A CNN pundit and fitness guru has been accused of “historical revisionism” by Rep. Ritchie Torres after she defended President Trump’s latest review of the Smithsonian.
“He’s not whitewashing slavery, and you cannot tie Imperialism and racism and slavery to just one race, which is pretty much what every single exhibit does,” Jilian Michaels told host Abby Phillip during CNN Newsnight on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Trump announced plans to conduct a thorough review of the institution to ensure its exhibitions reflected the administration’s view of American history.
When Michaels began to speak about slavery being “thousands of years old,” Torres chimed in, saying: “This is extraordinary historical revisionism.”
Phillip then challenged Michaels, saying, “I’m surprised that you’re trying to litigate who was the beneficiary of slavery and who was not.”
“In the context of American history, what are you saying is incorrect by saying that it was white people oppressing Black people?” she added.
Michaels, who formerly appeared on The Biggest Loser, answered, “I’m not. What is you cannot…every single is like oh no no no, this is all because ‘white people bad,’ and that’s just not the truth.”
“For example, every single exhibit, I have a list of every single one, people migrated from Cuba because ‘white people bad.’ Not because of Castro,” she adds.
Michaels then took to X hours after the fiery discussion to defend her position.
Referencing a Smithsonian exhibit that cites the migration of millions of Latinos and Caribbean people to the U.S. in the 1900s, she writes, “Trump is not trying to ‘erase slavery’ by suggesting some of the installations there are inaccurate and bias.”
The exhibit highlights the plight of several Latin American nations where the U.S. government intervened in governments to “stop the spread of Communism.”
“The United States backed numerous dictators, including Cuba’s Fulgencio Batista and the Dominican Republic’s Rafael Trujillo. Cuban, Dominican and many other Latino communities still feel the effects of war and revolution. Their stories reveal the human cost of immigration and the contradictions of U.S. foreign policy,” the exhibit reads.
“I oppose interventionist U.S. foreign policy, but this is not an honest or complete portrayal of what happened in Cuba. Period,” Michaels added.
In recent years, Michaels has refashioned herself into a conservative podcaster and pundit, and has even landed a “new media” seat in White House press briefings.
After expressing support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr's presidential campaign and the MAHA movement, she went on to vote for Trump in what was a reversal of her previous stance on his first administration.
Speaking to GO Magazine in 2016, she didn’t trust “anything that’s coming out of [Trump’s] mouth.”
Trump’s cultural review comes ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday – a move that falls in line with other recent takeovers of cultural institutions.
Earlier this month, the commander-in-chief ordered the Smithsonian to erase all references to his impeachment in the exhibit “A Glorious Burden.”
Staff have now restored the references, despite the president’s precise demands, according to USA Today.
On the previous night’s installment of Newsnight, Scott Jennings also defended Trump’s cultural review by saying that those opposing it were the same people on the left who incited the mass removal of historical statues tied to slavery.
"Yeah, the last time we sort of talked about the changing of historical exhibits was when all these angry mobs all over the country tore down historical statues all over the place, and the people who seemed to be angriest about the Smithsonian review were cheering that on," Jennings argued.
