FLASH
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Trump's removal from the museum is symbolic of a time when leaders no longer just want to control the media, they now want to control history. If we don't react, we will live in a world where history will be a product of power, not facts...
From the US to Russia, from Hungary to China: powerful leaders are controlling the past to rule the future. Trump's case at the Smithsonian is just the tip of the iceberg of a global trend that is destroying democracies.
In an act that might seem banal at first glance, the removal of a panel that mentioned two impeachments of Donald Trump, lies a much more dangerous phenomenon: a leader's attempt to control the historical narrative through executive power.
In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order denouncing “efforts to rewrite American history,” demanding the “purge of inappropriate ideologies” from cultural institutions. Rhetoric familiar to any historian who has studied fascism or communism. The same phraseology was used by totalitarian regimes to justify censorship and the manipulation of collective memory.
The parallels are frightening. In Russia, Vladimir Putin has publicly criminalized any critical mention of World War II that does not fit the state narrative.
In Hungary, Viktor Orban has built an education and museum system that glorifies the "national" past while minimizing or hiding Hungary's role in Nazi crimes.
In China, the Communist Party systematically erases any memory of the Tiananmen Massacre and controls the narrative of every historical era.
The US, with all its strong institutions and media pluralism, is not immune. The action against the Smithsonian is proof that even in the world's largest democracy, historical memory is under attack.
Authoritarianism not only controls the present, but also the past.
George Orwell, in the novel 1984, wrote:
“Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.”
This is precisely what authoritarian leaders are doing today: they aim not only for control over political institutions, but also over the national narrative, to legitimize their rule.
In this context, Trump's USA is not an exception, but part of a broader wave where democracies are fading, institutions are being subjugated, and history is being transformed into a propaganda tool.
When the US, the symbol of democracy and freedom, begins to censor the past through presidential orders, the message sent to other autocrats is clear: America is following your path too.
For Western allies, this is alarming. The loss of democratic standards in the US would weaken the West's moral strength in confronting regimes like those of Russia or China. For the Balkans, where democracy is still fragile and under attack from Eastern influences, this example is even more dangerous.
When history is manipulated by power, the danger is not only to the past, but to the future itself. What happened at the Smithsonian is a clear signal: authoritarianism knows no bounds. And if the West does not defend the truth, then it will also lose the right to lead the world./ Pamphlet
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