President Trump accused the Smithsonian Institution this week of focusing too much on “how bad slavery was” and not enough on the “brightness” of America. He has ordered Confederate statues honoring those who fought to preserve slavery to be restored and celebrated. And he used language carrying uncomfortable racial overtones to describe Washington, a historically Black city, as a hotbed of “savagery, filth and scum” in need of “beautification.”
Over the past seven months, Mr. Trump’s words and actions have revealed what he sees as an ideal picture of the United States, in which the concept of diversity is taboo; the traditional power centers in America — white and wealthy men — get the benefit of the doubt; immigrants are suspect or unwelcome; and people of color must set their grievances and outrage aside.
In the view of his critics, Mr. Trump has used the power of the federal government to promote a vision of America that not only challenges the legitimacy of the Black experience, but also demeans and dehumanizes people of color. In the process, they say, he has elevated and even endorsed a version of American culture that venerates a white-dominated society of old, and casts the history and reality of race in the United States as unwelcome or suspiciously “woke.”
“He’s very much in opposition to a lot of what has happened in terms of race over the last couple of generations,” said Chris Myers Asch, a historian and the author of the book “Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in Our Nation’s Capital.”
“He’s born wealthy. He’s always had easy access to power. It works very well for him. So anything that undermines that world is suspect,” Mr. Myers Asch said.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment. But Trump allies note that many Americans voted for him last November because they felt that political leaders, cities, universities and the country’s culture more broadly had become too permissive or too liberal in their attitudes toward crime, border security, diversity efforts, student protests and other parts of American society.
Mr. Trump and his aides have spent years developing a political playbook to cast him as a bold leader willing to take dramatic and even unpopular decisions. That playbook now includes branding diversity as a dangerous idea in American life and vilifying people and institutions who speak honestly about history and society, including the truth about slavery.
On Wednesday, Stephen Miller, a White House adviser and the architect of Mr. Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda in his first and second terms, called Washington “one of the most violent cities on planet earth.” Washington’s homicide rate is higher than many capitals, but nowhere near the highest in the world.
Last week, as Mr. Trump commandeered the city’s police force, deployed the National Guard and sent in hundreds of federal law enforcement agents to D.C., he tried to forestall criticism by portraying Washington in the worst possible light.
“You’ll say, ‘Oh, so terrible,’” Mr. Trump said. “No, we’re getting rid of the slums where they live.”
Washington does have a real crime problem that residents readily acknowledge, even as Mr. Trump uses inaccurate figures to portray the city as lawless. Many residents have wanted the D.C. government and police to take more action against crime for years.
Still, some residents have expressed deep skepticism that Mr. Trump’s extraordinary takeover of the D.C. police is a solution to their problems.
“He is using the typical race-baiting language of pointing to folks who are suffering, folks who are at risk, folks who are underserved, underresourced, and demonizing them for their situation,” said Gregory Jackson, a resident of the Anacostia neighborhood who led the Biden administration’s gun violence prevention office, which Mr. Trump terminated.
Mr. Jackson, who was struck by a bullet in Washington in 2013, noted that Mr. Trump had defunded community-based violence prevention programs and planned to cut federal security funding for the city.
In his second term, Mr. Trump has taken a particularly aggressive position on issues of race and diversity, tapping into real tensions about the role that race should play in American society.
“We’ve seen it for a long time, his entire life,” Mr. Jackson said of Mr. Trump’s ability to stoke racial divisions. “It’s just frustrating to see that mind-set play out into policy.”
In the first months of his second term, Mr. Trump has abandoned core tenets of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Pentagon has ordered military leaders to review all books in their libraries that address racism and sexism. The administration announced this week that it would begin screening immigrants seeking to live or work in the United States for “anti-American ideologies.” Mr. Trump has banned almost every refugee from entering the country, with the exception of white South African farmers who federal officials have said would better assimilate into the United States.
Federal agencies have obscured published references to the contributions of Black heroes, from the Tuskegee Airmen who fought in the military, to Harriet Tubman, who guided enslaved people along the Underground Railroad. He has accused the Smithsonian Institution of incorporating “divisive, race-centered ideology” in its exhibits on race.
Several of Mr. Trump’s appointees have amplified extremist views, including on official social media accounts. The Department of Homeland Security in June shared a poster that called for reporting “foreign invaders,” an image that was originally shared by a podcaster who hosts a Christian nationalist show and calls himself a supporter of the “Old American Right.” The host has said the concept affirms “the domination and pre-eminence of the European-derived peoples, their institutions and their way of life.”
The social media accounts of federal agencies have pumped out images portraying American cities as chaotic hellscapes, and immigrants as violent criminals. The accounts have also shared stylized videos of Mr. Trump’s militarized crackdown.
Sheryll Cashin, a professor of law, civil rights and social justice at Georgetown University, said Mr. Trump’s use of language and symbolism to demean people who do not look like him marked an important shift.
“Ideas that we thought were no longer appropriate for mainstream politics are now central again,” she said.
Mr. Trump’s views on race have been center stage in his public life going back decades, to his days as a developer in New York City in the 1980s.
Back then, he purchased full-page advertisements in newspapers, including The New York Times, calling for the return of the death penalty after five Black and Latino teenagers were arrested and later wrongfully convicted of the rape of a jogger.
He has never apologized for the comments.
And now, as president for a second time, Mr. Trump feels emboldened to transform all aspects of society, including its cities and cultural institutions.
Carol M. Swain, a political scientist who has studied race in America, said Mr. Trump’s blunt descriptions of the country’s problems have broad appeal, including among Black Americans.
“He can offend some, but for other people it’s refreshing,” said Dr. Swain, who served as vice chairwoman of Mr. Trump’s 1776 Commission, which was established in his first term to promote “patriotic education.”
“They’re tired of tiptoeing around things,” she added. “They want people to call it out.”
But for longtime D.C. residents, the president’s characterization of their city rankles.
“Our children are watching this president on TV paint this picture of communities that he has not even shown up in,” said Rhonda Hamilton, a mental health advocate in Washington. “The reality that he would show up in our home and act as if he knows best without ever conferring with those of us that are of this landscape is a smack in the face, and it’s disrespectful.”
For those on the streets of Washington on Wednesday, there were reminders of Mr. Trump’s crackdown, with National Guard members and federal agents on patrol. Visitors to the city’s museums discussed the president’s demand for a review of exhibits to root out objectionable content.
“Trump doing Trump things,” remarked Jameel Shabazz, a visitor from North Carolina. He said he felt compelled to take his wife and 8-year-old daughter, Nubia, to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, because even at the age of 35, he’s “still learning about Black history.”
As he exited the museum, Mr. Shabazz said he felt Mr. Trump was trying to erase a critical part of the nation’s story.
“It shows a lot of history that I didn’t even know, and for him to take it away — you trying to hide something that America was built on,” said Mr. Shabazz, who donned a hat labeled “melanin” — a celebration of Black pride. “You trying to make America great again, you gotta keep the history.”