The Smithsonian Institution audit is only the start

The Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents may have to get used to meetings where accountability is expected. At this week’s much-anticipated one, members yielded to President Donald Trump’s demand for an audit of politicized content. Alas, they also circled the wagons around Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to a document that summarized the secretive meeting held Monday, the board acceded to demands by Vice President JD Vance and Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) to hold a thorough review of content at the complex’s 21 museums. The board reluctantly accepted this review even on an expedited matter, though it wanted to give Bunch three months to conduct it.