Trump Fires National Portrait Gallery Director For Being ‘Strong Supporter’ Of DEI

A White House official remarked on the irony of Sajet’s statement, “We strive not to editorialize. I do not want readers to infer the curator’s opinion from the label. I want someone reading the label to recognize that it is grounded in historical fact.”

On November 4, Sajet spoke at the National Portrait Museum’s Richardson Symposium: Racial Masquerade in American Art and Culture, where she mentioned that she dedicated much of her time to “identity politics.”

“America has never succeeded in dissociating a person’s appearance from their potential. Our history is replete, and continues to be, with instances of hatred, discrimination, fear, and alienation,” Sajet remarked during her address.

President Donald Trump dismissed Kim Sajet, the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, due to her strong advocacy for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Sajet recounted an experience from December 7, 1972, when she suddenly sensed that the world was on the verge of uniting to overcome petty differences, contemplating the broader implications of humanity.

On that day, astronaut Jack Schmidt of Apollo 17 captured a photograph of Earth, which he famously named the “Blue Marble.”

“That utopian vision seems incredibly distant today, especially in the alarming aftermath of the most uncivil, distrustful, racially insensitive, sexually exploitative, factually misleading, digitally manipulated, secretive, and inflammatory election in modern history,” Sajet remarked.

“The National Portrait Gallery, as I have previously stated, focuses on identity politics, whether it involves defending the label text that describes President Eisenhower as cautious regarding civil rights, explaining why only 25% of women were historically deemed influential, or taking a firm stance on whether to allow the removal of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, from the Smithsonian, or even detailing the rationale behind showcasing the portrait of Sylvia Rivera, the transgender activist, in the galleries,” Sajet further elaborated during the same address.

Shortly after taking the Oath of Office on Inauguration Day, January 20, Trump enacted an executive order aimed at abolishing all DEI programs within the federal government.

Last month, Trump’s administration also terminated the nation’s leading copyright official just days following the dismissal of the Librarian of Congress.

Shira Perlmutter, who headed the U.S. Copyright Office—an agency under the Library of Congress—was unexpectedly let go.

The U.S. Copyright Office notified the media that Perlmutter had received an email from the White House, which stated, “Your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated, effective immediately.”

A few days earlier, Trump terminated Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. This dismissal was perceived as a component of the administration’s wider initiative to substitute officials deemed uncooperative with Trump’s agenda.