President Trump fired the director of the National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet, saying she was too partisan and too involved with diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The firing of Ms. Sajet was the latest in a series of Mr. Trump’s dismissals of top officials at cultural institutions in Washington.
“Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am hereby terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,” Mr. Trump wrote Friday on social media. “She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position. Her replacement will be named shortly.”
The Washington Times reached out to the gallery for comment.
Ms. Sajet is a Nigerian-born Dutch citizen who was raised in Australia. She has headed the museum since 2013 and was the first woman to do so.
She previously served as president and CEO of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, vice president and deputy director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and director of corporate relations at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
She also served as a curator and then director of two Australian art museums before moving to the United States in 1997.
Earlier this year. Mr. Trump axed the leadership of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and replaced them with his picks. He made himself the chairman of the board.
“Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation,” he wrote on social media in February. “For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
He recently fired Carla Hayden as the librarian of Congress for promoting DEI and pushing “inappropriate books” for children.
“We felt she did not fit the needs of the American people. There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Ms. Hayden and Ms. Sajet were both appointed by President Obama.
Mr. Trump railed against the Smithsonian Institute in a March executive order, saying it had “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.”
“The Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” the order said. “This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”
The order called for Vice President J.D. Vance to “remove improper ideology” from the institute.
“We will restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness,” the order said.
