Smithsonian Offers Anti-Trump Item in Gift Shop

The one for Hillary Clinton is flattering.

1.24.2017

A campaign collectors series of paper dolls are available in the Smithsonian gift shop. There’s one for Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump, now the president. You can cut out various outfits and dress up the political figures, and it’s all done in fun -- except the one for Trump mocks him more than celebrates his accomplishments.

The National Review describes the item:

On one page, Trump wears a blue academic robe and carries a wad of $100 bills in one hand and a Trump University diploma in the other.

“Donald displays a ‘diploma’ from his now-defunct online educational site, Trump University,” the caption states, complete with scare quotes. “The unaccredited educational business was not a university in any legal sense, and the school, which promised to share secrets to real estate success, stopped operating.”

Other Trump plates feature “fact-checking,” the Statute of Liberty with a “Go Home” inscription, and a Trump bankruptcy.

The Bernie Sanders doll gets no such treatment, and the Clinton one is so flattering you’d think she was president:

In the Clinton book, an outfit of doctor’s scrubs is meant to illustrate her “commitment to national health-care reform,” while the image of an orange-pantsuit ensemble accompanies a passage celebrating her historic service as the first female senator of New York State. The Sanders book praises the candidate’s belief that all Americans deserve affordable and quality education. One would be hard pressed to find critical words in either.

Tim Foley is the creator of the series and made clear his concerns under Trump’s governance, as he described them in his “2016 Year in Review:”

As I start the new year, it is with more trepidation, uncertainty, and fear than I’ve ever felt after any election year in my entire life. I’ve survived Republican presidents in the past (5 of them in fact), but never before have I had this feeling of riding on an out of control train barreling towards a cliff with a raving madman at the controls. Hopefully I am over-reacting.

Meanwhile, the National Museum of American History has some explaining to do. If they strive to be “apolitical” like one of its managers said, how does selling something like this meet that end?

“Balance is the important word,” Kathy Sklar said. “We are always very careful to be balanced.”

Sklar said there is “plenty” of Trump merchandise in the gift shop and promised they are “always careful to be equal opportunity.” Sklar pointed out that these books are in the humor section:

If they are in the humor section, I’m guessing that’s what they are. Did you notice a book that we have? On one side, it’s red and it says, “Stupidest things Republicans ever said.” And if you flip it over, it says, “Stupidest things Democrats ever said.” We are equal-opportunity. We would never have just one of those. We are kind of a national museum. There is a Smithsonian for everyone. In a sense, therefore, I think our merchandise reflects that.

Also noting the problem with the inconsistency is Washington D.C. reporter Menachem Wecker: "Readers of the Foley book, whether they voted for Trump or for Clinton, might agree that at least some of the criticisms of Trump are based in fact. But that’s beside the point if there are no critiques — also based in fact, of course — leveled at the other candidates. A slanted presentation can be true in part; its mistake is that it ignores or misrepresents context. And for an institution devoted to research and teaching, context is very important indeed."

There would've never been any such book ever allowed to breach the doors of the Smithsonian gift shop if it disparaged President Obama.