On Tuesday, Lonnie G Bunch III announced he would step down as the 14th secretary of the Smithsonian.

Bunch was the first historian to lead the august institution, as well as the first African American. His retirement comes as the Trump administration has pressured the Smithsonian to adopt its agenda of “patriotic” education.

On 28 August, the Department of Interior issued a threatening letter to the Smithsonian, declaring that “action must be taken” against “a radical institutional ideology” that threatens “to permeate … the operations” of the National Museum of American History (NMAH). The letter challenges NMAH’s longstanding commitment to demonstrating history’s relevance by tying the presentation of American history to “the core issues of our time”.

The administration’s attack on the Smithsonian is far more than a conflict over imbalance. It is an effort to weaponize history to undercut the very terms of our democratic existence. According to the 24 July executive order “Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution”, its role should be to “present American history as a shared national inheritance to be taught and celebrated”. In the language of an earlier executive order (on K-12 education), the administration declared that the purpose of American history in museums and schools should be to create a shared American identity, one grounded in “a patriotic admiration for our incredible nation” and praise for the great men who founded it.

By this measure, the Smithsonian – and Bunch in particular – exist in a state of non-compliance. The historical record that one encounters in its collections – ranging from acknowledging the fact that........

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