurry of DEI-related executive orders signed in the first days and weeks of the second Trump administration, the president introduced a new action Thursday focused on “restoring truth and sanity to American history by revitalizing key cultural institutions and reversing the spread of divisive ideology.”
That will require taking a closer look at national museums, zoos, parks, and other land. As part of the order, Vice President J.D. Vance will “work to eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian and its museums, education, and research centers, and the National Zoo.”
The administration will also work with Congress to “prohibit funding for exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans by race, or promote ideologies inconsistent with Federal law,” and “celebrate women’s achievements in the American Women’s History Museum and do not recognize men as women.”
Additionally, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum will be tasked with “restor[ing] Federal parks, monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties that have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history or improperly minimize or disparage certain historical figures or events.”
The Pendulum Swings Back
News of the signing went largely under the radar, but Megyn and Spicer said it signals a very important shift. “The ‘wokeism’ pendulum has swung way, way, way too far, and I think what Trump is doing is resetting that,” Spicer said. “He can get some great wins on these things through executive orders while he waits for reconciliation… I think he is on solid ground with the base and probably the majority of Americans, regardless of party, on this.”
To that point, Megyn wondered how Democrats – who led the charge on renaming buildings and military bases, removing statues, and funding ‘woke’ exhibits – will handle this moving forward. “Trump will sanitize these organizations of all this, and then we’re going to be in an interesting position four years from now if a Democrat were to win the presidency because I think this stuff will be very popular,” she explained. “Would the Democrats really have the nerve to tear back down George Washington, to shove back in the race essentialism at the Smithsonian, the trigger warnings on the National Archives that were all over the electronic database about our Declaration of Independence?”
While Turrentine agreed with Spicer that this is largely an 80/20 issue that Americans overwhelmingly support, he believes the Trump administration needs to strike a balance. “I think where Trump does stuff like put George Washington back on a military base… there is general support for it,” he said. “I think when he does something like eliminate recognizing the Tuskegee Airmen at the Pentagon… people will say, ‘Hey, it’s a little too far.'”
On the flip side, he believes Democrats must also tread carefully. “The history of Democrats focusing on issues that aren’t important to the average American, per se, is part of what has got us in the hole that we’ve dug,” Turrentine concluded. “And so to get out of it, I think we are best to focus on real issues that impact the real lives of real Americans and not go back to trying to relitigate DEI.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Halperin, Spicer, and Turrentine by tuning in to episode 1,037 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.