The absolute last

Totalitariantrump wants to control everyone and everything.

The Smithsonian Institution has rebuffed Donald Trump’s attempt to fire the director of its National Portrait Gallery, with the museum’s governing board asserting its independence in a direct challenge to the president.

In a statement issued after an emergency meeting Monday, the Smithsonian’s board of regents declared that “all personnel decisions are made by and subject to the direction of the secretary, with oversight by the board” – turning away Trump’s claim of authority over the institution’s staffing.

The standoff centers on Kim Sajet, whom Trump announced he had fired on 30 May, calling her “highly partisan and a strong supporter of DEI” – or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives – on social media. Sajet has continued reporting to work, creating a direct confrontation between the White House and the US’s flagship cultural institution that has a 178-year-old governance structure built against political interference.

Trump is the last person on the planet who should be meddling with any cultural institution.

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