Writes President Trump, at Truth Social.
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September 12, 2026
"I am calling on the Smithsonian Institution to honor the Life and Legacy of George Washington, America’s Greatest Hero, with a five-year exhibition..."
"... at the National Museum of American History, beginning now, and continuing through, February 22, 2032, the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth. I am also calling on the Smithsonian to erect a 30-foot 'Colossus statue' of the Father of Our Country outside the Museum, to replace the so-called 'Infinity' sculpture that stands there today. That strange modernist sculpture tells visitors nothing about America, inspires no one, and honors none of our Great American Heroes...."
Writes President Trump, at Truth Social.
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Writes President Trump, at Truth Social.
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57 comments:
Imagine redoing that facade with friezes of great American achievements.
I’d go with Washington, although maybe not that particular sculpture. Infinity is certainly important, and deserves a sculpture, but not at the Museum of American History.
WPA produced some beautiful murals of America that can be seen in some post offices across the US, but probably not many left.
Washington pointing at the infinity sculpture?
I'd like some wild crazy sculpture of Washington in infinity.
Washington pointing at the Infinity sculpture representing Trump's chutzpah?
Instead of Washington, Trump should install a 100 foot tall statue of himself. That's what Nero did. He could call it "The Colossus of Trump."
I second Bob Boyd's idea, which emphasizes viability and continuity.
Most modernist "art" of all sorts -- sculpture, music, painting, poetry, literature, you name it -- is unmitigated garbage,
The basic 20th C transition was from "art should inspire and uplift" to "art should challenge and disturb".. Notable exceptions, of course: such as pre-Pepper Beatles beginning to join the "classical music" repertoire is much the same fashion as Schubert lieder, but it's mostly pig piffle like 'Vagina Mono;ques' and such.
As usual, Trump is right.
Damn him.
Back around the time the Infinity sculpture was made we had a UHF converter box on the TV with a wire coat hanger for an antenna that pretty much looked the same.
We already have a monument. It's called The Washington Monument and is appropriately the most iconic and recognizable structure in the city of Washington, D.C.
Not sure why Trump decided to pick a fight about this. The infinity sculpture is insipid, but not offensive.
It's offensive to the Finitists. They've been boycotting that thing like, forever.
Washington's Cunningham moment.
Just do your job, Donald.
@Bob Boyd, it’s offensive to those of us who’ve studied Cantor’s work.
Good idea. I like it.
George Washington was a righteous dude. Rejected the notion of a King.
Unlike today's authoritarian king-like leftists.
Good that he's just calling on the Smithonian, if he ordered them to do it a Federal Leftwing judge would block it. They rule, not the POTUS.
I fully support the idea of honoring and celebrating George Washington's incredibly consequential life and accomplishments. It's a great idea. And he deserves a statue.
Although I think our civic traditions are worth fighting for, is tweeting out a call to replace statue A with statue B really "fighting"? And does it really signify that Trump isn't doing his job? .
That lame ass modern nothingness is a reflection of the modern left.
The "Infinity" sculpture (with its plinth) is designed to go with the lines of the building. It's minimalist and modernist and introduces subtle curves where everything else is clean slanting lines. Why monkey with that?
(Answers: 1. Because he can. 2. Because he rejects the strigent good taste of the elites. 3. Because America needs rousing heroes.)
“"I am calling on the Smithsonian Institution to honor the Life and Legacy of George Washington….”
I guess they’d better do it, unless they want to wind up working at the Trumpian Institution.
...It is part of his 4D chess strategy- should the left ever return to power they will have to expend so much time and effort unwinding everything he's done they may accidentally develop a work ethic...
...we had so much fun with the Scottish in Boston this summer we should have some Guiness powered Scotsmen top the Washington statue with a bronze traffic cone...
So are they relocating the IUD statue?
“3. Because America needs rousing heroes.”
Then they should get the Rocky statue from Philadelphia. I don’t think Washington really does it anymore.
I continue to believe the statue Washington needs is one of mechanized Trump holding a laser pointer.
If you can mount it on a plinth, it's not Infinity.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a truck backing over some poor kid's Hula Hoop— forever.
I don't think Presidents get paid to have exquisite artistic choice. Okay, museum directors do, but isn't the Smithsonian supposed to be more like a yearbook or scrapbook than a Madison Ave gallery? Norman Rockwell looks more appealing on a magazine cover than Picasso.
Amusing typo: "the strigent good taste of the elites". If 'strigent' were a word, it would mean 'acting like a screech-owl', from Latin 'strix', plural 'striges', "a screech-owl (superstitiously regarded as a vampire or harpy)", or "a screech-owl, which, according to the belief of the ancients, sucked the blood of young children". Serendipity!
No Washington. No country.
And he easily could have been an Emperor after he won the war.
He was the Indispensable Man.
Modern art can go elsewhere.
