A Democratic lawmaker used a congressional hearing on the Smithsonian to deliver a sweeping denunciation of white supremacy, even invoking international soccer to argue that racism is embedded in Western culture.
According to The Blaze, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) seized on the hearing formally titled Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian's Efforts to Reshape the Past to defend the museums ideological shift and to attack Republicans rather than seriously examine whether a taxpayer-funded institution has embraced left-wing activism.
She opened her remarks not with a question about historical accuracy or museum governance, but with a partisan broadside: Welcome to the Republicans' white-pride rally disguised as a congressional hearing. The event itself highlighted a growing divide in President Trumps second term over whether federal cultural institutions should preserve history or serve as vehicles for progressive social engineering.
When her time came to question witnesses, Crockett turned to an unlikely subject: the World Cup. She asked Yale historian David Blight a meandering question about the tournament, declaring, The World Cup that captured the imaginations of the entire world when they saw all of these people of color that was [sic] playing for all these teams, and ultimately, i before trailing off and shifting to fan behavior.
The Texas Democrat then floated a theory about why many viewers supported Spain, asking the professor, "Spain had the best team. Maybe that's why they were rooting for them?" After pausing for a self-satisfied laugh, she suggested a different motive, asserting, "There's also a racist history that exists as it relates to Argentina," implying that racial animus, not athletic performance, drove fan preferences.
Crocketts appearance was laced with similar accusations, as she repeatedly framed Republicans as racially motivated extremists rather than lawmakers concerned about politicization at the Smithsonian. She again mocked the proceedings by declaring, "Welcome to the Republicans' white-pride rally," and then launched into a series of rhetorical flourishes about the supposed omnipresence of white supremacy in American life.
She claimed Republicans at the hearing could not tolerate the true history of America, while insisting that black Americans are currently being denied their right to vote, despite robust legal protections and record minority turnout in recent election cycles. Crockett further charged that Republicans are trying to "ban books" and "attack museums," and approvingly cited a 2021 White House claim that the biggest domestic threat to the United States is violent white supremacists, a framing conservatives argue has been used to smear political opponents and justify expanded federal surveillance.
The congresswoman escalated her rhetoric by alleging that many critics of the Smithsonians new direction are simply insecure white men. She described a lot of 'white guys' with a 'fetish' and 'fragile egos' who are trying to feel 'oppressed' over the museums internal practices, language that underscored how identity politics has increasingly replaced substantive debate over public institutions.
While Crockett leaned into racial grievance, Republicans on the committee pressed museum officials on concrete evidence that the Smithsonian has adopted an explicitly ideological mission. In another widely shared exchange, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) questioned officials about training materials and tool kits that labeled core civic and professional virtues as products of white supremacy.
A White House document cited in the hearing acknowledged that the National Museum of American History was using a framework that "explicitly treats museums as engines for anti-oppression activism." That same document noted that the museums materials portray objectivity, individualism, [and] a sense of urgency as oppressive traits associated with whiteness and white supremacy culture, raising serious concerns among conservatives that federally funded museums are being repurposed to delegitimize foundational American values rather than preserve and present the nations history.
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