Donald Trump posted a lengthy Truth Social rant threatening leading cultural institutions to adhere to his political ideology and singled out the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. He called the museum OUT OF CONTROL, accused exhibits of portraying the United States as horrible and overemphasizing slavery, and used slogans like WOKE IS BROKE while praising the country as the HOTTEST in the world. Jillian Michaels made parallel complaints on CNN, arguing slavery cannot be tied to a single race and criticizing NMAAHC exhibits. Michaels has repositioned herself as a MAGA influencer after a history on reality television.
which Trump called OUT OF CONTROL in his post. Everything discussed [in NMAAHC exhibits] is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, Trump unloaded. WOKE IS BROKE, he continued through his customary use of all caps and misplaced capitalization of common nouns. We have the HOTTEST Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.
The comment seemed to echo comments made just days prior by his fellow reality show bully Jillian Michaels, a former trainer on NBC's The Biggest Loser, the weight-loss competition show that launched alongside The Apprentice in 2004. Michaels had been making her rounds in media and public appearances, rebranding from verbally abusive fat shamer to Maga influencer. On CNN's NewsNight, the host Abby Phillips moderated a roundtable discussion on Trump's months-long overreach into cultural institutions such as the Kennedy Center and the NMAAHC.
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