That modern art piece would fit in anywhere: Nigeria, one of the Stans, Somali or Brazil. We need something uniquely American.
And, btw, the Libs will be pissed off it is George. Slave owner!!!
I second lonejustice’s idea.
More seriously, national monuments should be emphatic. In-your-face, triumphal, celebrations of a nation’s founding ideals and history. Modern art has it’s place but in these circumstances it’s a deliberate attempt to minimize and demoralize.
The left, with their take-over of education, are on a non-stop mission to destroy our true history, by distorting facts. The leftist/ woke who run the Smithsonian, are all part of that machine.
Move the infinity sculpture over to HQ, Space Force. Maybe gift it to Elon to adorn whatever he's abaout to build in Louisiana.
Commision a new statue of Washington to replace infinity. Off to the side add a figure of Sophie Cunningham pointing at him. Something we deplorables could understand.
George Washington is the founding father of America in spirit and kind.
As someone who grew up in Washington State, I have nothing but respect for the Founder. But c’mon, with the monument, the dollar bill, the quarter, etc. he’s already a bit overexposed. If you want to attract people to a museum, you need something with a bit more pizazz.
"I'd like some wild crazy sculpture of Washington in infinity."
Washington crossing the infinity sculpture.
Trump really is trying to make America great again. Will Democrats allow it, however righteous the action? I think not. Look at them. They are mired in bullshit!
The Infinity Sculpture kind of looks like the letter "D".
Just tell him it stands for " Donald"!
Why monkey with that?
The Infinity statue is like fascist art. It's a hammer and a sickle. It's futurism. It's a glorification of the progressive dream.
A museum of national history ought to celebrate the history of the USA. Washington is the father of our country. This is old school patriotism. And Trump wants to start a fight with all the people on the left who hate Washington. Good call. Kudos.
A Washington statute offends the woke. Reason enough to put one up.
Washington chopping down the infinity sculpture.
Why not put the infinity sculpture over Washington's head, like a halo?
Trump has perfected the modern abstract expressionism Art of Doing Whatever keeps you people off of the Iran debacle and the hopeless midterms. A Sucker is Reborn.
The sculpture is a is a 16-foot Möbius strip with a twist, so it seems more 3d. And it rotes. that’s what’s special about it and how it depicts infinity. A photo doesn’t do it justice..
We have the Washington Monument already.
Yes, I’m beginning to get aggravated. Isn’t there enough to focus on and do already?
If Trump had just stuck to stuff like this instead of wanting his name on the Kennedy Center, his approval would be ten points higher.
“A burleyque dancer, a pip,
Named Virginia, could peel in a zip;
But she read science fiction,
And died of constriction,
Attempting a Möbius strip.”
When I look at the sculpture I don’t see infinity at all, just a pair of tits.
20th century abstract art was an explicit rejection of Communist and fascist art. If we absolutely have to "go there," the statue of Washington pointing his way to the radiant future seems a bit like the statues of Lenin in every Soviet city. Rightly or wrongly, the patriotic art of FDR's America has been likened to the art of the dictatorships of his day. Abstract art invokes the faceless corporate or technocratic future more than the tyrannies of the past. I'm not saying that modernism in the arts was always separate from and opposed to fascist and communist art, but it wouldn't be accurate to say that it was closely tied to the art of the dictatorships.
Maybe Trump is just putting a new proposal out there to distract from the construction of the Arch, which is about to start.
So while the posse is furiously chasing the new statue, the arch construction can proceed in peace.
I didn't like any of the choices because of the museum design which I find cold and soviet looking. I went through the exercise of finding out who designed it and why.
Turns out that there was an aesthetic conflict way back when the museum was being planned in the 50's. The museum board wanted something "modern" looking because the museum was supposed to be a "Museum of History and Technology." But putting up a very modern looking building on the Mall was a problem because everything around it was Neoclassical. The hopeful solution was to hire the very prestigious architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. (Boston Public Library, Morgan Library, Columbia University campus, etc. -- known for their combination of Classical and Renaissance, known as Beaux-Arts) and have them do something modernish.
The original creative architects of the firm were all long gone by then and the real talent was a distant memory. What we see at the Museum of American History is described as an abstraction of classical principles. The commission was won by Samuel White, grandson of the founder Stanford White, and completed by respected architect Walker O. Cain. By then the firm had no one connected with the original partners, existing on fumes of past glory.
Instead of covering up the stark facade my idea is why not use those flat planes as screens and project digital images of Washington and other achievements etc.? Make that July 4th illumination on the Washington monument a permanent program. (https://freedom250.org/media-center/press-release/freedom-250-announces-washington-monument-illumination). And how about a modern sculpture of George Washington inspired by the spirit of the father of our country?
I was surprised to learn that Smithson was a British scientist who left his estate to fund a science institute, He never came to the US.
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