President Donald Trump’s effort to discredit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is being driven by a prominent Christian nationalist “fake historian,” according to a new report.

Judd Legum’s Popular Information said Trump’s “Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution” executive order, which calls for signs outside the museum labeling its exhibits as “inaccurate” and anti-American, closely mirrors arguments long promoted by David Barton, a far-right activist with influence in GOP and Christian nationalist circles.

Barton and his son Tim lead WallBuilders, a group that says it seeks to “teach US history and how our beginnings were overwhelmingly rooted in Christian ideology.” That claim has been widely disputed, including because Christianity and Biblical law are not mentioned in the Constitution, which also bars Congress from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”

“Despite having no degree in history, David Barton calls himself a historian,” Legum wrote. “For decades, he has pushed the view that the founding fathers never intended for there to be a separation between church and state. David Barton’s work has been rejected repeatedly by actual historians” and his 2012 book about Thomas Jefferson “was pulled from the shelves by its publisher after a group of historians from Christian universities accused him of including distortions and false information.”

Legum pointed to several similarities between Barton’s work and Trump’s new Smithsonian order.

For example, the order says the National Museum of American History is too harsh on slavery, arguing that “the words, actions, and ideas of America’s Founders helped spark a worldwide movement that ultimately ended slavery.” Legum said that resembles claims from the Bartons, who have written that slavery demonstrates “American exceptionalism.” The order also echoes the Bartons’ effort to rehabilitate Christopher Columbus and present him as an “American” hero, even though Columbus never set foot in the United States.

Legum also noted that the report alleges the museum does not give enough attention to the Founding Fathers or the Declaration of Independence because it does not want to show Christianity influenced them, a claim the Bartons have promoted for years.

The report further says the Bartons themselves suggested they may have been involved in the process. In a podcast episode from January 6, 2026, they said the White House had asked them to help identify problematic Smithsonian exhibits.

Trump’s Smithsonian order has drawn sharp criticism, underscoring how disputes over museum curation have become part of a broader fight over how American history is presented in public institutions. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) called it “one of the dumbest and most bizarre Executive Orders we have ever read.”