The Trump Administration Is Illegally Asserting Presidential Power to Rewrite the History of Slavery

In addition to trying to roll back the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, the Trump administration is trying to erase the very history of slavery and segregation in America. This is part of a wider effort to remove signs and monuments that the administration regards as “disparaging” America. But the real point is highlighted in a judge’s ruling in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has the story:

A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to restore the slavery exhibits that the National Park Service removed from the President’s House last month. …

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration filed a federal lawsuit against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron, and their respective agencies, the day the exhibits were dismantled. The complaint argued dismantling the exhibits was an “arbitrary and capricious” act that violated a 2006 cooperative agreement between the city and the federal government. …

During a hearing last month, Rufe called the federal government’s argument that a president could unilaterally change the exhibits displayed in national parks “horrifying” and “dangerous.” She ordered the federal government to ensure the panels’ safekeeping after an inspection and a visit to the President’s House earlier this month.

This is the real issue: Does the president have the sole right to decide what America’s history is? As with everything else in this administration, it comes down to the authoritarian notion that one person gets to dictate everything, not just about government policy, but about the nature of the truth itself, from the names of bodies of water to what is included in our history.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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