The United States doesn’t need a museum that apologizes for existing. That’s the real argument buried inside the White House’s new 162-page report on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and it’s one worth making loudly.

Released July 4 under the title “Saving America’s Story,” the report accuses the museum of “ideological capture” and “extreme political activism.” Strip away the bureaucratic packaging and the finding is simple: a taxpayer-funded institution built to tell the U.S.’s story has decided that story is mostly one of oppression, theft, and shame. The report says visitors will find no major exhibit dedicated to the founding era, Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the Continental Congress, or the Revolution, even as the country marks its 250th birthday. Call it a curatorial choice, not an oversight.